YEAR OF THE RABBIT...CHINESE NEW YEAR

The biggest holiday in China is the Chinese New Year; beginning 3 Feb and ending 27 Feb. 230 million people are expected to travel during this time. For many this will be their only visit home during the year. This is a very BIG time for the Chinese...very big.

Yesterday I made a Smilebox Chinese greeting card ~ loaded it w/pics of our family (each one w/a different wish for their year). First inclination was to just send it to those we've kept in touch with but something nudged me to try touching those that we'd lost touch with.

I sent one to a former student and this morning I received the nicest response from Skeen...odd name? In 2002/2003 she was one of my students in Changsha...a sophomore university student. She was a very good writer w/absolutely no sense of self worth. She and I sort of 'took' to each other and she blossomed; a joy to watch.

She graduated and moved to another 'big city' to make her fortune. Poof...as most of the millions of grads found, there was and still is a vast army of the unemployed. In a later post I plan to write about this new society, termed..."the ant people" or the "ant colony"; meaning the graduates...the Chinese jobless.

Skeen washed dishes, you name it...she tried it & she was depressed. I hadn't heard from her in several years...until I sent the Chinese greeting.

Read her reply: "happy chinese new year to you big family. i am glad to receive your letter, and very happy to know the news of you and your family. although we have a long time no see each other, but i very miss you.

leaving school is more than six years, and at a long period, i found a job and quit, and found again, now i got a job for four year in a privte company in my home town.

that job is not connect with the english any, but i love english very much, because i know you, you are the best teacher i have met, as a friend, a kindly relation, still now i can remember of your smile. really, i miss you.

in the end, attachment i with a snowman take a photo in a cold day which i wear the work clothes in work place, hope you like it. best wish skeen

Mahatma Gandhi said, "Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is most important that you do it."

My 92 yr old mother asked why I had to go so far...to China? I reminded her I'd always dreamed of making a difference. I had absolutely no idea what was ahead...but it was most important that I do something...no matter how insignificant...but I did a little, that's what's important...I did something.

Oh Father, thank You for making such a significant difference in my life.

Balanced and unafraid...