Who refracted the rabbits?

Yesterday was a kind of weird, good day. In a strange way. It was parent teacher conferences at school, so no kids, just a stream of unfamiliar faces and vehicles, and no one that wanted to see me. It was kind of nice, I didn't really get interrupted all day, and I got a couple things done that I don't know if I would have gotten done in a normal day, with its interruptions. I made a French Bakery run in the morning, I'm trying to confine myself to Saturday (the first day of the week) and Wednesday (the last day of the week). But fresh croissants or donuts are really good, and it is a lot of fun to put them in people's rooms or desks before they get to work in the morning.

Also, as you might be able to tell from the picture, I got a haircut. The interesting thing about this haircut is that, as far as I can remember, this is the first haircut that I've gotten from someone not in my immediate family. One of the folks here cuts hair, so it only cost me a little bribe. I didn't realize this before I got my haircut, but she went to cosmetology school for a couple years, so I guess this is my first professional haircut. It definitely looks different than normal, but I think I like it.

After supper, I went over to the ladies' house for Game Night. However, game playing ended up being pretty low key, and we talked more than we played. I really think I preferred that to playing games. Lots of stories, thoughts, opinions. It was fun. We also watched the Princess Bride... no matter how many times I see that movie, it's still funny.

I played basketball this morning, and lost three games in a row. Then we decided to play some 3-3 volleyball, and we won 5 in a row before losing #6 by 3. It was enjoyable. Now, I have some work to do this afternoon, but I had a good morning, a good relaxing day so far. I also did laundry, which pleasingly enough, I got done early enough to actually have it dry today.

While I was at lunch, we had an interesting conversation about how many different socio-economic levels of local students we have at our school. We have some kids that are sponsored to come here that are definitely not rich, we have kids whose parents are making sacrifices so they can come here, we have kids whose parents are in government and can definitely afford to send their students, and finally, we have our international or expatriate kids. The thing to watch will be in twenty years, what kids have government or well-placed private-sector jobs because they went to school with some of these extremely connected kids. For better or worse, this country still has a fairly heavy emphasis on familiar relationships for determining social status. It will be interesting to see which kids are pulled up the social ladder because of the connections and associations they make at this school.

I wonder about a lot of things these days. I wonder what it is that I'm doing here, I wonder about the things going on in this country. I ponder the differences between what I used to do and what I do now, I ponder what this experience might mean to me in five or ten years. I think about the changes in me and the things that have stayed the same. Never to be the same, never to change in another way. As we were talking last night, some of the folks were recounting experiences where they just traveled Europe for a couple months. I thought about that, and while that doesn't exactly sound like my idea of a great time, but yet, here I am in a foreign and strange country. Oddly, even here I am a homebody. And the times and places have changed, but not the faces and stations.

People are the same all over. All in need of the same One.