Last week, we had the privilege of hosting exchange students from China. I really love hosting and hope some day my kids will too. They don’t quite get the beauty of sharing one’s life with other cultures yet. And, the communication is limited. This time, we had a dad and his daughter from Shenxen (I think, the most beautiful city that is very modern according to google translate, translated more than a dozen times this week:). They enjoyed our walk to the horses, wondered why the kids were eating the bushes, and took many pictures. I explained that honeysuckles have juice when you pull the stem backwards (the hill alongside my house had a fence lined with them where I grew up in NJ, I’d stand there for hours sharing with my cat…google had trouble with this). They nodded when I showed and offered such a fragrant treat but then just took them and tossed them down to continue after the others who were furiously running ahead. At the end, four of my littlest lined up with the little daughter and initiated an official trail race series. Surprisingly, the winner in the fifth and final race wound up being our dog, Pi. She most definitely cheated though as she bolted ahead and then went for the winner, my determined seven year old, who she sideswiped into a high flying dive right into the dirt. He wound up with three medals of honor on his elbow, side and knee. He held back his winner’s tears quite well and I helped him limp halfway back home where then he was able to bolt back with the others.
At home, we had soup which went over way better than my supposed taco bake the night before. I was relieved my little guy felt better and that my little shenxen participant was not harmed in any of the normal production activities that her seven new friends have diligently trained for. Their after dinner stunts, for instance, involve flipping w a twist on the trampoline, one right after the other. Every day, the dad stared incredulously from the dinner table out the big window as they flew up and over. I wasn’t sure who would lose the soup, taco, spaghetti, every meal eaten, first!
On their last morning, they were headed to Santa Barbara and San Francisco. I always wish Americans can just take nice days to see all the beauty in their own cities the way foreigners do. But, I am glad they will get to see such great views and take it all in to remember what a special country they got to see. As they pack, I throw out the recycling which they had never seen, such big bins for plastic. Walking back in, I pass my beautiful clover patch that has somehow escaped the lawn mower but, thinking of it, my novice mowers have been doing a great job but it’s not too hard to escape them…wow, our mower works, thank you so much to the extremely busy neighbor with no time and yet time to help. That’s always how it is. Then, I see, not one, but two four leafers smiling up at me. What beauty in our own grass. I excitedly bring them in and present them to our guests. They nod and go to honeysuckle pass but I grab the word-vape and explain the beauty, intricacies and absolute fortune locked up in these little guys. Then, I convince them to lock them in a book somewhere and keep them forever. It’s what you do. All Americans do that. Yes.
In the end, we have an invitation to the finest city just ten kilometers from Hong Kong. The buildings stand 60 stories tall very, very clean. Very clean it is. (Is Yoda behind that translator gadget they hold like a vape?)
So, in my imaginary mom mind, I vision flying all eight of us over. We join our new friends to race the Great Wall, trek back to their town on river and foot, play an awesome game of elevator tag in their building, then join them for their favorite food (at least here), warm cocoa crispies. If only so many miles didn’t make it seem so imaginary. Our cultures are very different but the joy in sharing lives is the same.
Christine Kent 