Monkey Reunion.

My favorite Chinese monkies treated me to lunch today. They are always the first people I see when I come back to Chinaville.

We talked about our break. They only got one week, so their time was condensed while I've been gallavanting the globe the past 4 weeks. So we told stories over plates of paella, salad and bread at a new fancy schmancy Spanish restuarant in town.

It's always nice to chat. I learn so much from them. Gaining the trust and friendship of Chinese people is hard and tedious. Friendship is work. But I count it a victory and a blessing to be able to say I have 3 great Chinese friends. (Stone wasn't at lunch today, just Christina and Michael).

I just love these boogers.

They told me that one of my students (a 30-something year old doctor who works on leukemia patients in the blood unit) broke up with his girlfriend over the holiday (the shame!). I told Christina to get with him and she said someone has already told her that. haha. Her reaction was that he is "too blue" and she is "too red." Translation: he is depressed and she is not.

We talked about depression and how rampant it is amongst the doctors at the hospital. Because my student's job involves witnessing a lot of death in the leukemia unit, he carries a lot of burdens. Michael told me that because the insurance available to families is not sufficient, most families with a child sufferring from a long-term disease will spend their life savings, only to lose their only child after about 5 years. The doctors then carry the pain of the family's as well.

I love this about my friends. That they teach me real things. That I am learning the ins-and-outs of life in a developing (though powerful) country. I'm not sure how to address the depression topic. It seems to come up a lot in conversation with my students at the hospital. Hmm...maybe I should be thinking about that when making lesson plans for this semester...? I don't know much about depression, but I do know a gateway to hope and healing found in only one place. Not that a higher hope solves depression, per say, but that life doesn't have to be meaningless while coping with loss. Anyways...got lost in my own brain for a moment...back to our lunch conversation...

Michael showed off his new iPhone and told me that last Monday there was a "gathering" of students at one of our city squares. Apparently they were doing it up Egypt-style until the local government shut down the internet and arrested a bunch of people. Michael was pissed last Monday because he couldn't access his email on his iPhone. Dang world revolutions. ;)

They talked to me about my new boss and how she really likes me. I told them that I am soooo soooo happy to have a new boss and then they told me how to work it so that I tutor her kid on the hospital's dime. haha. Scheming and dealing.

We talked finance, marriage, Spanish cuisine, and how to pronounce "omelette." I gave them heart shaped boxes of Ghiradelli chocolate from Downtown Disney. They sat at the table and scarfed it down before our lunch was served.

I love them. With a true, deep down love that is only reserved for few people in life. The people who are divinely given to you - because without them, you wouldn't make it.

Do you have people like that in your life? People who you know are masterfully twisted into your life? I hope so.

Enough of the deep talk. I'm off to wash 8,000 piles of laundry.

walk slow. xoxo.