All the...Small Things...

Hey everyone,
                   This one's a little late, sorry about that. I thought I would change up the tone and go with a little more positive chapter here in my latest post. I'm finding there are a bunch of little stories here and there that make for great reading! The post may not be as long, but these are all just little things that make me smile thinking back on them:

First, there was my experience last Wednesday in the market. As usual, I was being stared at by everyone as I waited for my food to cook because the nationals don't expect a white American to be ordering food there. On this night, though, there were two boys, probably in the 10-12 age range, waiting in line behind me and one stepped up and put his coins on the kart a little early. I decided to make a connection. I picked up his coin and, using my favorite magic trick, made it jump from one hand to the other. When I opened the hand where the coin was now at, his jaw simply dropped and he said "Wooooowwwwww!" I could have died of laughter right there on the spot! Every adult in the area, including the vendor I was buying food from, had a big smile on their face and started speaking Chinese with the boy, and then to me. I eventually figured out they were saying "again," so I did the trick slower, showing him how I did it. He saw the catch in the trick and said "Awwwwwww" as he shook his head and all of the adults started laughing. The rest of my time waiting on the food, and my departure, could not have been a warmer environment, and I had the biggest smile of them all.

This past Friday, with it being the day before Ohio State played Miami of Florida, I wore my jersey to school. It was the 4 jersey from the days when Santonio Holmes was WR for the Buckeyes. As I was watching the kids leave from school for the weekend, one of the 4th graders in my science class came out. His name is Sota. The thing about Sota is that he just tells is like it is with no thought for how it sounds. He walked out, pointed at my jersey, and said "Why are you wearing that?" I replied "Well, this is the jersey of one of my favorite players." He then replied "Well, 4 in Chinese is suh (sp?) and suh means death. Have a good weekend Mr. Harmon." And then he walked away. Does it get any more classic than that?

Only two short ones here, but they were small encouragements that really gave me some laughs. I hope they brought a smile to your face, as all the best books need a rebound chapter to stay interesting :-)


These are my stories...