A Universal Language

Well, we made it, finally.

After five months of planning, countless conversations, 16 suitcases and 25 hours of travelling we made it to Guangzhou, China.  I liken our journey to having your first baby.  You plan for months and months before you have the baby, reading everything you can about being a parent, buying all the baby gear your credit card can handle, soaking in everyone’s advice; and then one day, the baby is here!  Ready or not.

That’s how I feel.  All of a sudden we became ‘expats living in China’.  It was a bit surreal, partly because I couldn’t believe we’d made this decision, but also because our first week wasn’t nearly as challenging as I thought it would be.

As we navigated our way, I realized that I felt more comfortable than I thought I would, because of one word – kindness.

My daughter Rachel showed me this in one simple gesture since we’ve been here.  We were walking along in our community, and she noticed that a package had fallen off a gentlemen’s cart.  She was skipping along ahead of me, and without hesitation, picked up the package and placed it back on the man’s cart.  He nodded a thanks and she kept skipping along.  No translation was needed.

We’ve been shown that same type of kindness day in and day out since we’ve arrived.  Store workers who bend over backwards to find English words to help us out.  Our driver (yes we have a driver!) who hugged my children the first time he met them.  Or the friendly fellow expats who have shared their tips and tricks (and Pyrex dishes) without hesitation.

Yes, the kindness has made all the difference – and the good news, it’s a language I can speak.