The scar on my arm from my surgery after the accident is pretty big and very noticeable - unlike the ones on my leg which no one ever notices. In America, people might tentatively ask whats wrong/ was wrong with my arm, but for the most part people don't ask or most likely, really just don't care.
Well the kids in the English class that I teach noticed in no time that something was up, and since they can speak English really well they asked me, "what happened to your arm!?" At first I was surprised that they had even noticed - I mean, they are all pretty young, only one of them is 14, and most of them are 11. So I told them what had happened and explained to them what a car accident was (and one of them told me that I was too little to drive a car, haha!). Then they asked, "so it wasn't your fault?" and I said, "no, no, the other driver fell asleep." At this they were confused ("how do you fall asleep while driving!"). I've noticed that the boys especially really love cars and have probably very rarely been in a car, so couldn't imagine how someone would fall asleep while doing something so exciting!
So then they said, "well since he did it, he paid for it right?" And again, I was taken aback! So I told them yes, that he had had to pay for all of it, not me. They were excited about this - I guess at my luck at not having to pay maybe? After this they lost interest and continued to do their work. But it was definitely telling of their lives as China Care children - most of them have the same scars I have and immediately recognized mine for what it is - a surgery scar.
A few days later, after I had pretty much forgotten about this, one of the younger kids (8 years old maybe?) and I were sitting outside during recess. He doesn't speak much English because he is younger, but as we were sitting, he noticed my arm. He pointed to it and made a questioning sound. Now, in Chinese the only word I know to explain it is "huaile" which means "broken" but which implies that its still broken. So I just pointed to it and frowned. He perked up and showed me a similar scar on his leg. I told him in Chinese, "yes they are the same." So now, he was really interested, and he took off his sock on one foot and showed me similar scars he had on his foot and leg. Which made me sad because he had a lot, and they were all big :( definitely worse than mine ever were. So then we just kind of sat there for a little bit in our moment of understanding.
Both of these incidents were interesting to me because like I said, most people in America ignore it or don't care. But these kids have been through so much, and I think it genuinely interested them to know why I had similar scars. Of course, I have to say, they have all had it worse then I had, and while they are lucky now to have foster families and China Care to help them, it is still sad that these kids had to go through all of this at such young ages - that they would even understand what my scar was in the first place.
Mary and Tim thought I should have flowers in my hair... and Kayla took a picture.
Aaron made this awesome head gear during the soccer game. He was very proud of it.
I took a picture of the people watching our PE class.
David, he's in my class and he's so silly. He and the other boys can't stop for anything when they play soccer.
Tim! Except really he should just go by his Chinese name which is "Tian Long" and Long means Dragon. Because this kid is crazy. I don't teach him English because like Jack, he's in the younger class.
Jack. I don't teach him because he's in the "younger kids class". But he's still pretty awesome.
Helen! She's so spunky :)
Tian Duoduo and his sister Qing playing with some balls we found in the office :)
Tian Duoduo :) Mom, Dad - we should adopt him.
Our view of the Palace from the boat we rented.
