Rachel's 23rd

A few notes from the Birthday weekend:

The Birthday 

On Sunday, my actual birthday, my dear teammate Portia brought over some special birthday wishes.  My parents and my brother called, which was perhaps the highlight of the day!  Later that day we had a big fellowship meeting, where I had a huge birthday cake and everyone (fifty people?) sang Happy Birthday.   

Apartment Secured! 

On Saturday, we met with the landlord and landlady in the morning.  If you recall, we asked people to lift this up as they were considering whether or not they'd allow us to continue living in this apartment on a six-month agreement (they wanted twelve mos.).  Well, they didn't even mention the six-month thing!!!  Their hearts were changed.  I spent some time helping their daughter to play with Titus.  I asked her "do you have a little brother?"  She said no.  I said "You do have a little brother!  Tai-de (Titus) is your little brother!"  Anyway, it was a great connecting point for our families, and the landlady, who really is a sweetheart, asked me to email her the pictures you see of Titus and her daughter!

Best Day Yet

Saturday night was a blast.  We had a couple dinner guests -- Bitsy, our team leader, Clare, a like-minded worker from the UK, and Corey, an international student from Tennessee.  Drew randomly met Corey a week ago as they both were having a student health check.  Corey seemed...culture shocked, to say the least.  Drew tracked Corey down by walking in the area of Corey's class building, found him on the street and said "Hey, remember me?  My wife and I want to have you over for dinner on Saturday night."  So I (Rachel) took the bus to a specialty German-imports store to buy lasagna ingredients.  Everyone had a great time.  Clare was on cloud nine because lasagna is her favorite and she hasn't eaten it in...a couple years?  Corey really appreciated some friendship, American food, and English-speakers.  He is here totally solo, so no network of people to show him how to survive.  We gave him some practical info, and Drew took him to buy a shirt as they walked home.  I was glowing with happiness that night because it's the first time I've felt like we really helped someone out here in Changsha.