it's [not] a small world, after all...

Mountainview hosted the annual international school soccer tournament this weekend.
Seven schools from all over Java (and Bali) came to our school to compete for the trophy.
Given how much I love watching soccer games, it was a great weekend.
Especially after being sent home early from school due to being sick on Friday.
My friend, Marie, owns/runs a coffeeshop down the street from the school, and she was anticipating being quite busy all weekend. So I spent Saturday bouncing back and forth between photographing and cheering on teams and working down at the coffee shop.

Sunday, I plopped down with my camera beside the soccer field, ready for the games to begin. An older British lady who I recognized as having been at the coffee shop the previous day sat down beside me. She remembered me as well, and we struck up a lovely conversation. Shortly thereafter, her husband joined us. It was he who first saw my Africa necklace, which never leaves my neck. He made the comment that his daughters all have the same necklace. I immediately knew they had lived in Nairobi (it's the only place you can get this necklace.) True enough. They lived there for 6 years in the 90s, and their youngest daughter was adopted from an orphanage there (amazingly enough... the Kenyan government makes adoption VERY difficult). We began asking each other about our experiences there, and we came to find that they know many of the people I know, and 2 years ago, they had been to visit Rosslyn Academy, the school I was at in Kenya. They sought employment there, but there were no openings. The husband is a math teacher. So they came to Indonesia instead. Kind of sounds like my life.... They tried to talk me into moving to Malang (sp?), because they are losing their math teacher next year. Some of my students were sitting nearby during this conversation and they immediately protested..... I can't leave. : )

After the games ended, I came to check my email and found that a former student (one from Rosslyn) was online. He's British, but is going to school in the States now. We struck up a rather fascinating conversation. Trying to define love. We talked through a lot of things together. I think the most important conclusion we came to is this: There is never a reason not to love.

Today, I am left amazed by these two things:
The way a boy loves a girl
How God makes me laugh