A day in the Mud

I love living on campus. It is beautiful, full of open space, and of course, it has basketball courts right outside my house (ha!). In addition to this, I love meeting the other people who live on campus. My house is located in the back of Concordia's Campus, near the Taiwanese teachers who also live on campus. These people are such a blessing from God. Over this past year, we have had some dinners and many conversations with these people, trying to get to know them better.

A couple of weekends ago, I walked out of my front door to see some of the neighbors hard at work. There was water and mud everywhere. As I peered around the corner to see what they were doing, I felt a little apprehensive about getting muddy myself. Then I saw the project that was being undertaken. Kevin, Debby, Amy,Esther, and Autumn, were out planting sod on open dirt area next to our house. They had sprayed water on the dirt to help in the planting of the grass. Of course the mud had made its way onto the sidewalk.

As I me, Kevin (Foley), and Michelle watched and talked to our neighbors about the project, they jokingly invited us to help. By now my initial hesitancy to get dirty had faded, and I thought it would be kind of fun to help them. So I kicked off my shoes and got dirty. Kevin and Michelle joined me, and there was a huge group of us making the work much easier.

I kind of felt like I was a kid again, playing in the mud. The squishy sensation of the mud sliding in between my toes was kind of weird. As I picked up the grass squares and placed them in their spot, I really was not sure if there was any proper technique for doing this. I guess I have never planted sod before. So if you see a blog in a couple of months commenting on all of the dead grass near my house, I guess we know who to blame, ha!






And in true Taiwanese fashion we were offered food after we worked. Debby gave us a bean soup, dumplings (that her mother had made), and something to drink. The dumplings were outstanding, better than any I had eaten. How Chir (chinese for delicious). What great time getting to know the neighbors, and to help make the campus a little more beautiful. Praise God for these little things in life.