As some of you know, I will probably be leaving China in late June or early July. This is something that has the power to make me feel quite sad, so, after being inspired by the aforementioned Mary Anne, I have decided to try to find one thing every day that makes me happy. It doesn't have to be a big thing, but it has to be something, anything, that will take the sorrow away and make me feel better about here and now.

Today, there were several things that made me happy. The first one was my class. We acted out some scenes from "Harry Potter." My students must perform some scenes with gan qing (Feeling!) and also proper emphasis, body language, and pronunciation. It goes something like this... I will play a scene from the movie, then call on a student to act that scene. They must do it without any errors. Sometimes, we use subtitles and sometimes it is by listening and repeating only. It is really fun. If they get it right, we move on and watch some more of the movie, if they make a mistake, it is the next kid's turn. The same thing with reading dialogues from our oh so boring textbook. It makes it a little more fun and interesting, and we all enjoy it.

The second thing that made me happy was going out and walking around our beautiful town. My right hand, Susan, and I went out for dinner (we usually eat at home) and then just strolling around our beautiful town, going in and out of shops and just hanging out. It was relaxing and fun. So, yeah, these small things did bring happiness.

I guess we just have to be conscious of the little things that make up happiness, whether it is shared laughter, good food, or eye candy on the street. So went my first day of this happiness project.

Photo by Susan 2014