We caught wind of the food festival about 2 weeks before our new friends arrived.
Isabella, Juliet, Abraham, Didi, Cibe.
Now you may think, what is the big deal? Well, i could name at least a few. First and foremost, my husband is a huge Mexican food fan. In Sydney, you get a pretty decent assortment of burrito- and taco-eateries. Our favourite is nothing expensive, just authentic. We love Guzman Y Gomez. They are top-notch in authenticity, serving-size, consistency and just heart. Their love for their own culture, and people, and their motivation to create work for their own people displaced from homes is something we would support almost any day. (The ‘almost’ is there because if you have lived abroad before, eating out isn’t like eating out in Singapore. It is not a habit we cultivate, unless there is a reason to celebrate, or when baby’s cravings for guac comes full on. :))
And the next big reason why it was so special was because the husband’s birthday fell smack in the middle of the 10 days that the food festival is running for! He proclaims it is indeed the best birthday ever.
Abraham, Cibe and Isabella are from a town in Mexico that i’ve never heard of, and also had a lot of trouble pronouncing. I thought Australian aboriginal towns were tough, but this one continues to get me. In China, if you didn’t have wechat (wei1xin4) you are basically disconnected from the rest of the world, so because i’d posted some birthday cake pictures from an earlier-celebration (did i say we were indeed blessed?) from the management, they found out there was a birthday boy in the house. :)
This is a clip of the lovely dancers and Abraham singing a birthday song for DD.
And this is a clip of our dear Venezuelan friends, Charlotte and George singing Happy Birthday in spanish for Didi.
I’m not sure if anyone else in our position would find themselves so abundantly blessed, but I know this is something we couldn’t even pray for. Just pure grace. To have friends, who blessed, sang, to have employers who appreciated our work, and to have the opportunity to celebrate the birthday (on the exact birth-date) on the only off-day we have. Thank you Lord for your love and for overlooking everything beyond what we could see, or pray for.
A couple of days before they left, we had the pleasure and honour of having our new friends come listen to us at the lounge. After which we talked, and exchanged. They spoke of dreams, and of passions. Of how they left their partners, and families and friends to do this. Because they believed in it. And my heart was lit once again. I remember why we never could close a door that our hearts beat for. I pray strength and courage in their journey as their tour about this massive country. May their dance, music and hearts continue to lit the hearts they cross path with.
Didi & Rafa, the Trio in dance and song.
