I forgot how much of a cultural experience Winn-Dixie is until i went there today to send money with Western Union. I walked in, filled out my form, and went to the customer service counter to finish the process. The nice lady took my form and briefly looked it over before taking it to the computer where she started punching in random information. Then she looked at me and we had this conversation below. (and for the sake of understanding the conversation you need to understand that this very kind lady had a very southern African-American accent and was very sassy):

Lady: I need to see your ID
Me: (i hand her my Beijing Institute of Technology teacher ID)
Lady: What is this?
Me: I forgot my driver’s license, but this card has my name and picture so it should be okay, right?.
Lady: What is this? I can’t read this! It ain’t in English.
Me: I know, but it has my name and picture so you can tell it’s me.
Lady: Well i can see it’s you, but we have to put in information from your ID so you need to bring in a driver’s license, a passport, or a government issued ID.
Me: That card is government issued, just issued by a different government.
Lady: Boy don’t you be tryin to play with me!!

Ha! Maybe i’ve been out of the country too long, but i thought that was hilarious.

Last night i had a remarkable and unforgettable opportunity to share some massive vision with some amazing high school students in Montgomery. Unfortunately i wasn’t able to take any pictures, but the real picture is that i think those kids walked away with a global perspective of how to live their lives for a purpose greater than themselves.

I forgot to share with them about my blog, but if they happen to stumble upon this post i want them to know that our time together last night was very meaningful to me. The thoughts and emotions that i’ve been longing to share were finally able to come out in a way that i hope was passionate and compelling.

I’m looking forward to sharing a few more times this summer before going back to Beijing.   

A couple of friends are gearing up to move to China and now they are blogging. I wonder if biscuet.com has sparked this idea of creating engaging blogs while living overseas. I like to tell myself that it has played a part. Anyway, go give my two friends some love. You can find them in the sidebar on the right under Link Love. They are Michael and Jon

In other news: I’m leaving for Montgomery in about 30 minutes to have an afternoon of meetings and then speak to a group of high school students. I’ll be primarily talking about how they have a responsibility to live their lives for a greater cause than themselves. And we’ll talk a little about Chinese culture and what it’s like to live in China. I’m sure there will be lots of laughs and an all around good time.