"Hello!"

Despite all of our stress and headache trying to get here and then to get visas sorted, it's the little moments make this all worth while:
-We were sitting beside all of our gear in the dark outside the airport in Urumqi when a van drove by; we'd been watching the driver unload parcels for an hour or so and he had been too shy to come over and talk to us. When he zoomed by us he leaned out the window and yelled, "Hello! Welcome to China! Bye-Bye!"
-Yesterday as we were walking to dinner we met a group of young children just getting out of school. As they got closer they were looking at us and talking and giggling. Finally one of the boys said a loud "Hello!" and then they all laughed and kept saying it... I replied with a "How are you?" and they all took off running and yelling "How are you! How are you! Hello! How are you!"
-Last night, again walking we heard someone behind us say hello, and turned around to see two Turkish students offering a handshake saying, "Hello, can we meet you?" We talked with them for a bit. They were shy but excited to get a chance to practice their english. They told us how all of their textbooks for computer programming were in english and they realized how important it is.
It is challenging to be in a country where you do not speak the language, but all of these moments make us smile and remind us why we are here. They also encourage us to try that much harder to practice learning the local language. It is so much fun to hear someone putting themselves out there while trying talk to you!
-Jodie