Kids are entertaining

Favorite student quote so far this year:
One of my students was commenting on the fact that my nose turns red when I am sick. He said, "Is that the way white people skin do?" I took advantage of this teachable moment to explain to him that white people's skin is like white shoes. Our skin shows stuff more the same way white shoes show more than black shoes. I think he now understands the complexity of race. Don't you think so?

At Young Life last night, we played a game called "Eat or Dance." It was a strange mix of hot potato and musical chairs with a twist. The kids had to walk in a circle and whoever was the closest to Andres when the music stopped, had to either eat a mystery item from a bag or dance. Some of the items were harmless like an apple. We also had two types of baby food- sweet potato and corn as well as sweet potato and Alaskan salmon. The worst food by far was the one I contributed. One of the girls ended up having to eat a piece of durian candy.

Durian is hard to adequately explain. It is a fruit found throughout Asia. It is a spiky melon looking fruit that is about the size of a football with a yellow slimy inside. The worst part about the fruit is its incredibly foul odor. It smells like raw sewage mixed with gasoline. The smell is so bad that it is banned on most Asian subways. There are usually signs that say "No durian." It's hard to imagine how people can like a fruit that smells so wretched. But somehow they do. I bought some Durian candy in China to feed to unsuspecting friends. This seemed like a great way to do this in a public way.

The candy looks harmless but you can smell the stench through the package. The girl who ate it didn't actually react as adversely as I would have thought. She tried to pretend it wasn't awful. The funniest part was watching the crowd's reaction as the smell hit them. Some of the guys literally ran out of the room. People were acting like they were going to puke and one actually did. Everytime the poor girl opened her mouth, the stench wafted out. It was pretty hilarious! I gotta get some more of that durian candy! And quick!