-^-for posterity-^-

last night another wonderful group of students came to visit us. it was a group of five guys from a variety of jack’s classes. they just wanted to chat. their maturity and friendliness impressed me greatly. all smiles, all bright-eyed and all with tufts of dark hair cropping out of the tops of their heads.

we sat and talked on the roof of our building. we recently bought two chairs and a small table that we use to enjoy the warm, night air. jack always says they are periwinkle blue and i don’t know enough to disagree. being free from the influence of girls, we were able to lounge about and talk about our deepest desires. it really was interesting.

we asked them about their love interests. they all had stories and girls that struck their fancy. one boy had been “in love” with one of the girls since they first met. you could hear the passion in his voice tell he was being honest by how quickly his eyes darted around the table. his story was the most tragic because, even though he was handsome and outgoing, this girl paid him no attention. another boy said that he had just found another girl. she was everything he needed and she liked him because he was a good guitar player. one very small, thin boy said that he liked one girl very much. he was serious but, to his chagrin, the other boys thought it wouldn’t work cause he was too short and thin and she was too tall and fat.

dating here is something that i do not fully understand. the students establish a mutual attraction and decide to pursue a relationship. they go out to various coffee houses and karaoke bars and find out whether or not they think it will work. every night they are back in their rooms by, at the latest, 10:30 (that’s when the front gates closes). there don’t appear to be any ulterior motives here as we seem to have in droves back in the states. a peck on the cheek here and a hold of the hand there, that’s about as physical as it gets.

i could have listened to their stories all night. everyone had their own odyssey. the one girl that makes your heart beat a little more quickly for some reason. the girl who always was the fastest to answer even the most difficult questions. the one that would make the perfect friend, mother and wife. that’s what these boys were after and they were all tormented. someone had them under their spell and they knew it. they could not resist because any subtle glance or gentle compliment would have them crawling back.

story time ended because it was getting late. it was already quarter after ten and the gate was closing soon.