Walking into our home for the month for the first time we were told two rules:
- Turn off all electricity when you leave
- Don’t go in the Karaoke room.
I said, “Um…Excuse me?”
Inside of our hostel/apartment/room, whatever it is you want to call it, we are experiencing many new things…..two bathroom areas (one with a western toilet and one with a squatty potty which doubles as our shower room), cold bucket showers, an air conditioned bedroom (praise Jesus), sleeping on the floor in our tiny room all snuggled up next to each other, a mouse that has been sighted which we named Fifel and in the middle of all of this, the KARAOKE ROOM.
This magical place comes complete with: carpet, air conditioning, couches, strobe lights, speakers and a tv.
BUT….we can’t go in.
Yea, I know? Sad day right?
We became more and more confused as to why this room was put here. What’s its purpose?
Well, about two week into our stay, we found out as 7 people walked right in our place, strode into the room and slid the glass door back shut. We all stood gaping, staring at the door, wondering what would come next when the bass started shaking the place and the singing began. And now, four days later we have had two more visits. One might think, “Oh I bet that’s so annoying when your trying to sleep?!”
Not if you get invited to come in and sing too and then spend the rest of the night laughing about it with your team.
Let me be clear, it could have been very easy to not choose joy that first night and the nights since. My team could have grumbled about being tired as their sleeping pads vibrated from the noise. We could have complained about them staying till 2 in the morning.
I have been learning that choosing joy means to laugh at the absurdness of our situation and to giggle as our new friends sing the same three songs over and over in a language I don’t know. Choosing to be joyful means being thankful for the amazing AC we have in our small bedroom and drift off to sleep to the off key Chinese singing. What a blessing it is to live with 6 other women in community who choose joy too. God is teaching us lessons in ways I most certainly would never imagine.
So as I sit here at 1 am listening to singing, you ask,
“Do I like living in a Karaoke bar?”
No.
I love it.
