"From the Mountains" Journal

Before coming, I had no idea what I would be doing. After arriving, I barely slept more than five hours a day. Working on stage design meant going day and night, often until around three in the morning. I had never slept so little or worked continuously for so long in my life. I had a fever, menstrual pain, heart pain, stomach pain, and a sore throat—haha.

But the overflowing love carried me through everything and gave me more than enough strength to do my work beautifully.

Every day during the daytime, I saw the smiles of the children, the teachers, and the volunteers—their soft little hands and cheeks. One heartfelt conversation after another moved the deepest parts of my soul. I found myself crying several times a day, whether from being touched by such pure hearts or from tears of happiness. Somehow my body no longer felt tired, and my energy was overflowing.

One time, while passing through the hotel hallway, I heard all of you loudly calling my name again and again from inside the rooms 😂 It felt like I had become the Monkey King.

All I wanted was to be good to you, to see you smile every day—to lift you up, spin you around, kiss your little cheeks, and give you delicious things to eat. After I hugged and kissed one of you, the rest would rush over, all competing: "Me too, me too! I want one too!"

That day in the dressing room before the stage performance, you all excitedly took colorful hair clips and pinned them into my hair as gifts. On the final day of camp, you ran after each other smearing cake cream on each other's faces—and mine ended up covered with it too.

Shengkai jiejie loves you all.

I will miss you so much. I want to see you grow up surrounded by love and warmth.

And this is not really a goodbye—I am always here. ❤️