Dirty feet and 20 minutes.

I have dirty feet and 20 minutes before I have to leave to go to a dinner that I'm not entirely thrilled about. It's not that I don't want to go to the dinner, it's just that I've had a long day and I'm tired and my feet are dirty. I've been just a 'little' stressed, which translates into 'more stressed than I've ever been.' I'm not being dramatic, I feel like it's the truth. I only have 1 and 1/2 days of school left. That's exciting. And then I have a month of Chinese everyday for 2 hours. THEN Faith Couch is coming to visit for the month of July. She's pretty much one of the coolest people I know. I can't even tell you how excited I am to see someone familiar. And then she and I are travelling to India. It's going to be wonderful. BUT that's still a month away, so until then I will be on here a lot, wishing I could travel home to America this summer. I mainly miss the food. Chinese food is good, but I would love to have Wendy's or maybe a big ol' steak from Outback. I also miss driving. I just want to get in my car, with my windows down and drive for a really long time. Company is okay, so if you wanna come let me know.

Story of the day:
As we (the whole elementary school) were walking to the beach today I happened to be walking beside the kindergarten class. We had just walked by 4 women dressed in wedding dresses modeling for pictures. The kindergarten TA looked at one of the little girls and said to her, "You will be a beautiful bride when you grow up." The little kindergarten girl looked back at her TA and said, "I don't want to get married. I don't want them to cut my stomach open."

Kill the misquitoes!

I went to bed Friday night exhausted. We had a field trip Friday and I had been up late the night before baking. I had fallen asleep and I think I was sleeping pretty well. Then it started. Bzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz. I woke up swatting. It was dark and I reached over to turn on my lamp, I grabbed the fly swatter, and began my hunt. That sucker was going to die. I scanned the room; nothing was flying. I looked to the walls. Then I saw him. SPLAT! I laid back down and went back to sleep, only to be awoken 30 minutes later by another buzzing. This happened three time throughout my night and now I have the battle scars to show it. I have 9 bites on my right arm, 3 on my left, and 4 on my face. They aren't just barely visible either, they are swollen, red marks. I hate mosquitoes.

Living it up.

I miss writing. Life becomes so busy that we loose the things we love. I suppose that may not be true of everyone, but that seems to be what has happened to me. I imagine that living in a foreign land has something to do with me not doing the things I once enjoyed. I realize that what I once knew is not quite what I know now. It hit me today that the people I was once so close to are half a world away and as of now 7 months behind. I feel distant from what once was and yet distant from what is now reality. The Father has been so good to me though. He is revealing to me that what gets accomplished is what we set out to do. If we live contently in our lives never challenging or disciplining ourselves we accomplish nothing. Again another lesson I learn from my dad. I miss conversations. I have them here, but they aren't quite like the ones I enjoy. I miss deep, thought provoking statements and questions. My brain is becoming jelloish and I want to be challenged.

Okay, that's the emotional/thinking part of my post. Let me fill you in on China.

The morning begins with the sun beaming in on my face at 5 a.m. because I have not made it to the market yet to buy curtains. I know, I've been here 7 months. I feed my fish, who remain nameless so if you have ideas let me know. (3 guppies, 2 neons, and a sucker fish) Shower, grab a yogurt, and I'm off for the day. I arrive at school, head to our morning staff meeting and eat my yogurt, normally with a plastic fork. I then head to my class to be greeted by 16 foreign kids who think they should have recess all day long and play soccer the rest of their lives. We laugh, learn, and live it up in 5th grade. They like to call me Miss Sparkie at times, and yes it gets old really quickly. I never know quite what to expect from them; I only know they will make me smile and laugh throughout the day. I head to Chinese twice a week for an hour each lesson. My Chinese is getting better, but I still have a long ways to go. It's so fun to be learning a language in another country. Some days I dream of Applebees, Cracker Barrel, Outback, etc. I know, food? I really miss driving too, but what are you going to do? I've been helping to instruct the 5th-8th grade girls with volleyball on Mondays after school. It has been a blast and I'm really looking forward to coaching next year. I've also gone to a Middle School to teach English to 8th grade students. That has been amazing and have some cool stories to share with you someday.

I like to go to the beach sometimes and relax, either reading a book or journaling. I also try to play sports whenever there's an opportunity. It's not as often as I would like. Of course Starbucks is always a good choice for my weekend and every once in a while I'll make a stop by Baskin Robbins. I've began to ride the bus more often, which is much cheaper and really the true China experience.

I suppose that should suffice for now. I'll be keeping this updated more regularly. Hope you have a great week! I love and miss you all!

Kira

Here's the scoop.

Well, I must say it has been a while since I have talked about my life here in China. I'm anxious to really dive into things here and record all that has been going on in my life. However, it is still not the time. I have been incredibly busy and have about 2 weeks of school left. My computer has stopped working again, I think the motherboard keeps destroying my hard drive. That makes it a little more difficult to update as well, but is not an excuse. I'm looking forward to a little more free time in the summer to really describe what my life has been like living in China. I think it's a lot different than what I thought it would be, but I am realizing how life is a lot of what we end up making it to be. I hope to update with a lot more soon. Until then...feel free to email me and let me know how life is on your side of the world.