We've had a wonderful time with all of my family. I've loved getting to spend time with everyone and getting to know them better. I have also been able to practice a lot of driving since I've been back in country, though have only ventured out by myself twice (about a 3-minute drive each time). My dad has been threatening to send me out driving on my own more often though, so I should be getting lots of experience pretty soon.
Since arriving back in the States, I've also been busy getting ready for college. Classes start on August 19, and I move onto campus on the 15th, which gives me a month left to have everything ready. When I was in South Carolina, I began working on the final stages of my quilt for my bed in the dorm, with the help of Mimi. I still have a few things left to do with it, but it's turning out very well! Below are some pictures of my quilt from when I was working on it in China... I have yet to take pictures of it's current stage, so you'll have to excuse me. :)
Also, there were certain required immunizations I had to get before going to college. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me... I'm not a fan of vaccines anyway, but the fact that I have to get them or I can't go to Liberty (unless I have religious reasons for not getting them... which I don't) is a little sad. Anyway.
So yesterday, my family took me to the Health Center so that I could get my required shots. We got there at 1:00 PM and sat for about two hours while they tried to make sense of my immunization records. Turns out the only required immunization I'd had previously was the first dose of MMR (measles, mumps, rubella). Which meant I still had to get the second dose of MMR, as well as shots for Tetanus, Meningitis, Polio, and get blood drawn for TB. And they decided that it was a good idea to pump all of those vaccines into my system within 10 minutes of each other, which left me very very sore.
The blood-drawing probably took a good 20 minutes for the entire process. Apparently I do not have easy veins. The first nurse couldn't even find the veins on the inside of my elbow, so she had another nurse come in to try and draw my blood. She first tried drawing it from my left hand, and while a little bit of blood came out, it stopped very very quickly. So she tried a little bit further up my arm, in which case I didn't bleed at all. Both nurses then decided to go ahead and give me my shots, having me down two bottles of water while they did that. Apparently drinking water helps the blood flow and I didn't drink enough that morning. So once I began to resemble a water balloon, they decided they would go ahead and try a third location to draw blood -- my left hand. It worked!...kinda. It worked as long as they were working at it and moving the needle around the inside of my vein (ouch!). Finally, they got the blood they needed and I was done!
You know, my dad always said that I didn't have blood in my veins, but rather the thick red Korean pepper paste -- which would explain my love of spicy Korean food. After yesterday, I'm starting to believe that might be true, because my blood came out sooooo slowly, as if it was really thick. Well, at least I won't have to worry about any more immunization shots. :D
I'm really looking forward to starting college, moving into my dorm, and meeting my two awesome roomies. There are moments when I just wish time would hurry up and fast-forward to that day I move onto campus, as I can be quite restless whenever I don't have a good routine. But I'm also enjoying spending time with my family and making memories. I haven't fully adjusted to being in America, because I haven't been able to just settle down in one place as of yet. But that's okay... that'll come. Right now, I'm just gonna enjoy where God has me. :)
