Adjusting . . . Sorta

My family has been in the States for about a month now. We spent a couple weeks with my dad's family in South Carolina and Tennessee (we had a WONDERFUL family vacation in TN with all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents). Then we drove down to Mississippi, which is where we currently are staying, to be with my mom's family for a few weeks.

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. :)

The Next Chapter

Goodbyes. They're not something I look forward to... In fact, I really dislike having to tell people I love goodbye. But they are something that each person has to go through.

Last week, some of my closest friends (the Chang family, Moon family, Stirling family, Yoon family, Phillips family) all came and helped take us and all of our bags to the airport in Yanji. Saying goodbye... wasn't easy. I'm not one of those people that does well with goodbyes in general, and saying goodbye to these people in specific was even more difficult.

Thankfully I was able to keep my tears from escaping while I hugged each of them and promised to keep in touch. Then we went through Security and that was the last time I saw their faces for what could be a very, very, very long time.

Sitting on the plane, watching my little hometown of Yanji grow smaller and smaller, I felt an ache in my heart. I was very thankful for the overly talkative lady across the aisle from me who kept me distracted for at least half of the flight to Beijing.

But, with every goodbye... comes a new hello. Around 7:00-7:30 PM on Tuesday evening, my family landed in North Carolina and were greeted by my grandparents. It's been sooooo good to reconnect with them. We've gone to the zoo, had water fights, played tennis, and just hung out. This weekend, we leave for a big family vacation in Tennessee with all of my dad's siblings, their spouses and kids, and my grandparents. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone again.

On August 15th, I will move onto Liberty University's campus, and classes will begin on the 19th. I'm a little nervous, but... my excitement far outweighs what fear I have inside of me. I cannot WAIT to meet my roommate (who is AWESOME, by the way) and get to meet new people and make friends. I'm also looking forward to my classes, though maybe not quite so much as the actual social aspect of college life.

Though I am nervous and insecure and have absolutely NO idea of what is in store for me, I can have peace in knowing that God is with me. As my friend Young-Aeh reminded me and as Psalm 139 says, "You hem me in-- behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. [...] If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

Please be praying for me as I start this next chapter of my life. My parents and sisters will be living in Colorado while I'm at Liberty for my first year, which is a lot closer than China. So, I'm very thankful for that. But it will also be a big transition for my family as I won't be there and as they adjust to living in America, so please keep them in your prayers as well.

Time to turn the page and see what happens... :)

Hong Kong

About a week and a half ago, Torie and I had to fly to Hong Kong. My Chinese visa was about to expire, which meant I needed to leave country. So we went to HK and stayed with our dear friends, the Covingtons, while we awaited the processing of my new tourist visa.

We left on a Sunday morning and arrived in HK that same evening. As we walked out of security and into the area where people waited for their loved ones and friends, I was desperately trying to cover up my neck with my hair. For good reason.

I had a pretty large red spot on my neck. It was a sore... ringworm. We had been treating it with this extremely powerful healing shampoo. But instead of making it less obvious, it the shampoo had drawn out the ringworm around the small area and had made the skin around it extremely red. It honestly looked like a large hickey. It wasn't a hickey, but it looked like it. And I did not want people, even people I didn't know, getting the wrong impression. So, out I walked, trying to cover it with my hair (it was mucho painful), and gave Mikayla and Miriah Covington a hug. Of course the first thing that came to Mikayla's mind when she saw it was that it was a hickey. So I had to explain to her before her imagination went wild.

Then as we waited for the bus, they gave Torie and me our Octopus Cards. These cards each had money on them, and were to be used for buses, ferries, and sometimes small stores. After sitting for about ten minutes, we went outside to finish waiting for the bus. Luckily I noticed that my Octopus Card was missing. Miriah and Mikayla started freaking out 'cause they'd put a good amount of money on the card. I'm pretty sure I was more scared than they were though. Miriah went back inside and found it on the floor or on the seat I was sitting in, so all was good.

We rode the Airport Express bus back to the girls' house in their area of Discovery Bay. Then we ate at Subway for dinner. I got a 6-inch sandwich, but I probably could have gone for a foot-long. I had not really eaten all day. I'd had a banana before leaving for the airport, and a Starbuck's caramel frappachino in the Beijing airport. But other than that, I'd not eaten. ...Airplane food is not anywhere close to my list of favorite foods. At all. I'll just go without eating if it means I don't have to eat that food. ;) I did have a roll that was filled with bean-paste that was delicious. So, I finished my sandwich very quickly and filled up the rest of my stomach with two cookies and a cream soda.

About five years ago, Torie, Mikayla, Miriah, and I acted out and filmed our own silly version of "The Phantom of the Opera." It was extremely silly. Well I'd finally finished editing it on my computer, and had made it into a movie. I burned the movie on two discs (one for each of the Covington girls) and brought them with me to Hong Kong. We all decided to watch it that night. What can I say... It was a night full of laughter. Couldn't ask for much better.

The next day we decided to go to Hong Kong Disneyland. We probably would have gone on Wednesday had it not been for the fact that it was a holiday and there were supposed to be about half a billion people coming from Mainland China to Hong Kong. So we decided to go on Monday. The weather was good, so I'm glad we went. We rode all the rides (...all the good rides anyway): Space Mountain (we got the fast passes so we didn't have to wait long in line) twice, Grizzly Gulch, a ride in Toy Story Land, It's A Small World, and Astro Blasters. We also got our picture with Goofy. :D We were able to to go every show... "The Festival of the Lion King" and "The Golden Mickeys" and also an interactive theater show with Stitch. Oh, and we got to see the parade, too. By the time we finished everything, it was about 5:30 pm. This also meant that there was still about 2 1/2 hours before the fireworks and none of us really felt like sitting for 2 1/2 hours. So we just all went back to DB and had dinner.

"It's a Small World"

"The Golden Mickies" show

The parade. :) I loooove Eeyore and Tigger.

Simbaaaaa <3

"The Festival of the Lion King" show <3

On Tuesday we went swimming in the morning and then took a ferry to the main island in the afternoon. It started pouring down rain though, so we didn't stay for very long.

On Wednesday, I'm pretty sure Aunt Brenda and her friends tried to kill us. At 10:00 in the morning, we left on a hiking trip. Thank goodness it was cloudy and looked like rain so we only did the 1 1/2-hour hike instead of the 3-hour one. Unfortunately for me, I'd not been hiking in a very very long time, and this particular hike was pretty much straight up and straight down. Let's just say.. I found out just how out of shape I really was. We rewarded ourselves afterwards with yummy food. ;)

Thursday and Friday were probably the worst days I had in Hong Kong, only because I was sick with a headache and fever. I spent most of Thursday sleeping, and quite a bit of Friday as well. By Saturday, I was feeling a lot better. We watched American Idol auditions all day (...we needed to laugh) and then went to the main island to eat dinner with Miriah's friend Mark and another friend we'd met about four years back, Matthew. Matthew was a counselor at a TCK camp we all attended in 2009. After dinner, we all went up to a place called the Peak. It's pretty much the #1 location tourists go to in Hong Kong.

On Sunday, Counter Clockwise (our 4-girl band consisting of the Covington girls, Torie, and myself) performed a special a cappella song. The rest of the day was spent relaxing... It was our last day with the Covingtons.

All in all, it was a very good trip... I got my visa (though, not the kind I thought I was getting), and we had a wonderful time with the Covingtons. There were up and down moments... Last Fall, the Covingtons' had a loss in their family when their dad and husband passed away. They're still adjusting to their new lifestyle without him, and their grieving process if far from over. But God is giving them the strength to overcome different obstacles as they come. And He's also placed people in their lives who have helped them immensely. It was good to see God working like that in the lives of my friends. :)

Torie and I are now back in Yanji, and the Covingtons are not far behind us. They'll arrive in Yanji in about 2 weeks for Mikayla's graduation. Can't wait to see them again! :)

Land of Aloha

Aloha! Yes, yes, I'm back from the nice warm beaches of Hawaii!

We were gone from Yanji for two weeks, and had short stops in Beijing and South Korea on the way to and from Hawaii. So, the time actually spent in Hawaii was really only about a week long. We felt so abused... We were really suffering for Jesus. ;)

One of my favorite things we did in Hawaii was visit Pearl Harbor. My family is really into history, especially the history of our own country, so we were really excited about going. I have to say... I did not expect it to be such an emotional experience...

We first sat through a video with real footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I may or may not have shed a few tears, hehe... Then we took a boat out to the USS Arizona Memorial. The ship is now a coral reef, and in the water we could see bright fish swimming around. It felt slightly strange walking above an underwater cemetery...

Another fun thing we did at Pearl Harbor was explore a submarine. Pure awesomeness, right there. ;) I'm still trying to figure out how people moved around quickly on those things...

We also visited beaches. In fact, our guest house was right on the beach, so I was able to wake up every morning to the view of the waves crashing. Our beach adventures included snorkeling, swimming with sea turtles, playing pirate, and Hanissa squealing and shouting, "NAKED NAKED!" every time she saw a woman in a bikini.

...Oh yes... we had to teach her very quickly to keep quiet when she saw something like that... So, in the end, she simple got wide-eyed and pointed. What can I say, though? The child comes from a country where they dress very conservatively. The poor thing had never even seen my family members in tank-tops and shorts (because in Yanji, it's cold during the winter), much less seen people in swimsuits. Needless to say, it was amusing.

Between beaches, Pearl Harbor, shopping, "The Hobbit," and spending time with family, our time in Hawaii was wonderful. It was relaxing and warm and beautiful. I wouldn't have minded staying there an extra week, though I'm happy to be back home in China.