It has been quite a while since I have been on here, obviously, and a TON has happened. I went to Holland for Christmas, which was amazing and fantastic, mostly because I was hanging out with my family and the missionaries and Andrew (a friend from my family's ward). Then I came back to school, unfortunately didn't make the ballroom team or either of the gold classes (although I DID win 3rd place in Mambo at DanceSport in March, on my birthday, thank you very much), but this was probably a good things because I got a bit busy with my last semester and all. Which leads me to my most important piece of news: I GRADUATED COLLEGE! I know, I know, it's a freaking miracle. And I graduated with over a 3.0 GPA, too, which is even MORE astounding considering how bad I usually do during my winter semesters (as demonstrated with my 2.74 and 2.86 GPAs for the first two winter semesters I had. My third was a 3.02 and my fourth a 3.19. AND I graduated on time, too. I am a champion).
So now that I've moved out of Provo (and away from my HIDEOUS landlords), I'm back in Fairfield living with Kathy and Chris for the next month, and in the process of getting ready for China. Yeah, you read that right, CHINA. I still can't really believe it, either. I don't think it'll be real until I'm at the airport. My Chinese roommate Kexin hooked me up with a guy she knows back home that runs his own English-teaching business and got me a job as a teacher. It's a pretty sweet set-up, actually; I get a monthly salary (a little over $1200), along with free room and board AND food during the week. I'll pretty much only need to pay for food on the weekends, personal items like toiletries, and whatever traveling expenses that I have from going all over China and (hopefully) other countries. Kexin will be out in June for a couple of months, and a couple of our roommates from this year will be Thailand for a couple of months, so we're going to try and visit them while they're there; how cool would that be?! I'm becoming quite the world traveler. Mom and Dad are being very supportive of all this craziness; they're just happy I'm going to have a job to pay off my student loans with. They even encourage me to travel, and that they'll help with a bit of the interest on my loans. Of course, I don't want them to do that, so I think I'll end up staying longer than my already planned year there so I can make a bit of extra cash, for both loans a some money for a new car. I really hope I end up liking it, so I'll be more inclined to stay longer. I'm REALLY hoping I'll like it to stay long enough to save up money so I can get braces once I'm back in the States. I won't be on my parents' insurance anymore, so it will be much more expensive than if I were. I know my employer is eager to please so that I stay as long as possible (they like to keep their teachers there for as long as possible so the kids have consistency in teachers), so I'm sure I'll find just about everything to my satisfaction. I'll have internet there, so I'll still be able to Skype and blog and stuff (and if I download a good proxy, get on Facebook and Youtube haha), and my parents are even trying to figure out a phone situation for me. Luckily, I convinced my good friend Rachel to come and join me, so she'll be out in August sometime, where we'll live together and play with little Chinese kids everyday :) I don't think I would be so excited about this if she wasn't coming with me, so I'm grateful I convinced her to haha. We even have a couple of different options in regards to attending church, so I think we will be well set up there.
Unfortunately, I lost my passport in the midst of moving, so now I'm in the process of quickly getting another one, which unfortunately costs a ton of cash, but luckily my mummy had some saved up from VA benefits, so we're able to use that for it. I also have to start a new visa application, since my original one is to my old passport, and I lost my birth certificate so I have to get a new one of those, too. It's been a bit hectic, but we're making it work. I'm just grateful to be done with college and on my way to a fabulous opportunity to experience the world and a different culture.
Speaking of Chinese culture, can I just say I'm a bit scared of Chinese food? I mean REAL Chinese food, not the stuff they serve at Panda Express. As delicious and orange chicken is, it's not what I'll be eating in China; I've heard that there's a lot of seafood in China, which I'm okay with, so I'm thinking I'll be good. At least, I hope so. I'm just going to have to suck it up, because either I'll starve, or I'll gorge myself on rice and get super fat, which CANNOT happen. If anything, I want to try and LOSE weight while I'm in China, so let's hope I can somewhat accomplish that goal, even if it's just keeping weight off haha. I finally lost all of the weight I gained over the summer (thanks to ballroom), and although I'm not fat right now, I'm a bit curvy and could stand to lose a few pounds, so I at least need to keep weight off. Cross your fingers for me, everybody!
But alright, it's 2:36 AM as of this moment, and I'm SUPER tired now and have quite a bit to do tomorrow (mostly grading papers for Kathy to make some extra cash). But before I leave, of COURSE I need to do a Hottie of the Post! Today's lucky winner is Columbus Short.
Brotha is fiiiiiiiiine. There just isn't a picture that does him justice, honestly. He is a fantastic actor, as well as an amazing dancer - watch "Stomp the Yard" if you want to see (not the greatest movie, but his acting is great, and there's some awesome dancing. And eye candy. Ahem.). Part of my liking for him is his charisma on screen - he is chock full of it. He's currently on the ABC drama "Scandal," and since watching it I've remember how freaking hot he is. So therefore, he is my flavor of the post.
Anyway, now it's 2:48. At this rate I won't wake up until 3 in the afternoon tomorrow, so it's time for me to go. Love you all!
