yep

Spring Break....yay

Well it seems that the spring break of Snow College is at last upon me! Normally in my life of the past (aka Germany) spring break would mean another magical adventure off to some magical country where we would have a magical week doing magical things. This week it means....absolutely nothing. I'm not happy about it at all, its more of a depressing idea. I just wish I was close enough to home to be able to run off and see my parents for a week like EVERYONE in Ephraim has now done. Oh well, I guess I can catch up on sleep? I don't even know. Suggestions are welcome. My current plan is to stay in Ephraim until Tuesday and then go to Delta where I will be I don't know exactly but I guess we will see. As of now the only day where I know what I'm going to be doing is next Saturday where me and Mikala are doing a yard sale at my sister's house to try and make some money for China. Our fundraising is going painfully slow....as in we have gotten no donations to our website or anything. It is going to take a miracle to be able to raise enough money by August. Fingers crossed. Hopefully we can get school supplies donated as well, because we have to take a full suitcase full of supplies for lessons. eek. Anyway I'm going to go get back to my tight schedule of events aka nothing. Actually just kidding I have to go to Walmart and spend 20 bucks on a charger because I am an idiot and when I was vacuuming my room, the vacuum decided to eat my cord and spit it into a million pieces so thats wonderful isn't it? And the one thing I had planned today fell through so that's awesome. ughhhhhhhhh. Spring Break is lovely isn't it? Ok, this is turning into complainer central, but oh well. Deal with it. I'm gonna go now, Ciao internet.

-XOXO-

Best Friends Appreciation Post

This weekend was the most fun that I have had since being here at Snow College. It started off being quite awful and frustrating. On Thursday night for silly reasons we stayed up all night....literally...no sleep. NONE. So Friday was a hard day of dragging my tired body around to my classes but I was excited because I was going to be leaving to go to a cousin's gathering of some sort up in Orem. However, my car decided that it did not want to go to that so it got mad and wouldn't start. I thought it was the battery at first so I tried to jump it but that didn't work and as I was sitting on the curb by my car being confused and nice guy came over to try to help me figure out what was up. He determined that it was the starter that was broken but he couldn't actually locate the starter in my car so he couldn't do anything to fix it but I do appreciate the fact that a complete stranger tried to help me out for like 45 minutes on a hot Friday afternoon. Thank you random stranger! Anyway so I called Erik and he said that he could come down on Saturday and fix it (YAY!!!) so unfortunately there was no going to Orem anymore but I was glad that at least I could get it fixed the next day. So I went home and crashed at 6:30pm because I was struggling after that all nighter! Then the next day Erik came and fixed my car yayyayay! I love my brother, he is pretty much awesome that he would come and help his pathetic little sis fix her car. Then after Erik and Amanda and I went to Chinese for lunch and that was delicious and I almost got Erik to admit that Sip It! was better than Sodalicious (which it so is). Then we went for a gander around the temple grounds and then came back to Ephraim and then they had to leave sadly. Right after they left, Lainna texted me and said she wanted to go to a movie, so we spontaneously decided to go to Cinderella in Provo and then stay at Marina's house in Heber for the night. Half an hour later we were on the road! The drive up was pretty much hilarious we were all in a slightly ridiculous mood and could not stop laughing and singing our lungs out. Then we got to the mall, shopped a little, and went to see Cinderella which was pretty magical not gonna lie it took me back to my childhood. It also made me really sad because I just want a Prince Charming :'( haha. Then we drove to Marina's house and got there at around 12:30 and we just sat on her bed talking about pretty much nothing for hours and hours, not to mention playing with her cute dogs which are the tiniest little dogs I have ever seen! The next day we got up and had a delicious breakfast and then Marina showed us around Heber a little bit. At around 5ish we left Heber and started the drive back to Ephraim. On the way back you have to go through Provo Canyon and there is a beautiful big lake just plopped in the middle and we stopped there for like an hour and that was probably my favorite part of the whole little mini trip. I don't know something about the beautiful atmosphere and the fact that we had just had the best day ever made me so so glad and grateful that I met these girls!! Honestly I don't know how I would go through life without them, they are probably the best friends I've ever had (along with Ashlynne of course). I'm just so glad I found such amazing friends here in Ephraim because I am so shy and bad at making friends! Anyway that was basically my weekend and it was basically perfection. Be jealous. Now I have to go a write a paper that I procrastinated haha. Enjoy these pictures of our faces.

Friday morning when we were struggling to stay awake.

The pretty temple.

At the start of the trip.

Shopping in Provo. We found floppy hats!

Look how small and cute!

 Recreating the scene from Titanic....badly

Lainna-"We found a lake!"

It was pretty windy, thats the explanation for our strange faces.

-XOXO-

Motivational Monday....on a Sunday night.

Just a thought. I don't really have any wise words to say about this but I do really think its true. Negative thoughts can be so powerful but I think I just have to remember that the only reason that they have power is because I let them. I need to just let go of the negativity and focus my life on the positve.

-XOXO-

A little information

So on the ilp website there is some info about Ningbo so I decided to put it here for anyone who wants to read more about it. :)

Ningbo is one of China’s oldest cities, with a history dating back to 4800 B.C.  In 1381, the city was given its present name of Ningbo, which means “calm wave.” The Chinese like to tell you that Ningbo was one of the birthplaces of rice planting. Ningbo is located in the Zhejiang province on the coast of the East China Sea. The city has historically been a major trading port, since there are three large rivers which meet in the city.  The population of Ningbo is 5.43 million. About half of the population lives in the urban area and the rest live in the outlying communities.

Ningbo has a subtropical monsoon climate. It is very hot and humid there in the summer, but can get very cold in the fall and winter. You would be well advised to bring both warm and cool clothes. Bring lots of layers that you can wear during the winter months. It can be cold even indoors. It can also rain quite a bit (you will probably get to see a monsoon!), so bring a rain jacket.

Downtown

There is a lot to do and see in Ningbo. The city is full of beautiful parks and bridges which are fun to discover.  There is a children’s amusement park where you can take the kids from the school.  A nearby lake has paddleboats that you can rent. Downtown Ningbo has many Western restaurants (McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, and even a Subway) where you can eat at when you just need a break from Chinese food.

You can take a bus from the school on bus 330 to downtown Ningbo. Turn left out of the school gates and there will be a bus stop a little ways down. Take 330 to the very last stop to reach downtown. Once you get off the bus and to the main road go to the light and turn left and cross the street.  Head straight down the road till you get to a place called Shoe City. (Don’t buy shoes there.  It is expensive.) There is an escalator that goes under ground.  Take it down.  It gives you three options.  One is Tianyi square.  The other one is Lady Fashion square. They will take you to different parts of downtown Ningbo.

Shopping

There are many barter markets that are fun to shop at around Ningbo. The best place to shop in Ningbo would be what we nicknamed The Pagoda Place.  It is by Tianyi.  In the underground walkway, head to the Lady Fashion Square.  Walk down the street.  Cross the small road and you will see it.  It has a golden statue of the Jade Emperor.  The top floor is the cheapest and there are lots of clothes on the first floor.  Good rule of thumb: if it has a price you can’t barter, if it doesn’t you can.  Never go for the first price they give you.

Money

ILP recommends bringing debit and/or credit cards and withdrawing cash at an ATM as needed.

Travel

Shanghai is across the bay and about 3 hours by bus. Beijing is a 5 hour ride on a bullet train and about 10 on a regular train. There are many places to visit, talk with your coordinator for ideas of places to visit on weekends.

Ride elephants in Shanghai over the weekend.

Church

LDS volunteers in Ningbo are about of the Shanghai China International Discrict (SCID). You’ll have a couple different options for attending LDS church services. In the past there have been LDS members who are not affiliated with ILP living in Ningbo and so volunteers have held a mini group church meeting with them. If they are still living there during your semester, you will be in contact with them. You are also welcome to attend the Skype branch which covers most of China and is held online. There is also a branch in Shanghai that you are welcome to attend. Since it is a few hours away, volunteers usually attend every once in awhile throughout the semester. The branch President, President Larkin is a great resource if you need any help. He can give you directions to the branch in Shanghai, invite you to any single adult events, and he may even come out to Ningbo to visit you once during the semester.

148 days....

So many feels at the moment. I have been blog stalking people who have been to China with ILP for the past three hours. Now I feel so scared, anxious, excited, ecstatic, terrified, inadequate, overjoyed and probably every other emotion in the world. Wow. I just realized that this is going to be so hard. Like extremely hard. I mean I know that just because you are traveling it doesn't mean life is perfect but whew after reading all these blogs about people who did the same exact thing I am about to do in approximately 148 days, its just overwhelming. I'm scared about teaching! What if I'm a terrible terrible teacher? eek. I mean I know that after I get there and get the hang of teaching it will most likely be fine but just thinking about the first day of walking into a classroom of cute kids who don't know what you are saying half the time just absolutely terrifies me! I hope I can be a good teacher. And then the vacations don't sound like dream life either. From what all these bloggers said vacations are 50% awful awful traveling to get somewhere, 10% gross bathrooms and hostels and then 40% absolutely-utterly-trip-of-a-lifetime-wouldn't-want-to-miss-it. So there's that. Also China seems to incclude TONS of hiking. So I guess I will need to invest in some good shoes or something (cough cough, please mom?). Another thing is that apparently there are a LOT of mosquito's, so much so that you have to sleep in mosquito net tent things.....wowza. However with all of the scary stuff aside I am so so glad and grateful to be going on this amazing journey that I am sure will be the adventure of a lifetime. I can't wait.

-XOXO-

Weekly Song Obsession

I have recently been obsessed with a band called Us the Duo and I have had a song of theirs stuck in my head and it is actually such a positive fun song so I just wanted to share the lyrics because I love it.

 Smile and Keep Your Head Up -Us the Duo

Spread your arms out and lift them high
Run like a airplane in the sky
We got worries but we ain't got time
To worry life away

Call our friends up and tell them too
And let them know why you feeling blue
The troubles they get a hold on you
When you worry life away

Lets a run a little bit faster
Hair blowing in the wind
There's freedom here all around us
We got to breathe it in
So just smile and keep your head up
Smile and keep your head up
Smile and keep your head up high
Don't worry life away

Giving up is an easy out
Then you got nothing to pray about
Maybe sailing smooth but your sinking down
When you worry life away

Grab a hold of your burdens why
Don't you throw it in up to the sky
Surrender them to your Maker
And kiss your worries goodbye

Lets a run a little bit faster
Hair blowing in the wind
There's freedom here all around us
We got to breathe it in
So just smile and keep your head up
Smile and keep your head up
Smile and keep your head up high
Don't worry life away

Smile and keep your head up
Smile and keep your head up
Smile and keep your head up
Smile and keep your head up
Smile and keep your head up
Smile and keep your head up
Smile and keep your head up
Smile and keep your head up

Motivational Monday (ish)

So haha since I've forgotten to post for like weeks at a time, I'm sort of combining two ideas in one. They are sort of related to each other...ish. 

Lately I have been getting a lot of practice with this. I have two friends who have depression and have been having a hard time recently. Twice this week two different people have called me and asked me to come over because they were in a really bad place. I went over of course and talked through things with them and tried to make things better.Afterwords I really felt like I had done something important and made a difference in their lives, at least for that day. I feel like it's a really important thing to notice when someone is going through a hard time and to try help them. I know I try really hard to cheer people up and make them feel valued and loved, hopefully I can accomplish that, if nothing else. Basically pay it forward. 

On the other hand. Always being the one who is always there for people can be so exhausting.Not that I would ever ever regret helping somebody on a dark day in their life but lately I've realized something about myself in terms of interacting with my friends. I am a pushover. I am a follower. I will do anything to make someone else happy, even if I'm not. I don't stand up for myself. I avoid confrontation whenever I can. I am a really great friend, I will spend hours upon hours listening to your life drama and ask nothing in return. I am really good at listening and giving advice. I don't really fully understand if this is a good or a bad thing about me.Because of this I always end up getting to know people really well really fast but I don't think anyone ever gets to know me. I think it might be a bad thing. I feel as if my whole life especially in terms of friends I have always been the stable one who is always there for the other person no matter what. I sometimes feel like my friendships are one sided, I mean don't get me wrong, I love my friends and we have so much fun together and I wouldn't trade them for anything but I feel like I am always the one listening and never speaking. Honestly there is absolutely no one in this whole world who I feel like I can talk to about anything, and that makes me feel really sad and lonely sometimes. I think it is definitely a flaw of mine, I feel like whenever I talk about myself I am being selfish or something. I definitely have my selfish moments but I've realized that talking about my thoughts and feelings should not be something I feel selfish doing. What is wrong with me? Why can't I just speak without worrying all the time? I mean I've always known this about myself but I've realized that I HATE it. I just want to be the kind of person that can blab on and on about themselves for hours at a time without realizing that they are annoying. Well ok maybe not that kind of person exactly but I just wish I felt like I could talk to someone. I have a lifetime of feelings and thoughts that are just stuck floating around my head with nowhere to go. I just feel like no one is interested so I always push the conversation towards the other person. Anyway....just something I've been thinking about recently. Maybe now that I'm really aware of this fact I can consciously just try to not do...all that ^.

Just thoughts. I will probably read this back over in a month and think I was being silly but for now this is how I'm feeling.

-XOXO-