In China

So we are in China  its 12:33 am wednesday here, and 10:33 am tuesday in utah!  it's weird, everything is different.  I knew it would be different, but it is still shocking to see everything!  I used a squatter for the first time ever!  It's like a hole in the ground that you go to the bathroom in.  After the 4 hour flight to Detroit, then the 14 hour flight to Shanghai we had a hour and 40 minute train ride to Nanjing.  When we got to the train station I had to go to the bathroom, and so I told my dad, and he just laughed at me and handed me a little package,  I asked what it was and my dad said toilet paper, so I gave him a confused look, and my mom says its a squatter.  Squatters take talent let me tell you . . .  After the 18 hours of flying you are really done with traveling, so the train, even though it is the shortest travel time we had is just torture!  It was also on the train ride that I realized that my ankles are extremely swollen!  my knee also isn't thanking me after having to sit for so long.  It also hit me that everyone speaks Chinese, not English.  Obviously I already knew that, but it really hit today at the airport when they made an announcement in Chinese then English, and my mom said this is just a taste of what the next year will be like.  I don't know what to think yet. . .  I just have to have an open mind.  Tomorrow we get to see our house, and the school, so that will be really nice!  I am really looking forward to registering for classes, seeing the school theatre, and talking to the drama teacher.  We also have dinner planned for every night,  apparently people want to meet us.  I also realized today that blogger is blocked in china!  I already knew about Facebook, and you-tube, but not blogger.  Luckily because of working for Best Buy my dad can access everything, so I am just using his computer.  Oh you also cannot drink the water here either. . .  that's weird.  The people that work at the  hotel seem very nice though!  They met us at the door, and they seem willing to help us with anything we need.
I have some pictures, but they aren't transferring to my dad's computer, so they will go up when I get home.  Well I better get to bed!  I have a long day tomorrow!
Wish me luck!

". . . That thy light may be a standard to all the nations"

Today we had ward conference, and for young womens we had the stake young women and young mens presidents come and talk to us about the mutual theme for this year "Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations;" D&C 115:5.  When we first heard the theme we didn't know if we were moving yet, but as soon as I heard it back in January, It was an answer to my prayers, I knew that we were moving.  We are definitely going to be a "standard for the nations".  There was an expo at the school yesterday, and my dad went to it.  He said that there was 33 countries represented there, and there is a total of 44 countries that the students come from, and that he really realized that we are going to be a standard unto the nations.  

This is the sign my dad saw on the drama room door

This is good because at least I know that they have actual shows at the school, and that it is SHAKESPEARE! I just hope that the director is good, and the quality of the school is good, and that they have more than just one show (and that there will be shakespeare shows next year)

School theatre

He also sent us a picture of the school theatre.  It looks really nice.  I cannot wait till I get to come see it in april,  I will be going in about 3 weeks.  This should be a good experience, right?

Is the search over?

My dad has been doing some house hunting the past few days, and we think he might have found the one!  it has 5 bedrooms (and we were only expecting 3 or 4) which means I'd get my own room!  It is right across the street from the school, so we could walk there, it has a backyard (which a lot of the houses don't)  and the back yard looks really nice, even if it is tiny.  It has a washer, a dryer and a dishwasher, which many houses don't have.  It has two bathrooms both of which are kinda small, so we would need to work somethings out for getting ready in the morning.  But my dad sent us some pictures, and it seems really nice!  I hope it works out!

Well this puts a kink in things...

So I found out we will now be moving end of may. . .  We were planning to leave in june or july.  Ya that was a bit of a shocker! It does make it a little harder to move because now instead of almost no summer, I will really have no summer with my friends.  I am going to miss everyone sooo much when I move.  I have such good friends here, people whom I have known for such a long time, and now I just have to leave them all.  They are all such amazing people with such good standards.  I have such a strong support system here, and now I have to leave it sooner than I was expecting.  But I will manage.  I have to.  It will just take a lot of tears and time on my knees.  I can do this. . . Stay positive!

Good News

So I found out last night that in our ward in china there is a family with a 15 (16 in July) year old girl named Mikayla (but she goes by Bella)!  I am soo glad to know that I will not be completely alone there.  It is a huge blessing to know there will be one other person my age.  She is home schooled though, so she won't go to my school, but still  it is really relieving to know I'll have some one there who will get me, and know my values and standards, and who is in a somewhat similar situation.  Maybe China won't be so bad?  I've just got to look at it as an adventure. . . I will have experiences and memories that most people never have the opportunity to have.  I guess, in a way, I am super lucky.

Change. . .

So a lot has changed, and will be changing.  as Thomas S. Monson said "The most common thing is change."  That couldn't be truer than true,  but China wasn't a change I was expecting. . .  It will be hard, it will be different, it will be almost no drama,   church will be different (but at least there is a branch)   It will be a "whole new world" It definitely will be an adventure, and a great opportunity even if it is one of the hardest things I will probably ever have to do.  I am just so glad I have my Heavenly Father on my side throughout all of this.  I don't think know I wouldn't be able to make it through with out Him.  I have found so much strength through reading my scriptures and praying.  It has really been a testimony builder, one that will be needed in China.  The branch meets in a hotel, and the two times my dad has been they have just watched videos.  You are only aloud to bring  set of scriptures for yourself, and your not aloud to share the gospel with anyone.  A large majority of my conversations with friends have something to do with religion, and my faith influences my choices everyday.  It will be different to not be in the bubble I call Highland.  even if I cannot come right out and say it, I will try to teach through example.  I really think there is someone there who we need to help in some way or someone who needs to help us.  Why else would best buy hire a guy with a family of 8 knowing they have to pay to move all of us out there when there are other qualified people who could do the job?  Everything happens for a reason, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us.

I am still having a hard time digesting the fact that I might not have drama for a whole year.  theatre is my life.  If you know me even slightly, it is not hard to figure out.  and from the things I have heard the drama program does not sound very promising.  drama classes cut off at 10th grade.  They do have a drama club, but it doesn't sound very promising.  they do have a "really big theatre"  though (It is about the size of Lone Peaks. . . ).  but who knows I might be a part of something amazing there.

Even though I have a lot of negative feelings about moving to China, and I often voice those, I am excited to have this experience.  It will really help me grow and know who I am.  It will give me a big dose of reality to leave the "bubble".

My dad leaves tomorrow.   The rest of us do not leave until June or July. . .  It still doesn't seem real.  I know I keep saying it but it doesn't seem real when I say my daddy is leaving, or I am moving. . . It just doesn't.  It's like some dream, or a story we invented, but it's not.  It is reality.  Even though my dad and I often disagree on most everything, it doesn't change the fact that I love him, and I am going to miss him.

Change. . .  a word that never had much meaning until now . . .
Wish me luck.  I might just need it.