Beautiful Things

Things are on the up I think.  No more tears for now.  I'm feeling more rested which helps me see things positively.  Sleep makes the biggest difference for me here.  No sleep leads to severe culture shock.   But when I'm rested, everything seems fine and dandy.  I understand the importance of sleep and I have plenty of time to do just that right now.

The other day I got to go to my 'sister's' house with some friends and a few other people.  I think there were 11 of us total.  She had sent me pictures of what things looked like and I couldn't wait to go.  The wild flowers are everywhere and the weather is just perfect.

We take this picture every time I go to her house.

She had so much family over visiting.  I hadn't been there since summer of 2011 and every time I had gone there it was just her and her parents.  To see it filled was fun.  We played games, one of which I'm pretty sure was a drinking game, but we used water.  She said it was mountain water, and of course I believe her, but I said many yarps over it hoping that I wouldn't spend the next few days with the 'China Slimfast' because of that decision. (I'm fine.  All good.)

We then went wandering around town for maybe 2 hours.  We walked down to the lake, to her elementary school, through tea fields, and back to her house where we had dinner before heading back to town.

Titanic re-enactment.

Tea field.

It was a lovely day.  I did get a massive sunburn though, like beautiful dark red on my chest.  First sunburn of the year: check.  Lesson learned: at 6,000 ft, in the bright sun, sunscreen is a must and not just a good idea.

And then today I decided I needed to leave my apartment.  I hadn't left in 2 days.  I know that sounds depressing/crazy/pathetic/lazy.  It is.  So I got out this morning.  The town is alive again!  Partially.  Half of the stores are open, people are out, it feels so good.  The new grocery store in town is open.  There's one just like it but it's further away and up a lot of hills.  This one is much closer, brand new, and beautiful!  I rode past it and then decided to turn around and check it out.  I may have teared up like I was stepping into Target for the first time in 7 months.  I'm so happy!  I didn't spend too much time checking out what they had.  I sort of assume it's the same as the other one, which I'm somewhat familiar with.  I rushed myself mostly out of fear that my beautiful fashion bike would get stolen.  I was so excited that I almost didn't care if it got stolen though.  Haha.  It's fine though.  The only downside to today is that my favorite milk tea place wasn't open :(

Lesson planning and movies are on my list for today.  I'm finding my little things to keep this place beautiful to me, and it's never very hard to do that.  Two more weeks until school starts again and my lesson planning should be 100% done by that time!  Feeling good!!!

Happy Saturday everyone :)