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Lessons from Daddy

Today is Father's Day. And I have the best father. (And mother)



Yes, the most recent picture I have is from my high school graduation 3 years ago.

Today I was reminded of one of the wisest things I have learned from my father, yet I often forget to apply it to my life. It goes something like this:

Never assume--it only makes an ass of u and me.

It's hard to not assume things. At a certain point, it could possibly be seen as insulting not to assume. For instance, my roommates and I make dinner for each other. We have it all scheduled out. I don't need them asking me every week, "So, are you making dinner tonight?" Of course I am, like every other Tuesday night. Instead, they can just say "What's for dinner?" Of course, that's only acceptable under the right circumstances and relationship. So, I still say that the idiom holds true for general purposes.

What are some other valuable lessons I learned from my dad? That most people are idiots. That my mom is the queen. That the best way to train a dog is to hide outside at night with a hose and spray him down when he howls. That I can do anything I want--not in a spoiled way, in an achieve-your-dreams way. That a good stereo makes you a lot happier. That honesty is the best policy. That hard work pays off. That love is the most important thing there is.

I love you Daddy!

Back in the U.S.S.A.

For the last three or so weeks in China, everyone started hypothesizing about what the first thing they would do or eat in America would be. My fantasies involved a never-ending milkshake and bowl of cereal, followed by a shower to clean China off of me. Though this wasn't exactly what happened, the reality was pretty great, too.

My fabulous roommate Lauren picked me up from the airport and we went to Cafe Rio. One pork taco, please, with beans and rice. Oh how I have missed Mexican food. Then we went to Lauren's sisters welcome home party (she was in London for the semester), however both of us were feeling pretty dirty and tired. We stayed long enough to say hello, eat some Digestives, aka fiber disguised in cookie form, and had a root-beer float. Root-beer is, in fact, my favorite soda, so it doubled to welcome me home as well. Back at Lauren's house, the nice shower DID happen, and then our old roommate, Cami, came over and made cookies with us. They were delicious...and so was the dough.

The next day, we ran errands, went shopping, saw Robin Hood (could anyone else play that role besides Russell Crowe? Serious question), ate dinner, and went to our roommate, Jocelyn's wedding reception! She was beautiful, of course, and happy as can be.

Next day, wisdom teeth extraction. Read this possible explanation for the functionality and decline in use for wisdom teeth by clicking HERE. I feel great though. They were really fast, I only had three, and as far as I can tell, I have absolutely no swelling. The unfortunate part is that after my surgery, I slept from about 1-4, and now I am having serious troubles falling asleep...it being nearly 2 a.m. This is not helping me overcome jet lag.

Maybe I'll catch up on some Office episodes until I'm tired...

Two more days!

The Mongolian Grasslands

What does one do in the grasslands of Mongolia?

How about almost get blown away from the intense wind when you step off the bus; hang out in a yurt with cheese and crackers; watch a man kill, skin, gut, and cut the lamb you will be eating for lunch; watch them make sausage out of the intestines; take a walk around the yurt village and look out over the short grasslands; gorge yourself on the delicious barbeque lamb ribs covered in spices; take a voyage to the communal toilet hole; hold a baby lamb; start getting pumped to ride a horse but then resort to riding an ATV again because all the horses were snatched up by everyone else; overcome your fears of ATV's due to past experiences; almost get stranded in the Mongolian wayside because the chain broke off and got stuck; find a ditch full of alcohol bottles and rummage through for a beautifully decorated one; come back windblown and dirty, loving this once-in-a-lifetime experience your just had.


At least, that's what I did.

The Final Shabang

We had our final cultural exchange in China on Friday. We spent all day rehearsing, lighting, and spacing on the stage that we were performing on! It was fun to be on a stage instead of cramped in a small room with fold out chairs. They even had fog machines that they ended up using at their own will during the performance. At one point, I don't think I was even seen because I was dancing in a cloud of maple-smelling fog. This was the most real of a performance we have had. We performed first, then the University of Illinois, who had a few theater kids touring China, sang some songs, then the Mongolians did some pretty awesome things, including Beijing Opera!

It was especially fun for us because the school loaned us some of their costumes to wear for our traditional folk pieces. The major problem was that none of us really fit into their costumes--Americans are built a little bigger than Chinese. So we resorted to bits and pieces. We had a Tibetan costumes, which included rasta wigs


and we had Mongolian costumes.

Can you tell in these pictures how tired we all are? We are ready to come home. But it was a great show to end the trip. Oh, and we played the bamboo flute. We thought it was terrible, and I swear I heard people in the audience chuckling, but all the Chinese professors said it was very touching.

How Many Days Left?

I decided to chip off a nail for every day left in China. The number of green finger nails is the number of days left.