Well hello. I'm back! I've successfully gotten four of my wisdom teeth removed, and it was a million thousand katrillion times better than the first attempt. For starters, the teeth actually got removed this time. :)
The hospital was ok, and I had some wonderful friends who gave up time from their busy lives to come visit. I don't remember a thing about the surgery. I woke up back in my hospital room, tried valiently to stay awake like they told me to, ate some pudding, and came home. It's a huge relief to have that all over with.
I could say more about the rather painful IV starting experience, or the funniness of the oral surgery interns who were assigned to my care because they spoke English, and how they always appeared in groups of three to do Very Important Things like measure how big my mouth is and things like that, but... I won't go into detail. I rate the whole experience a 8 out of 10. 2 points off for the IV experience.
I'm now admiring my beautiful bruised jaw. I don't think I've ever had a large bruise on my jaw. Better add that to my list of firsts. Haha. You think I'm kidding?
Well, while I'm writing about small goings-ons in my life, I got a package today (thanks MOM!) which always makes people go ooo ahhh (getting packages is a very VERY VERY rare experience for me..in fact, this is only my.. um.. second? package since I've been in Taiwan. No, third? and package #'s 1 and 2 were things I ordered from Amazon or somewhere). So I have a happy.
So, most of you know it's almost my Birthday. Every year, 'round my Birthday, I start having these things I like to call, Thinkings. Usually the Thinkings result in a nice detailed list of things I need to do in the coming year to Improve My Life. Things like, routine exercise, eat lots of vegetables, memorize passages of Scripture, Get up early, and things like this. Good Things. Yes. And then I am very Good for about a month, post-Birthday. So by the time most people are starting to work on their Lists (or as most people call them, new year's resolutions), I am failing mine. *sigh*
Well, so this year, my Thinkings went sort of like this: I started Thinking the other day, that there are so many things I used to love doing, hobbies or activities, that I don't do at all anymore. Really, since moving to Alaska over six years ago. I got busy with Real Life, like having a job and teaching Sunday School, and volunteering and stuff, that I lost track of all the little things I enjoy doing. Things like, taking pictures. Like, I still take photos of my friends or whatever, but nothing I used to do in highschool, or even college. I used to really be into photography, but somewhere along the way I just stopped taking so many pictures. Along with that, I used to really love scrapbooking. Saving memories in a creative way was so much fun for me. I haven't touched a scrapbook in years. I'm doing well just to upload the few photos I do take onto Facebook. Also, sports or outdoor activities like hiking, or playing soccer or volleyball. Those things are harder because you kind of have to find someone else to do them with, but even in Alaska, I played "Wallyball" with my co-workers once a week and I really looked forward to Wallyball night. In highschool I'd go running with friends, in college I played on the girl's basketball team for a year, intermural soccer and volleyball, and I loved it. And now, I'm doing really really well to jog for like ten minutes down my street. It's very sad to me.
And COOKING! I love cooking. and baking. I did some in Alaska, but not as much as Id've liked. And reading. I used to read and read and read all the time, all throughout highschool and college. all kinds of books, novels, trilogies.. Somewhere along the way after that, I just stopped.
And I was thinking about how sad I was that I didn't do these things anymore, because I want to. I tell myself I don't have any time, but really, people make time for things that are important to them. This is the truth.
So, this year, in addition to all the normal things I need to do to Improve my Life, I am going to make a big effort to bring back some of the joys that these hobbies used to bring me. Starting with this, I'm going to invest in a new camera and this time, I'm actually going to use it. You can keep me accountable! Ask me where all my pictures are. :)
This last year was kind of a blur for me, and I think I spent most of the year trying just to keep up with myself. I think I've finally settled here and become comfortable with the area, the people, and myself in this culture. and I have big plans for next year and I'm really, REALLY excited about them. Instead of working for Jackson 5, next year I plan to take Chinese classes at a local university. I'll be applying for school in the spring, along with a scholarship that will allow me to study full-time without having to work. Even if I don't get the scholarship, I can make it working part-time, if I'm diligent about saving now.
I had a whole bunch of really insightful, wonderful, deep things to say here, but I got really tired all of a sudden and I think I just lost one of my stitches. Aahh!
Anyway, fellow bloggers, please help me to pray for my Chinese study plan for next year. I feel this is the direction the Lord is leading me, so I'm gonna go for it. I'm also just very recently starting to become more involved with my cell group here, and next year will also be attending more of the Banner discipleship training classes, so I'm expecting next year to be one of tremendous spiritual growth, change, and happiness.
OH and also, over the next couple of weeks I will be strongly presenting the Gospel in my younger class, so.. that's a prayer point too. I'm hoping most of them understand enough to commit their lives to Christ, even at such a young age. Help me pray for that too, ok?
THANKS! I'm going to bed. No. first i'm going to check out this stitches situation. Ok. Later! :)
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
I'm back!
First of all, my apologize for slacking off in the blogging department! By the time I remember I even have a blog, I'm too tired to sit down and type about stuff that happened in recent weeks, and by the time I finally do get around to it (like..um..now), I forgot half the stuff that happened. oops.
But I'll do my very best. Let's see.. well, as you all are well aware, last week (no..week before last? no. last week. ? ) was Thanksgiving, thus we appropriately had a Thanksgiving gathering (gathering = 32 people in our modestly sized apartment) the Sunday before Thanksgiving. One of the guys in our cell group picked up a turkey, complete with the head and neck
(side note * I may agree with the Asians on this one - the turkey looks more complete with the head and neck even after it's cooked. I always secretly thought the headless, neckless, tidy little turkeys and chickens in the States were kind of...sadly unwhole. This turkey was like "look I'm proud to be a whole turkey even though I'm cooked". Anyway, there I gave you a sneak peek into Sharon's logical little world... )
And we managed to whip up (no pun intended) some mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry yummy stuff, and other appropriate Thanksgiving fare, such as black peppered soybeans, steamed water chestnuts, red bean ... um..deserty stuff, cream puffs, dumpings, and ... sweet potatoes.
?HAHAHAHA Samson was standing on my Bible just now and he slid off and scared himself. That was funny. He looks rather miffed.
Dumplings. Not dumpings. I re-read my last paragraph. Oops.
anyway, if you follow this blog, you may recall that a few months ago I attempted to have my wisdom teeth removed in clinic with a local anaesthetic and it didn't work out so well. I have kind of put it off since then, and lost contact with that dentist (who I'm quite certain never wants to see me again), and so was wondering how I was to go about getting my wisdom teeth removed. I finally brought it up as a prayer request in cell group, and one of the girls in my prayer group was like, "Oh, my boyfriend's a dentist. Why don't you talk to him?" It turned out he was also in cell group that day. He helped me with an appointment at his hospital and they scheduled a surgery for me. In two days. This Saturday. Augh. While I am very grateful to the Lord for working all this out for me, and I learned a good lesson that I should just pray first about my problems instead of worrying about them and save myself all that mind trouble, I'm not very excited about this Saturday.
I have been googling "wisdom teeth surgery" which, by the way, is a terrible way to ease your nerves before a surgery. Yikes.
But! at least it will be over and done with and I never have to think about it again, and when I wake up in the mornings, my teeth won't hurt anymore!
So, enough about that. I took some pictures of my kids, but I'm too tired to upload anything. I can't think of anything else interesting to say. I really do have a great, fun, interesting life full of little adventures every day, but I can never remember them when it's time to blog. My apologies! Oh, yes I do remember one little adventure:
So local Taiwan elections were last Saturday, and for about a month prior to the election day, the campaigners were very very active. By active, I mean driving around in little loud blue trucks blaring campaign advertisements and little tunes that are supposed to make you want to vote for whoever. I don't understand this. Being catapaulted into consciousness at 8:00 in the morning when I was enjoying a nice deep sleep with a good dream does not make me friendly towards anybody. They drive by everything everywhere all times of day, making it hard to teach at times and if you get stuck behind them on the road, they are quite slow. Anyway, the few days right before election day were very lively. The blue trucks increased in number on the roads, and in addition to the normal little loud blue trucks, there were large open blue trucks with people in the back, bonging away on drums, and launching rockets into the sky (like bottle rockets with whistles, and the occiasional person hopping out of the truck to ignite a small string of firecrackers in the middle of the road. And people, walking without a care in the world for the scooters and cars trying to sqeeze past them (and around them, through them, hopefully not on them), in parade fashing in appropriately coloring shirts or vests and carrying flags. I actually had a thought whilst I was stuck in the midst of one such parade (complete with many small loud blue trucks, large open drum-bonging trucks, scooters laden with firecrackers, police escort, and marching people without a care for traffic), that it felt a lot like being in downtown Parimaribo on New Year's Eve day. I recall waiting at a 92 second red light (there are countdowns at the lights so you know exactly how much time you spend at red lights every day), breathing in the scent of "recently exploded firecrackers", and imagining myself thousands of miles away in Suriname. It was a nice 92 seconds, (probably not for my lungs though).
Ok, I'm really really quite tired so with this I will leave you. Hopefully my next post will be full of great adventures and a succesful wisdom tooth removal story.
Goodnight!
But I'll do my very best. Let's see.. well, as you all are well aware, last week (no..week before last? no. last week. ? ) was Thanksgiving, thus we appropriately had a Thanksgiving gathering (gathering = 32 people in our modestly sized apartment) the Sunday before Thanksgiving. One of the guys in our cell group picked up a turkey, complete with the head and neck
(side note * I may agree with the Asians on this one - the turkey looks more complete with the head and neck even after it's cooked. I always secretly thought the headless, neckless, tidy little turkeys and chickens in the States were kind of...sadly unwhole. This turkey was like "look I'm proud to be a whole turkey even though I'm cooked". Anyway, there I gave you a sneak peek into Sharon's logical little world... )
And we managed to whip up (no pun intended) some mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry yummy stuff, and other appropriate Thanksgiving fare, such as black peppered soybeans, steamed water chestnuts, red bean ... um..deserty stuff, cream puffs, dumpings, and ... sweet potatoes.
?HAHAHAHA Samson was standing on my Bible just now and he slid off and scared himself. That was funny. He looks rather miffed.
Dumplings. Not dumpings. I re-read my last paragraph. Oops.
anyway, if you follow this blog, you may recall that a few months ago I attempted to have my wisdom teeth removed in clinic with a local anaesthetic and it didn't work out so well. I have kind of put it off since then, and lost contact with that dentist (who I'm quite certain never wants to see me again), and so was wondering how I was to go about getting my wisdom teeth removed. I finally brought it up as a prayer request in cell group, and one of the girls in my prayer group was like, "Oh, my boyfriend's a dentist. Why don't you talk to him?" It turned out he was also in cell group that day. He helped me with an appointment at his hospital and they scheduled a surgery for me. In two days. This Saturday. Augh. While I am very grateful to the Lord for working all this out for me, and I learned a good lesson that I should just pray first about my problems instead of worrying about them and save myself all that mind trouble, I'm not very excited about this Saturday.
I have been googling "wisdom teeth surgery" which, by the way, is a terrible way to ease your nerves before a surgery. Yikes.
But! at least it will be over and done with and I never have to think about it again, and when I wake up in the mornings, my teeth won't hurt anymore!
So, enough about that. I took some pictures of my kids, but I'm too tired to upload anything. I can't think of anything else interesting to say. I really do have a great, fun, interesting life full of little adventures every day, but I can never remember them when it's time to blog. My apologies! Oh, yes I do remember one little adventure:
So local Taiwan elections were last Saturday, and for about a month prior to the election day, the campaigners were very very active. By active, I mean driving around in little loud blue trucks blaring campaign advertisements and little tunes that are supposed to make you want to vote for whoever. I don't understand this. Being catapaulted into consciousness at 8:00 in the morning when I was enjoying a nice deep sleep with a good dream does not make me friendly towards anybody. They drive by everything everywhere all times of day, making it hard to teach at times and if you get stuck behind them on the road, they are quite slow. Anyway, the few days right before election day were very lively. The blue trucks increased in number on the roads, and in addition to the normal little loud blue trucks, there were large open blue trucks with people in the back, bonging away on drums, and launching rockets into the sky (like bottle rockets with whistles, and the occiasional person hopping out of the truck to ignite a small string of firecrackers in the middle of the road. And people, walking without a care in the world for the scooters and cars trying to sqeeze past them (and around them, through them, hopefully not on them), in parade fashing in appropriately coloring shirts or vests and carrying flags. I actually had a thought whilst I was stuck in the midst of one such parade (complete with many small loud blue trucks, large open drum-bonging trucks, scooters laden with firecrackers, police escort, and marching people without a care for traffic), that it felt a lot like being in downtown Parimaribo on New Year's Eve day. I recall waiting at a 92 second red light (there are countdowns at the lights so you know exactly how much time you spend at red lights every day), breathing in the scent of "recently exploded firecrackers", and imagining myself thousands of miles away in Suriname. It was a nice 92 seconds, (probably not for my lungs though).
Ok, I'm really really quite tired so with this I will leave you. Hopefully my next post will be full of great adventures and a succesful wisdom tooth removal story.
Goodnight!
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