one month in China.

To be honest with you, I have been sort of dreading this blog post. I don't really want to accept that it has been a month. It has been the best month and the absolute worst month. A lot has happened and it has been quite eventful, but I can't help but miss home :(

Homesickness strikes again and I have it every day, sometimes I have "good" days and sometimes I have "bad" days...it is strange to wake up every morning to wondering if it will be good or bad. I pray every morning that it is going to be a good day, that I will be strong enough to be the best person for this community, the best teacher, the best daughter and the best friend that I can be, all while some of these things having a gap of 10,000 miles. I have days where I think I am doing a horrible job for both back home and here, but something I try and fix everyday and something I pray will get better.

I love my classes, but they can be a pain, I am grateful that there are only 40 students! I would be dead if there were more!!! I have some great students and I have some that are not so great, a normal classroom! I have been having fun with them though, they seem to be enjoying my classes.

I have gotten close to some families around here and been interacting with them, it is nice to have some kind of family life around and getting to interact with them. I am excited to have people I can call friends here :D

This last weekend I got to see my friends the Geiss family, I met them in Nepal last summer. They were in Hong Kong for a Nepali conference and of course me being so close, I went right over to visit them! It was a much needed relaxing break, I feel as sometimes it becomes a little claustrophobic being here and its nice to run away. We got to Hong Kong pretty late and decided to just sit and visit and talk and that was a lot of fun! the next day was the day of hunting down all over Hong Kong and visiting! We went to Victoria Bay, ate some food, went to a few book shops and just got to interact with each other, it was a lot of fun and it was great to see them. I missed them a lot!

Today I met up with another girl from America and went to dinner and that was a lot of fun, it's always nice to meet people that are going through the same stuff that you are. It was bad sushi but a good talk and fun at an electronics store after haha!

Other than that nothing has really changed too much, I am dealing with a lot from back home that I won't discuss on here, but just pray for that. Pray for peace for me and to be better at patience, and also pray for that when it comes to my family. That there is a plan with the situation that has been handed to us, that they find where they are exactly needed. I have been struggling a lot and have had many days where I just wanted to get on the next flight to California. I am hoping it goes away soon, but it does not seem like it is going to leave me anytime soon. :/

Highs:
Hong Kong and getting to see the Geiss Family!
Skyping my parents more.

Lows:
The stuff going on back home.
Missing friends and not getting to Skype as much.
Homesickness.
Exhaustion.


Prayer Requests:
That I continue to stay in the word and ready daily.
That I can get used to my schedule and not be so exhausted.
I can not be so homesick...it really puts a damper on your day to day activities.
Keep loving these kids and people I interact with
Patience.

I miss and love you all.

with love,

Ashley

p.s sorry this blog post was such a downer, hopefully the next one is better :)