Life Fast Forward

Hi again, folks. I know you must be surprised to hear from me again so soon. I have managed to turn in some pretty hefty assignments in the past few days, so I'm giving myself a tiny break for tonight before the crunch begins again.

A part of me wants this semester to be over now! But then I am reminded of how I love my classmates and life here. Life is also fleeting, and I can't always be wishing toward the future. I want to enjoy here and now, even if it is filled with lots of statistical software and economics case studies that threaten to drive me insane...

Besides, life is also filled with awesome people, an enjoyable job, gorgeous scenery, a great church, and so many other blessings and challenges. Last night I was leaving work at city hall in the dark at 7 p.m. It was snowing beautiful, fluffy snowflakes and had accumulated on the roofs and grass during the day. All of downtown, including city hall, was lit up with white lights and pretty wreaths. I finally had some decent boots on and was feeling rather cute and festive. I've been feeling worn out, but I am glad I can still thank God for little glimpses of heaven... except I probably won't be wearing a winter coat in heaven.

Speaking of winter coats, another thing I'm so thankful for right now is heat inside! I spent the past two, long winters decked out in multiple layers of long underwear and outerwear that I had to wear outside and inside. Remember my stories of getting chillblains on my fingers and having frozen, white toes in China? I want to practically shout for joy every time I go into a warm building here. Maybe I'll forget about that soon, but I'm still counting my blessings! We take so many things for granted here in America.

I'm also thankful for people. I have spent this semester in a small "cohort" of people. We were assigned to the cohort, and have all the same classes together. I've grown quite fond of them, and will be sad to have different classes without them next semester. I've learned a lot from them, and respect them a lot. Our last classes together are next week. The following week we have finals.

And even thought it's been freezing, I've been walking the 40 minute walk home from campus instead of taking the city bus. It has given me a lot of opportunities to clear my mind and freeze my face off. Today I was thinking about some things in American culture that changed since I was away:

What's new and didn't exist before I left for China:
-Twitter
-The recession
-Justin Bieber
-Lady Gaga
-The Obama administration
-The smart phone craze
-Leggings
-Sarah Palin

What's old and doesn't exist anymore:
-The "poof" hairstyle
-The Bush administration
-Mercury, Pontiac, and Saturn cars
-Jobs

What persists and I wish would go away:
-Uggs
-Fake tans
-The U.S. deficit
-Annoying politics
-Aforementioned leggings
-Sarah Palin