Apartment Living

Right now I still have the apartment to myself. This is good and bad. I don't have anyone else to answer to, I can get up when I want, shower when I want, cook when I want, have the temperature set at what I want. However, I miss the company of other people! The company outweighs everything else. So I am super thankful that my housemate is arriving this Friday night! I am so ready for the adventures we are going to have and the lives we are going to touch! God is doing great things here!

My apartment:

So in the apartment, the joys I get to deal with are a crack in my shower. I am trying to get the owner to fix it, but he says I can continue to use it with the crack. UMMMM. NO. So I am thankful there are two showers in the apartment. My school is working on helping me find someone to repair it, but who knows when that is going to be. 

Also the air conditioner in the living room is leaking water. When I say leaking water, I don't mean just a few drops, I mean like a rushing stream/river down my wall. I asked around the school and they said it was because I had the temperature set too low (20C) so I moved it up to 26C (which is 78F) and it is still streaming down my wall. Also it is pooling under the hardwood floor. So this is something else that my school is hopefully going to help me fix. 

The only thing left to deal with are my little creature friends that like to crawl around the apartment. Cockroaches, ants, and I think there is a mouse somewhere. I have been scouring the internet looking for natural repellents. They said garlic is a good deterrent of cockroaches, ants, and mice. YAY. So last weekend I put out some garlic cloves all over the place and I haven't seen any cockroaches or mice! (There were some dead one in the spare bedroom, but I don't go in there so I don't know how they died) Ants are a different story. So any ideas/tips would be appreciated. Someone said vinegar but I don't know what I am supposed to do with the vinegar.

I am probably just complaining about small things because I know things could be a lot worse! And I thank God that these are the only things I am having to worry about right now! But please be praying that the shower and air conditioning get fixed soon (both are important as you have to shower and it's hot here!). Also pray that these critters find another apartment to crawl around (I'm just not a fan of bugs!).

State-side

Well I have been back in the states for a little over a month. I have been trying to figure things out and it's been a crazy month. 

The first two weeks I was home were holidays. So Christmas with the stepfamily, Christmas with my mom's family, and then the New Year. I couldn't really get anything done these two weeks because everything related to government and teaching are closed for these two weeks. 

The third week I was home I went to Washington, D.C. with my friend. The trip was so I could go talk to the Chinese visa office and try to figure everything out. I knew it would take 3-5 days so I planned for 4. Well as my past visa trip to Hong Kong proved I should have only planned for one day. 

We went to the visa office the first day we were there. It wasn't as busy as Hong Kong so I didn't have to wait long to talk to someone. When I got to the window to talk to the agent the same thing happened. She asked why I had a diplomatic visa in an ordinary passport. I told her they made a mistake and she leaves me to go talk to someone. When she comes back she tells me that I can get the work visa for $160. (Ummm. She totally avoided answering why I had a diplomatic visa). I didn't want to pay $160 to get the visa when they couldn't answer me about the diplomatic visa (I didn't want the same thing to happen). When I told her that I needed to know why I got a diplomatic visa she said that she couldn't answer that and her supervisor was out of town until the end of the month. She said I could wait until then. (SERIOUSLY?!?!?) I was not going to stay in DC til the end of January to talk to the supervisor and I wasn't going to pay $160 to get a new visa when they couldn't answer my questions. So technically we could have gone home that day. It was looking like a wasted trip. But to make the best of your time in a new city (or country) go sightseeing. So we walked around Georgetown and went to Georgetown Cupcake. Then the next day we went to the Holocaust Museum and sightseeing. Sounds just like Hong Kong! LOL. 

On our way home from DC I got a call from my Aunt saying that my grandma on my dad's side wasn't doing well. :(. Good thing I was heading home. My uncle was going to be flying in the next day because they didn't think she would be with us much longer. My Uncle got in town that Friday and she passed away 40 minutes after he got to the nursing home. So my family traveled to Western KY to be with family and attend the funeral. (Can we say whirlwind?) So I spent the week in Western KY with family. It was great to be with family. 

When I came home I knew I needed to begin to figure out what I was going to do. The Chinese visa office didn't really help me but I just felt like God was closing the door right now to China. So where and what does God want me to do? So I am praying about where God is leading me. I have some applications to apply for schools abroad that I need to fill out. I am also looking into some missionary organizations. Just seeing what doors God is opening. I was going to apply for substitute teaching but the deadline for my local county was in December so I missed that. I did apply for surrounding counties but I haven't heard anything back. So right now I am just babysitting and praying. Praying about where to go next and what I need to do. God is providing and leading. Just have to trust in him :). 

Until next time!