Bucket list and the tangents from there.

I asked my students to name five things they want to do before they die, not just because I get sadistic joy out of making them write in English, but also because I think it is vital to a person to have goals/dreams/passions. I want to teach them so much more than the English language. A person should not merely survive, but they should live. And with purpose. So I have lofty goals for the two hours a week in which I hold young minds riveted on my words. I dream of changing lives in that short time.

As I gave them the assignment I forced myself to write a list as well, so that I would hold myself to the same standard to which I held my pupils. Their answers were hilarious and nonsensical and unfortunately I think they missed the point entirely; but one of the things on my list is that I want to write a book, which I am quite sure no one but my sister will ever read. Just like this blog. Regardless of who will read it, I feel the need to write one. (Please note that I did not say "irregardless" which is NOT a word.)

Living in China provides me with almost unlimited material for a book, much more so than my boring life in the U.S. So with my mom's urging I have embarked on the difficult task of capturing my thoughts and making them intelligible to others. One of the many subjects I'd like to broach is just how much I have changed and learned during the short five months I've lived in another world. It's hard to even realize, much less explain to others, the many things that have made me different and more aware.

One of the seemingly obvious yet fundamentally important revelations has been the value of friendships. Possibly the subject has special significance for me because I've always had a best friend with me, everywhere I went and everything I did. Having a twin gives you a life-long frienship. When we decided to live on different continents, we were aware that it was going to be the hardest thing we'd ever done. So what other people do their whole lives, I did for the first time. I was alone.

All of the English-speakers I have for friends now, I met upon coming to China. (Even Zack and Elizabeth, though I knew who they were before we came, our friendship began on the plane.) I have wonderful friends who don't speak very much English, and we get along great. But there's an indefinable relaxation that comes from being able to speak the same language as someone, that boosts your friendship beyond the normal. So I said all of that in preparation for this statement:

I am deeply gateful for my friends.