3 Month Check Point

This is an exciting time for me. I can't believe I've made it three months. I was looking through my old sketch books and reading some things I wrote about the prospect of coming here....and now I've been here three months. Life is crazy if you really think about it.
Things were really sucky the beginning/middle of this month. But Joy and I decided to take a little trip. We leave tomorrow. This, more than anything else I think, is lightening my spirits. That and the fact that this month flew by. I feel like I just wrote the blog about September limbo. I also know that the months wont be slowing down. I'll be home before I know it.
This doesn't stop me from being extremely homesick however. I wish I could be there for my sisters first year of college. I wish I could go see where my mom has started teaching. I wish I could go see my brothers new apartment. I wish I could be home and try to repair my relationship with my dad. I wish I could see my old roommate Allison in her first musical theater role. But I am only here for a year....I can't wait to see what else is going to happen while I'm here. I have only just begun.

Keep These Kids in School

On Thursday this week we didn't have school. I learned that this was because the school is so low on funds they had to pick between buying the kids lunch and having school or paying the teachers half their salary which is already late. If the teachers don't get paid then they don't come to school. If we can't buy the kids lunch, we don't have school. Apparently the school is always like this. The teachers never get paid on time and everyday we have to check if we have enough money for lunch. Also, a lot of kids don't get lunch at all if they don't get fed at the school.
This is really important you guys. Even a donation of $10 would be extremely helpful. We need to keep these kids in school! If you can donate, please go to the schools page http://www.asha-deep.com/how-to-help/
Thank you! 

September

I never thought September would arrive. I thought it would stay July and August for the rest of my life. But here we are. In September. It's been over 2 months since my arrival to this city. As for December, when my momma comes, I know that will never come. I shall be stuck in September limbo for forever, I am sure.
I haven't been able to be as productive as I had been hoping. It's mostly been really hard on my body. I haven't been feeling well at all. I think it's just the new food, new climate, new water and so on. The sucky thing is that I can't be productive at all if I feel bad. I think this will get better with time. I can already tell it's getting better. I'm figuring out what foods I need and stuff. I'm also just getting used to all the new germs.

However, when I do feel well and am able to teach it is amazing. Those couple times when I actually feel like I'm getting through or have a good class. The high is so great. I go home smiling. It helps me to want to actually stick this out :P Joy has also been really amazing. She is continually helpful and encouraging. She says that if I've made it this far I've got nothing to worry about. I don't know if I believe her. But it's nice to have someone say it lol and it's nice to have a friend.

3 American kids just moved into my building. They are here studying Hindi and seem really cool. So I'm excited about that.  I'm working at a coffee shop right now. I love working here because I hear all these different languages while I work. It also seems that country's come at different times.
In August there were a bunch of people who looked like they were from China, or Japan. Now all I am hearing/seeing are people from Israel and France. It's kinda fun. I wonder who will show up next.

The other night I met a guy named Pete who is studying at the University. He is Australian, but he spent a year studying in Champaign!  How small is this world? It continues to amaze me.

Okay, well, I feel like this is a long rambling post. I hope I didn't bore y'all. Here's a picture of a larger than life Beauty and the Beast I found at a Pre-school I visited. lol I thought it was pretty awesome.