HIgh Five for Friday

I forgot to do these for the past two weeks, but here we go again! I'm linking up with Lauren over here. Also, no pictures again this week. Fail.

1. Found out my student teaching placement!!

I will be student teaching in a 4th grade class at a school here in Durham starting this fall! I'm so excited! 4th grade is the grade that I wanted and one of my good friends is going to be at the same school as me, so we can ride together! This also makes everything a lot more real and I'm slightly freaking out over the fact that I will be a senior and a teacher soon....

2. Pool time with an old friend.

Yesterday, I got to go to the pool with my best friend from elementary/middle school. It was super fun to hang out and catch up since we go to different schools now and rarely get to see each other.

3. Painting, painting, and more painting

I helped some friends paint a room in their house this week. I really enjoy painting and have done quite a bit of it with my mom here at our house, so I was happy to help them out. It was also a fun excuse to spend time with a new friend before she leaves me :(

4. New books!

I started a new book series this week, I'm not completely in love, but I'm giving it more time. Its another young adult fiction series by the same guy who wrote Percy Jackson. I'm loving some YA fiction this summer.

5. Celebrating 7 years of this sweet girl!!

Yes, this picture is from years ago (but it was the only one I could find right now haha) but today this little one turns 7 and will be celebrating Tangled style! 

Differences that make me smile

India is a different culture.

Shocking I know. 

And yet, I feel like I am beginning to get a grasp on Indian culture, although I realize that I probably never will completely understand that place and I'm fine with that. As I grow more comfortable with this land that I love, it is so fun to watch people experience the culture for the very first time. That has been one of the biggest joys of these past two trips. getting to introduce people to this culture that has captured my heart and see them learn to love it too. 

I love watching the girls pick out their clothes and attempt to wear a sari (as long as I am not the one leading the sari lesson).

It's awesome watching people attempt to eat with their hands, especially our poor left handed friends who have to learn to use their right (if you don't know why you can only eat with your right hand in India... well ask me in person sometime...). 

And always the best is watching them being welcomed by the kids and other members of the ministry. They are always surprised and so happy when the little ones bring out our welcome garlands the first day and cry when they bring out our farewell garlands on the last day. 

And then there are the differences that just make me laugh. I want to share the best example. 

A few weeks ago, there was construction on 147 (the main highway through my city). For probably 1.5 miles, the right lane was blocked off, but no one was working. I finally reached the work, 1 truck drilling in the road, and then the lane continued to be blocked off for another 1.5 miles. So about 3 miles blocked off, for 1 truck. (these distances may be exaggerated)

When we were leaving India, as we drove through Delhi, we came across construction on a bridge, 1 man working on this like fence thing along the edge of the bridge. He had maybe 5-7 cones set up about 4-5 feet into the lane. Traffic barely noticed him and just kept chugging along. 

I don't know if this makes you laugh, but to me it sums up the difference in Indian and American culture. In India, I just laughed, imagining the traffic jam that would have been caused in America, because you know that lane would have been closed for at least a mile for that one man working. 

I'm not saying one way is right and one is wrong, they are just different. 

And it makes me smile. 

High Five for Friday

So I think I'm going to start doing some more posts just about my everyday life (cause I know you are so interested), one of which is the High Five for Friday posts with Lauren for From my Grey Desk. I think I'm supposed to do these on Friday morning, but who really cares haha.

So here are my weeks top moments:

5. Bike riding with my dad.

My dad and I used to ride a lot, but we had stopped for a while. Now we've gone a few times again and when I say ride, I mean like 30-60 mile rides. Its fun to get to hang out with him, I'm a crazy daddy's girl. We talk about really random things: everything from my plans for India to the latest book series I'm reading (see below).

4. Doing nothing but read for several days in a row.

I am fully taking advantage of this summer to be totally lazy and that means that I have spent about 4 days doing nothing but lay in bed reading. Seriously, that is pretty much all i did for the 4th of July. It has been WONDERFUL. Which also leads me to my next point...

3. Percy Jackson

I am a bookworm, but the books I like best are typically written for middle schoolers (Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, etc). This series is no exception, but I am obsessed! I just finished the last book that is out right now (there are three more coming in the next years, CANNOT wait) and now I am suffering major withdrawal. Which most likely means I will be reading them all again. Seriously though, these books are really fun and good too, I will probably do a review of some sort soon.

2. Seeing favorite friends!!

So this happened last week, but one of my favorite friends returned from 6 weeks in East Asia and so I got the pleasure of meeting her at the airport and then driving her down to Charlotte then spending a few days down there with other good friends. It was so great catching up and seeing people's faces since I hadn't seen them since May. (Bemi also told me to read the rest of the Percy Jackson books, so that led to the craziness of the past week of speed reading).

And although it hasn't happened yet...

1. Zach and Lauren's wedding!!!

I'm so excited to go celebrate my sweet friends' wedding tomorrow near Asheville. I'm looking forward to seeing other good friends as we celebrate Zach and Lauren's love and their new life together.



So that was my week. Hopefully next week will be more exciting haha and maybe I will try to take some pictures, but no promises...