awkward

so, I haven't written in a while, because I honestly can't think of anything of interest to say. But then yesterday I woke up with a zit on my forehead. I was annoyed with it so I wore my hair in such a way as to cover it. I felt it was okay and then I promptly forgot about it. That is, I forgot about it until one of the teachers asked me what happened to my forehead. There was a rather long moment of awkward silence after I answered that question. =(

Okay, so in every culture there are certain things you just don't do or say. In Taiwan we have to avoid words like "sigh," "gun," or "cow," because they sound like Taiwanese swear words (keep that thought in mind). I have a little boy in my 3rd grade class who likes to call me different animal names. We've made a war of this and we always call each other different animal names, but we always say it in a somewhat insulting way. Today, he called me a "horse" so I straight away followed it with ... "COW!" My poor little kid's eyes got really big as he couldn't believe his character English teacher was swearing at him in Taiwanese. =( I quickly realized my error and called him a "duck!" Fortunately, kids are quick to forgive and so we moved on with our little, dangerous name calling game.

Homesickness: it comes for each of us

After a month of having my brother and sister with me, I find that it isn't any easier to see them leave. I enjoyed having them here so much. I had forgotten how homesick I was until I had such a big piece of home with me. I can't really explain why it is that I feel so much more complete when they are here. Suddenly, I make sense. I had never realized how weird and how special my family was until I was by myself and somewhat hard to explain or understand. Then suddenly there are three of me here and we're all similar in certain respects and it makes sense, I make sense. It's really great to be understood by the people around you. It's really great not to feel like an oddness. For a little while, I was the majority. It I was Keller Rule. I can't say how awesome it is to relax into the background and to just watch my brother and sister interact with the other people I love. I got to watch them and see how they show Christ's love to everyone around them...I was so happy and so proud of them. I guess being so happy wasn't the best preparation for them leaving me. Now, all I really want is to be with my whole family and to never have anyone leave me again.