Diana Leaney López Ruano

I am dumbfounded by the change in every single aspect of my life. Discovering new things about myself that only someone lost and confused and trying to find their way in a huge foreign land could discover. Arrived in ZhuZhou a little over a week ago and each day holds so many new experiences that I feel that I have been here for much longer. Still getting over the culture shock so please don't find offense in what I write, I'm telling it how I see it. Every noise and smell, the words, the actions, the people, the weather- each a new adventure (some not as pleasant as others...) CULTURE SHOCK- WTFREAK?! One of the other foreign teachers in the city said that as long as you are aware of 2 things going in, you won't be as shocked when you get to China. Yup. Wish I had been aware of them before I came lol. #1: squat toilets. Yes, you heard me. Need I say more? Good, cuz I won't. XD #2: No Personal Space. Whatsoever. Its insane- there is absolutely

Welcome! If you are reading this you may well know that I will be spending the next nine months in the Hunan Province of China. Yup. CHINA! Why you may ask? Would a twenty year old with a job, school, friends, family, everything in Utah get up and leave? Well we'll just have to discover that little by little. All I know is that I felt it was right for me to take up this English Teacher position. And so I have! Take a look into my thoughts and feelings as I fly halfway around the world on my new adventure:) Alone & without a lick of Mandarin in this brain of mine...! FROM SLC TO LA 12.22.11 @ 4:25PM (as we sit waiting for take-off) "Good bye my mountains... how I will miss thee..." "who on earth would fly to China alone?! Ay Dianita, what did you get yourself into?" (after take-off) So this is what heaven would look like. Flying. Above the clouds. Straight into the golden sunrise... Oh this was a gift in and of itself! Just the flight al

LATIN DANCING is the only time when it is socially acceptable to forget about feminist rights and power struggles. When it is okay for her to obey every signal and request given without question or rebuttal. When a lady can JUST DANCE with a man… forgetting to be tough and independent for just a few moments… and letting him make her feel like, well, A WOMAN. –Diana Linay My brother asked me the other day why I liked to dance so much. I had to think for a moment to answer because dancing is so much more to me than merely "dancing" So much more because... *I am free to be whoever I want to be. Whether I am crazy and untamed or smooth and seductive I am -in that moment in time- exactly who I want to be. *Children dance about their houses without judgement or refrain and when I dance I could care less about what people are thinking of me. Just like a child I could GAD whether they think I lack skill or if they dislike my style. I do not dance for them- I d

I push people away- far away- go away. My brother in law told me to give him a chance. Its just a date after all. Oh but its not. Its not just a date, its not just a chance. Its never "just". People always want more. Its human nature. Once you open the door a wedge- they just keep pushing and pushing until they are inside the room. I could sit here and say the famous line of all men are the same , but who am I kidding? The human race is all the same. We are picky and shallow. We are lazy and unwilling. We are selfish creatures- so why do we say certian things are INHUMANE when humans themselves lack love, compassion, and humanity? ...sometimes I lose faith in humanity.... But then I remember that although humanity has lost morals, lost respect, lost chivalry... there is still good in this world. There is still love and happiness. There are still good people out there, people that care without any thought of receiving something in turn. There are smiles and sunny days!