Diana Leaney López Ruano

Spending the past year in abroad has changed me.  Its like everything that used to be normal,  isn't normal anymore.  I see things with a different perspective,  different humor,  different ideas and feelings.  Yet some things never change.  Its amazing how I see friends again and its as if no time has passed at all.  We hug and things are right back to where they were.  Family is still family.  Friends are still friends.  Home will always be home. I didn't think I would miss China this much.  Some days my heart yearns for what was.  I've always been that person,  the one that dwells on possibilities and dreams.  Its nothing to me to sit for hours on end and forget myself in my own delusions and impossible notions.  Yet here I am.  Wondering and thinking and wishing for something more. I guess I miss the sense of self I had in China.  The independence of living alone and depending solely on myself for everything.  Yet people are not supposed to be alone.  I needed that

Have ten months passed by already?  Has it been six months since last General Conference?  One year since Irina & Sergio's wedding?  Time flies,  yet somehow it creeps along and sneaks up on you when you least expect it.  I've been waiting for this day to come,  the day I leave China,  yet now that its only twenty-two days away I don't know if I'm ready for it.  Am I ready to say goodbye to my second home?  The only other place I've more than merely traveled to besides Utah?  Am I ready to say goodbye to those who have influenced my life in so many ways?  Those who have taught me more than I could ever teach my students...   Gemma taught me how to love myself and that "Its okay to be different!"  She taught me to be strong.  Claire reminded me to be a child and embrace glitter again:) Andy showed me what English Gentlemen are made of!  Adam taught me how to spin around like no one is watching! Cat demonstrated how to reach out to ever

Things that happen in the news should stay on the tv screen.  They shouldn't happen in real life.  They shouln't happen to you.  China and Japan are fighting over some islands.  Who the islands really belong to,  I'm not sure.  Who they should belong to,  thats not up to me to decide.  I'm not Japanese and I'm not Chinese so I can't speak from a national's perspective.  However,  as a foreigner witnessing a Chinese mob destroying the building where I live?  Pardon the pun,  but it hit home .  This is where I live,  this is where I do my grocery shopping and have lunch with the girls.  Completely trashed because it represents something the Chinese are taught to hate.  Fighting over land is as old as it gets,  yet I don't think these people are really even fighting over land.  Its the idea of the Japanese owning something that could be theirs.  Its the idea that China is not the greatest,  not all-powerful and the idea that Japan could swindl

I was afraid that my testimony was dwindling...  I had been thinking about all of the devotionals I had missed out on and institute lessons I hadn't attended in these past seven months.  I was worried that I wasn't the same person I had been,  that being in China had pushed me away from what I knew and loved,  the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Maybe I have changed... -I haven't taken sacrament since I've arrived in China.  I don't have the blessing of having a preisthood holder here to do the ordinance.  -I am so far away from the Hong Kong Temple that I haven't attended,  just that is so different then SLC where I'm used to having a few within a fifteen minute drive from my home.  -I don't even know what my Bishop looks like because "church" is a conference call with members around mainland China.  All of these things have changed for me.  I'm the only member in ZhuZhou,  a city of two million.  If there was ever a time in my life wher

Amazing. Absolutely Breathtaking. Wonderful. Inspiring. I have said it once and I'll say it again.  There is no way that God is not an Artist.  He is.  And Zhang Jia Jie proved it. ZhanJiaJie was one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the blessing to step foot in.  I was astounded by its sheer magnificence.  Just think of a green heaven.  Clouds and mountains,  I felt as if I was in this special place,  reserved just for those adventurers that could scale mountains.  Except we really didn't hike that much did we? "hiking" in china would be disgraceful to the outdoorsy people of the midwest.  I saw plenty of girls in high heels as they stepped on the rocky steps and along the rocky paths of the mountain.  To each their own right? Rivaling my Rocky Mountains,  Moab,  the jungles and beaches of Mexico and Guate... I love visiting small towns.  People just seem to be so much happier.  They slow down as you're crossing the s

Can't Sleep.   can't sleep.  CAN'T sleep .   can't sleep.   can't SLEEEEEEEP .  CAN'T.  SLEEP.  no puedo dormiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...................... Things I usually do before bed:   -  eat cereal.   Or whatever I can find in china that resembles milk and cereal.  usually oatmeal & yougurt.  -  read from the scriptures.  and that didn't make me fall asleep?!  wow,  I must have actually learned something.  -  journal .  I wrote.  and I guess there wasn't anything left to write besides this blog.  allllll of the thoughts running through my headdddddd.  -  pray .  I spoke with my Heavenly Father.  He listened,  yet I still can't fall asleep.  So I tried a few new things:   -  like dancing around my apartment to the sound of the Latin DJ in my mind.  Dancing alone isn't as fun though.  bachateando by yourself is just plain sad. -  changing sleepwear -  washing my face -  drinking milk -  crunches and stretching -  unbr

We took a trip to Feng Huang with Golden Focus.  They paid for the bus,  hotel,  and a few meals!  sweet! The bus ride was one I wouldn't jump to repeat.  Six hours isn't bad for a bus ride when its filled with the right people.  We were lucky enough to be traveling with our coworkers:)  It was like a chinese tv show on wheels-  games and kareokee included.  As I tried to zone everyone out with my nook (best birthday present ever!)  All I could think was "Why are they so loud???" haha.  it was actually really nice because we got to hang out as coworkers which never happens.  why?  i don't exactly know,  its hard to really talk to the Chinese teachers.  not only is there the language barrier,  but we're actually very...  different. Mei guan shi.  We had fun the first night,  walked along the river and tried to find a bar that we all agreed upon.  That was an adventure in and of itself.  We ended failing at finding a bar to satisfy the different

There are people I miss from back home more then anything.  Certain people that I am counting down the  days (one hundred twenty eight to be exact) until I see again. There are people in China that I'm going to miss.   There are people that have left China that I'm already missing.   Its funny how that is,  people making connections and building relationships.  Bridges crossed even in foreign lands.   Who would have thought that I'd be missing and preparing myself to miss people from parts of the world that I've never even visited?? We're foreigners,   w àiguó rén  ,  outsiders,   l ǎowài  ,  different.  Different then the Chinese,  different even from each other.  We speak different languages and have different opinions about absolutely everything.  How does it work then? That's just it though,  isn't it?  All of us together here in China,  holding on to each other as if for dear life.  Pulled together by a bond that overlooks nationalit