Diana Leaney López Ruano

I was sixteen when I graduated High School.  I remember being a part of the Seminary Council and planning out my life after graduation.  I was going to finish my BA in the years I had before turning 21 and then go on a full time mission.  I was going to change the world.  I was going to be successful and my life was going to work out just as I had planned. WRONG. My world fell apart.  I had to work full time and go to school part time.  In the four years it took me to get my Associates Degree,  I could have received my BA and right now be working on some masters program.  I finally finished my Associates degree and I wasn't proud of it.  I felt that I had failed my sixteen-year-old self.  She knew what she wanted,  she had it all planned out and me?  Well,  I was confused to say the least. I was twenty and still had a year to go before I was old enough to serve a mission.  I enrolled at the U, ...

I often find myself in a social environment wondering,  "Why do the Chinese always look bored ?"  Sitting around a table,  not talking,  they have their phones out or are playing the dice game,  always looking over their shoulder at others or just... sitting. Whatever happened to conversations?  I'm sure its not just the chinese,  technology has stunted our abilities to have face to face conversations with real humans.  Yet I am amazed at how awkward the younger generations are around each other here.  I've asked a few people about it and have come to find that its just different.   A few of my Chinese friends have tried to explain to me how it works.  You see,  if a Chinese boy wants to talk to a Chinese girl,  he goes to one of her group outings with her friends.  KTV for example,  there they can interact in a social group.  Or if he is brave,  he will go up to her and say something...

Time.  Time passes and you find yourself in a different situation with each blink of an eye. Years.  Years have gone by since I had my 'plan'.  Back when I thought I knew how my life was going to pan out.  Back when I thought I knew it all. Space.  Space grows.  Space grows between old friendships.  Space spreads far and wide and sooner than not you find yourself on the other side of the world,  away from your loved ones,  away from everything you knew. My father has this Brazilian girlfriend,  I guess he found her on the internet or something.  He plans on marrying this woman,  I wonder how well their Portuguese-Spanish conversations go.  I wonder if she understands who that man is.  Maybe that's why he flew down to visit her instead of buying Christmas presents.  Maybe she's the reason why he refuses to help me when I tell him I owe the IRS $800 plus,  when I asked for help to go visit my sister wh...