Diana Leaney López Ruano

I'm just another 20 year old who is just trying to find my place in this  crazy mixed up world.   I'm indecisive ...  I don't like cooking unless its for other people ...   I start countless of  projects  and never finish them ...   I tend to wear my  heart  on my sleeve...  and  I have an absurd weakness for dancing . I may be searching for where I am going ,   but I do know where I have been   and I know  who I am .    My name is Diana Linay Lopez Ruano .  I'm half Mexican and half Guatemalan ,  born and raised in Salt Lake City,   Utah.  I'm the second of 8 siblings and yes,  I am a   " Mormon " ,   a member of T he Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint s.   Family.  Friends.  Religion.  These I treasure above all else,  even more so now that I am away from home.   Very far as I am currently an English Teacher in...

Haven't really written about "China" lately... I've been living each day with so many new adventures that I hardly know where to start! So I decided to start by writing about something fairly simple:) Something we can all enjoy:) FoooOOooD!!! Ahh yessssss:) Comida. One of life's simple pleasures! Remember that saying "don't trust a skinny cook?" Take this food analysis from one who can "pack it in" as my CEO described me.... (umm....  should I be proud of that?) Gotta love the bluntness of Chinese people... anyone in the US would have said, "Oh I guess you were hungry" or "Did you enjoy lunch?" haha nope. Not my CEO. She turned to me,  smiled,  and said, "Diana, you can pack it in." haha ---And its true! I guess I've seen too much hunger and pain to not appreciate food when I eat it. When I do sit down and eat I can't leave food on the table knowing that there are hungry people i...

Its a bit silly really, I shouldn't be so upset about it. But alas, I am. I lost my necklace to the sea. Yup. The sea took it away from me. THE necklace. MY necklace. Anyone who has seen me in the past three years knows the necklace of which I speak: The one that never ever comes off unless I'm in the Temple. The one that matches my sisters necklaces. The one that meant more to me than I realized until I lost it. The one that made me feel close to the ones I love and miss. The one that I now reach for out of pure habit... and is now gone. At least I lost my neclace to such a formidable opponent. If anyone were to take it from me I would insist it be a great force such as the sea. This specific sea being along the beaches of Sanya, Hainan, China. There is a saying on the island that it is "the end of heaven and the end of the sea" Of course, the Chinese would consider China "heaven", but as I write this lament I'll have to leave my neclac...

Isn't it crazy how even though I am thousands and thousands of miles away from home, I can still talk to those I love as if I never even left? They say that true friendship, the kind that makes you reserve a special space in your heart for that specific person, doesn't really get the concepts of distance or time. Today I got to skype my little sister Stacey as she was getting ready for bed. We just chatted really. No intense conversations about the meaning of life... no tears or deep dark secrets... Just two sisters talking as sisters do. And guess what? It was as if I was sitting in the room right next to her. Just chilling on her bed as if we had all the time in the world to just make each other laugh and ask questions about how our days had been... :') And so we talked:) And as she got more and more sleepy, I told her to turn out the lights and I would keep talking to her until she fell asleep. I kept going on, about everything and nothing at all, and s...

Today I got to call a toll free number so that I could go to church! Well, listen to it at least:) I get to call this number and listen to Sacrament and Sunday School over the phone. The Branch covers a large portion of China and I'm the only member in ZhuZhou as far as I know, but it felt so good knowing that I'm not alone in this big ol country! That even though I'm on the opposite side of the WORLD my family will be listening to the same Sunday School Lesson on the Book of Mormon in twelve hours when they go to church. You would think it would be hard to pay attention, listening for those few hours over the phone, but oh its not. Its like going to the temple after not being inside one for a long time -or eating ice cream after going on a diet haha- I loved it! Listening to the words I know my Heavenly Father wanted me to hear... Everything seems so real now that I'm working harder to keep my testimony firm. All my past trials and decisions have helped in makin...

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...