17 Days Left. WHAT?

As I tore off another day on my paper countdown chain, I realized that it was getting pretty small.

17 DAYS.

WHAT?

I really can't believe it...

My day has consisted of 5 things:

My bed.
Potatoes.
Mormon Messages.
Les Mis.
My own thoughts.

I know. My life is awesome. I find days in China often turn out to be like this. Sometimes (actually most times) I absolutely hate it. I am in CHINA! I need to be out exploring every second I can, right?

Well then I get to thinking, as I often do, and in exactly 18 days I will not have the luxury of thinking to myself, while watching Les Mis, while eating potatoes, while sitting on my bed. I won't have the time to just relax and think and ponder things to this extent. So you can bet you're bottom dollar that I am going to enjoy it while I have it.

Sidenote: I am BEYOND excited to see the new Le Mis movie. Yes I did use all caps and bold. That's how serious I am.

Anyway. My time here in China is quickly coming to an end. It's a weird feeling. I now have a small idea of how strange and hard it is for missionaries to go home. Having to face the world again, and leaving behind a world that you have grown to love so much. There are some people who I will miss dearly. Like Kelly.

I don't know if I've told you about Kelly much, but let me tell you now. Kelly has made my experience in China better than I could have ever hoped for. Kelly is our Chinese coordinator. Aka: Our translator, our little chinese helper, our Taobao order'er, our train ticket buyer, our travel guide, and so much more.  But out of all of these things, the best part about her is the way she just befriended us and makes us feel welcome! She always knows how to make us laugh, to keep our spirits up when we get down, and she is always there for us! I seriously owe so much to her. She is so great.

I am going to miss all of the cute adorable Chinese teachers at Ming De. They have been so kind to us. Whether it's inviting us over to their house for the weekend, or making us lunch when we can't face the fish again. They are so great! Katie, Lulu, Judy, Milly, and Q-Bi. I love all of them!

I am going to miss the beautiful girls I have been so blessed to share this experience with. Maddie, Andrea, Megan, Rachel, Makenna, and Dani. These girls have been so great. We have grown so much over these last 4  months and we have gone through so much together! Teaching our precious little children, traveling all over China, trying to navigate our ways around with the handful of Chinese words we sort of know, making trips to Da Fu Yen...everyday, having deep conversations on bus rides, facing the school lunches together, riding on buses packed fuller than I ever though possible, being separated on those buses and yelling to each other across the bus to figure out if we are at the right stop, making faces on our chins, preparing impromptu performances for the Mayor..., missing American men, scrunching around a little computer screen to try and watch movies, ordering way too much off taobao, going through food phases(rice cookies, A-OK smoothies, peanut butter dumplings, moon cakes, peanut butter on EVERYTHING, Oolang oreo smoothies, bran muffins, madeli), seaweed face masks, climbing stairs, and more stairs, and more stairs, living in our struggling apartment, getting eaten by mosquitoes(oh wait, that was just me..), having hopes of working out and never actually working out, feeling like movie stars everywhere we go, motor taxi rides, fancy dinners with nasty food, surviving the winter with no heater, and the heat with no AC, planning our futures, playing our ukuleles together, killing cockroaches, getting crafty, never looking good.

Needless to say, we have made a lot of memories here in China and I think I can speak for all of us when I say we are going to be sad when it's over. Love those girls.

The hardest people to leave are obviously going to be my kids. I don't even want to think about it. It makes me cry...I have so much love for all of them. All 43 of them.

Which makes me think of one quick story and then I'm done.

The other day, it was Megan's 21st birthday. So to surprise her we decorated the classroom and when she walked in all the kids were standing there to scream happy birthday and run and give her a big hug! I was on camera duty and I was taking pictures. She walked in the room and all of the kids yelled, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEACHER MEGAN!" and then proceeded to run and give her a giant group hug. However, as I was taking pictures I noticed someone holding on to me saying, "Teacha Hangry!" I looked down, and my precious little Vivian had her arms wrapped around me tight, flashing me her scrunchy little smile, and staring at me with her big, light brown eyes! Why she ran to me instead of the birthday girl, I do not know. But I felt so loved. I love that little girl so much.

I love all of them!

Anyway. I think I will get back to my Le Mis obsession. While sitting in my cold, dark room. We don't have a heater so its always freezing. And to top it off I have to put a fan on in order to dry my clothing. SO COLD. And, my light broke yesterday so my room turns pitch black at about 6 P.M. It's the best.

Good news is that Bond bought us new comforters. So now instead of sleeping on a cold, hard bed...I get to sleep on a slightly less cold, slightly less hard bed. It's really is a blessing!

I love my life. Love this awesome adventure that Heavenly Father has allowed me to experience. And I love the lessons I've learned, and the person that I am becoming. I have a long way to go, but I am slowly getting there.

Love you all, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

-Kambrie