Jabber

This has been a sad year for my friends and their pets.  First was my friend Sandra who is like a sister to me.  When I was visiting her this summer they moved houses.  Her husband had just died earlier in the year and they decided to move to a different house.  While I was there one of the cats (her deceased husband’s cat) got out and got ran over on the highway.  I helped her take care of it, while she told the kids.  Second my friend Brooke who I taught with in China but now lives in Zimbabwe, had to watch her Zim dog die and then a short while later received a call that her dog at home also passed away.  The dog she left at home had been with her since college.  Then just this week my fiancee’s (Ryan) cat suddenly fell ill.  There wasn’t a vet in town so he had to fly the cat to another town.  Once it got there they diagnosed it with chronic renal failure.  It died last night. Then there is Ryan’s parent’s cat, which is dieing. It’s been a long 2 weeks for them as they wait for it pass.

There are exactly 22 days left in this year.  I truly hope nothing else happens to any of my friends this year and that the next year will be full of joy and many blessings.

I went to my third traditional Ch.nese medicine treatment on Sunday and it was the most painful of all my visits.  The first time I went they started me with acupuncture, which wasn’t really painful, but wasn’t all together relaxing.  For acupuncture I had 3 pins in my legs trying to help break up the blockage of my Chi.  Then came the “massage” portion of my visit.  The doctor pushes on various parts of your body working on the meridians where you Chi flows.  They are trying to help your Chi to flow freely instead of being blocked.  When it hurts a lot you must have a lot of blockage.  I guess I had a ton this visit, but I guess I have 34 years of Chi blockage to work out. Even though it is often quite painful, I enjoy my visits and look forward to them each Sunday.  Each time I visit different meridians hurt.  They don’t speak English but there was an English woman training on my first visit so I know a few things about what is happening.  I’m also excited about learning why certain parts of my body always seem to hurt.  It’s all quite fascinating.

I’m already looking forward to my next visit.

Why is it true that when it rains it pours?  My friend’s dog in Zimbabwe died a couple weeks ago and then today the dog she left at her parents had to be put to sleep.  Why do things come in pairs or threes?  Maybe we just notice more when it’s more than one thing going wrong.

Basketball starts on Monday and I have mixed feelings.  I only have 3 returning varsity players and only one of those was a starter.  There are only 3 returning JV players as well, one of which will for sure be on JV again.  I have 3 new girls that will be varsity and that’s about it.  So I for sure have 5 varsity quality players.  I have 3 I wouldn’t mind bringing up but wish there were stronger players and after that my only choices are some freshman, 2 7th graders, and some 10th graders who have never played before.  Thank goodness it’s an international school and that many other schools are also facing issues due to the economic crisis.  This season might be painful, definitely will be a building year, and with this few players the pressure will be much less.  Last year was amazing.  I am truly grateful to have had the experience of winning SISAC and ACAMIS.  Beating Concordia in the tournament they’ve never lost was great.  This year will be different and thanks to the circumstances I will be forced to cut myself some slack.  Here we go again, year 2.  GO DRAGONS!

Today was the first day of our ACAMIS volleyball tournament.  I’m doing the score keeping and having a great time.  Our boys won both their games. One against Western Academy of Beijing and the other against Utahloy International School of Guangzhou.  Our girls beat WAB and lost to UISG. Tomorrow will be another jam packed day.   GO DRAGONS!

I have a new blog thanks to Ryan.  Now I just have to figure out how to use it.  Nothing like new technology to make you realize how little you know.