Flops and Flips

Hello!

Krista, I am right with you in that when I am about to write an email, nothing comes to mind about my week. I always think of so many things to write about during the week that completely leave my mind by Sunday. That being said: my week was fairly normal. I had some big tests this week that were kind of stressful. I wasn't worried about them until my friends said they were freaking out about it, and then I felt like I should be really worried so I was! The fact that I didn't have long to study the days before because of dance didn't help either. Needless to say,  I am very glad they're done. I'm going to shoot myself in the foot later for saying this, but I was thinking how I kind of like busy, stressful weeks because that makes the weekend ten times better! I feel like after those kind of weeks I deserve and feel better about relaxing and watching a movie!

So, yesterday was a big day at my school. We had the annual International Day from 10-2pm. It's basically just a day where people can showcase their home country since we have so many different nationalities at our school. I must say, it was really fun! There were some nationalities that I had no idea were here: Peru, Fiji, Kuwait, Butan, Finland, Sweden, and many, many more. Each country had a little booth where they had authentic food, games, or just info. There were also lots of restaurants and NGO booths as well as performances (my friend did an Indian dance and I did a couple of Zumba dances with a group). It was pretty sudden, but just about a week before I decided to sell homemade bread at the American booth to raise money for a local orphanage. Mom was a life saver and made 3 batches of bread and stayed at the event to help me the whole time. I was so grateful for her!! Unfortunately it was a flop (see title :)). The US booth was pretty pathetic to be honest, clear at the end, and right next to the Mike's Burger House booth. I blame my unsuccessfulness on those factors! :) I didn't sell a single slice or loaf until about the last hour. And then I think people bought them more out of pity than want. Oh well. I ended up raising about $97. It's a good start I guess (I'll be fundraising this whole semester). Besides that it was fun to walk around the booths and try different foods and such. I was going to go to a movie with friends after, but we were all tired and had homework so we didn't. 

Friday evening I spent about 3 hours making cupcakes with my friend for her fundraiser at International Day. She's Khmer so she doesn't have an oven, so I offered to help her. It was a lot of fun but exhausting too. I have to say I was a little jealous because her cupcakes sold a ton better than my bread. I kept thinking, "Hey, half that money should go to my fundraiser cause I made half of them!!!" Oh well. It's not the end of the world :). 

Today was our first Sunday with a Young Women class. There's only two of us and we're both polar opposites: I'm 17, she's 12; I like baking, and homemaking type stuff, she's a total tomboy. Despite all that though, the class was good and it was fun to have our own little class. They said they are thinking of starting to do youth activities with the three of us (there's one boy too) so that will hopefully be fun! 

To explain the rest of my title, the weather here has flipped. The infamous "10 days of coldness" are upon us! I'm not exaggerating either! I had to wear a jacket while I rode my bike one morning and I wished I had worn long pants and a scarf! My nose was honestly froze!!! The days have been nice, but the mornings and evenings are chilly!!

This has been my greatest lesson I am learning here: "We shouldn't wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available-all the time! Do not wait until you are ready to die before you truly learn to live!" Elder Uchtdorf, Oct. 2012 Conference.

Well, that's it for this episode! Stay tuned for next week!

Love,

Kenzie