"My Brain Died Three Days Ago"

This semester has been a little crazy just because I've had to add new things into the mix and I'm more busy than last semester. Here's how I originally started out.

I love to stay busy and getting into the groove of school and juggling my other priorities have been really cool

I don't work or do nearly as much as some of my peers. I still find time to complete assignments, go to my jobs, and attend school, BUT I really struggle with sleeping. I'm not one of those amazing people that can continually run on little to no sleep. I start to look and act a bit like this:

Scary, huh? Maybe that's why I can't find a stinkin husband (I kid, I kid). I've been a bit of a zombie lately, just ask my roommates. I probably don't know what is going on half the time in my classes (not that it's a huge difference from my usual comprehension). Poor world that has to deal and see this everyday.

I love to complain so I make sure to tell everybody how tired I am because I can't sleep. I'm basically a wimp.

Today in my lab, I had to ask my partners to repeat what they said like 5 thousand times. I felt really bad that I was being so annoying but everything was going over my head. Then I realized...

I had to explain that "my brain died about three days ago" and I'm kind of retarded when it comes to Biology anyways. Luckily I made it through and my partners didn't seem to hate me too much. 

I decided that even though I may look like this:

I can do hard things. I'm going to keep trying and doing my best. One day when I have more time I would like to read The Lone Survivor, I've wanted to for years.  Elder Todd Christofferson quoted the book in his CES Fireside and I need to take it to heart. The semester is coming to an end and I'm gearing up to finish it the best I can :)

 “I do not want you to give in to the pressure of the moment. Whenever you’re hurting bad, just hang in there. Finish the day. Then, if you’re still feeling bad, think about it long and hard before you decide to 

quit. Second, take it one day at a time. One [phase] at a time.

“Don’t let your thoughts run away with you, don’t start planning to bail out because you’re worried about the future and how much you can take. Don’t look ahead to the pain. Just get through the day, 

and there’s a wonderful career ahead of you.

Wo Ai Zhongguo. Don't you wanna?

                       There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about my semester in China.

This is mainly because I'm obsessed with China, Chinese culture, and I love the people. I also get to talk to people everyday at work to tell them about the wonderful experience of teaching English abroad. It makes me want to go back, and hopefully I will be going back with ILP soon! 

Yesterday I spoke to a concerned mother that asked me, "If my daughter doesn't get school credit and has to pay, what is the point of going with ILP?" I then proceeded to tell her how it changed my life and I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for going to China.

Two things this week happened to remind me why going to China with ILP continues to affect me: 

1. I taught Summer school for ILP in Provo last year and met many new kids and people from China, Ukraine, and Russia. I got really close to one of the teachers from Ukraine named Larissa. One of my bosses just got back from visiting Ukraine and brought me back a gift from her. Isn't great that I have little buddies all over the world? I think so!

2. This morning I woke up to my phone flashing telling me I had a new email. Normal right? It wasn't until I looked at who it was from that I was a little confused. The email address was all Chinese characters. It said this:

Hello,well,are you Mrs.Shelene Webb?
If you are.Then thank you. 
I'm your student.Can you remember Guanghua School?I'm a student in it.I don't konw what to you remember me.
I'm sorry.I can't speak English well now.
I just hope you can remember me.
Thank you.
I hope you have a good time .I'm Wang Fengping in China.
Bye.

This made me so happy! I emailed her back and after a few little convos I discovered that it was my student Mary from Wuxi! She is now 15 years old. I was so touched that she remembered me and was emailing me after all these years to thank me. We plan on keeping in touch. Here is a picture of Mary while I was there:

How wonderful is it that I taught a student English in China and we are now communicating (thanks to technology) in ENGLISH?! I'm so blessed to have that opportunity. Can I please go back now?

P.S. Here is one of my all time favorite pictures:

I miss hearing "Wo Ai Ni" (I love you) everyday

Baby Bears and Broken Bums

I haven't written in a while. Mainly because I'm SUPER busy with school and work. And I'm also kind of boring. BUT this past weekend was was awesome. I've basically told everyone I know (and a couple of random strangers) so I'm sorry to exhaust the story. This last weekend my Biology Professor (he's the hilarious one I wrote about before) let some of our class go out into the boonies with him to change and monitor radio transmitter collars on bears. Yes, real bears!! I've been jazzed about this all semester and agreed to do whatever  it took to go. I drove out with my friend from class, Marci and her husband Andrew, because they have a four wheel drive truck. It ended up leaving at 5 am and it was a 3 1/2 hour drive to the sticks. I didn't care because I  was bound and determined to see a bear and maybe even touch one! In actuality, I wanted to steal a cub and domesticate it in my condo. I'm totally someone that would end up on Fatal Attraction on the Animal Planet. Anyways..
We got out there and met up with other members of our class and had to off road it up another 10 miles of this canyon. We got there and it was cold and still had snow on the ground. Of course I had to pee and ended up going in some brush (out of desperation) and getting stickers in my thermals. I'm a genius. A small group tracked the mother bear down so that she wouldn't sniff out our entire group. They then put her to sleep by using a pole with a needle attached to the end. They have to get right up in the grill of the bear and stab it in the shoulder with the needle. I really wanted to do it but apparently I'm not "qualified." Whatever.
So the mama bear is only asleep for about an hour and a half so we have to rush everyone up the side of the mountain and back down, then check the collar, and put them all back in the cave. So this lovely bear decided to hibernate in the worse spot ever-on a side of a cliff/mountain. The ground was covered in ice, snow, and mud so it was a very eventful climb up a 45 degree angle cliff. Right off the bat I go to jump a ditch below me and when I hit the ground, my feet slip on ice and I SLAM right on my butt. BROKEN TAILBONE. I was so stoked about the bears that I climbed the mountain anyways. When we got up there, there were some ladies holding baby bears. We didn't have enough time to hold them so we were suppose to gather and take a group shot and then go back down the mountain. I snuggled right up to one of these bear ladies and held out my hands. She actually placed the baby bear in my arms!!! I held a freakin baby bear cub. It was so cute and soft and would wrap its cute little claws around my finger. I about died it was so cute. Here's a picture of Marci, Andrew, and I with the bear.

It was only 4 lbs. Tiny little guy

Here we are again. Notice that I'm the only one holding it...mwahahaha

So only like 3 people out of my class got to hold the bear, that is including me. I was so happy that I temporarily forgot that my behind was in a trillion pieces. Baby bear cubs are like crack, they make you feel wonderful no matter how bad you are off and you just want more and more of them! I'm in love.

Then we went and checked out the mama who was out cold. Here is Dr. Black with the mom. 

My teacher is a beast, he's just chillin with the mama who could claw his face off at any time. Rad.

Then we went back down the mountain so they would have time to get them mother bear in the cave and not go postal and kill everyone. They really don't do that, but it would be kind of awesome. On the way down we were slipping and sliding down the snow until we hit some brush or a tree. That did not help the tailbone situation. Finally on the ground, my cub euphoria had worn off and I was hurtin! I had to ride for 4 more hours on a fold down seat in the back of a truck. It was so miserable but worth it! 

I'm in so much pain and have been this week, it's not even funny. I just want to die all.the.time. In case you have no idea where the tailbone is:

See how it is in the middle? I feel like my weight is on it no matter what I do.

I feel like I need to tell my classmates why I'm sitting like a freak in class. Mainly, I don't want them thinking I have hemorroids, that would be awkward and embarrassing. So this girl in my class asks me how I broke it and I gave her a short explanation of what I was doing. She then decides this would be a great topic to write on for her newspaper reporting class. That's how exciting BYU is, you have to write stories about people that destroy their bottoms by being a spaz while tracking bears. I had to text my roommate and tell her right away. I kinda hope they publish it somewhere. Further proof that my life is not real.