Everyone Deserves a Little S/O Sometimes

Today I'm feeling very grateful for the people in my life back at home. During the rough times here I have always had someone to comfort me, cry with & make me laugh when I didn't think I could anymore. Coming here has made me realize how blessed I am with so many people that truly care about me and would do anything for me. I love each and every single one of you greatly and would do anything to see you guys happy.

Mom: You have been there since day one. You trusted me enough to go figure out life and I will forever owe you for that. You let me take the leap of faith, believing in me every step of the way. Thank you for putting up with the videos I send you, crying for you to come get me and letting me come home. Thank you for making me feel like I'm still home as part of your life while I'm actually across the world.

 

 





Tiff: You are my adopted mother. You have let me into your family and I will forever be grateful for it. You guys have showed me so much love throughout the years that I can't even comprehend it. You've showed me what a happy, whole family looks and feels like, and now I know that it's possible. That you for dealing with my heart aches and always having an open ear to anything. You always know exactly what to say to make everything okay again.

 
Tab and Kev: You guys keep me laughing for sure. The random texts and FaceTimes that I get from you guys keep me sane. Thank you for being so supportive of all the decisions I've made up to this point. I'm so thankful for the bond we've shared together while growing up and the laughter you've both brought upon my life. I love you more than you could ever imagine and so proud of where you guys are going with your lives, even though I'm not there to keep you both out of trouble :)

 

 


Papi: Your sweet emails make my day. They are so short and to the point but somehow are all I need in that moment. Thank you for being my biggest fan throughout my whole life. I always know that I have you cheering for me whether it's running, soccer, school, or trying to walk away from my family in the airport after saying goodbye. Thank you for teaching me how to keep up with the boys while growing up; I am now put in the "bro" zone with everyone but I know you secretly love that. :) You're the cutest dad ever and I will forever be blessed to have you by my side through this life.

Steph Kirk: You know you're my girl! haha oh boy…. We have laughed harder together then I ever thought was possible. Thank you for being the one person I can be an absolute freak with. I love you so much for that! We are seriously perfect for each other and I'm the luckiest girl on Earth to be able to call you my girlfriend. haha Keep doing you and don't let anyone take away your weirdness! I can't wait for you to make my funeral video :)

  





Joe and Tanner: hahaha just thinking about you two makes me laugh. Thank you for being my only friends and accepting me even though I tried to sell my body in the windows at Vans. You guys are the funniest people I know and have seriously brought so much into perspective about life. You were always there when I had nothing to do (everyday) and let me come bug you for 5 hours of your shift. You guys saved me from myself. Love you both too much and I'm sorry Industrial is losing so much business because I'm not break dancing in the front anymore :)

The Orem Homies: You know exactly who you are! I have so much love for you guys! We took over this summer and wouldn't let anything take us down. I can't even believe how many times we played 48 and my unstoppable teammate Clayton and I kicked your butts. You guys really are the homies. I was always your older woman and that cracks me up! Thanks for your kind words and texts that you've sent me while I've been gone. Every little thing helps. Be good and stay out of trouble!!

 

 

 

 

Cole Allan: I can't even wrap my head around how you deal with me. I send you the most ridiculous videos ever and you still decide to put with me. However you do it, I am thankful for it. I would be so lonely without our FaceTimes playdates. You're one of the only people that I can talk about absolutely nothing with but still be so entertained. Thank you for happily watching the music videos I make while I'm bored and listening to my dumb stories. You've saved me.

Gabe, Tanner & Sadie: K wow I don't even know what to say about you three. I guess I can start with you boys. You are the sickest two kids I've ever met. I have never bonded with anyone like I have with you. You have seen the craziest side of me ever and love me to pieces for it and I can't thank you enough for that. We will forever be savages :) And Sadie, you're too sick. I seriously love you! I'm so glad we were able to meet and become such good friends so quickly. You really are my twin and I can't wait to come back and long board! Thanks for the adventures guys, I can't wait to move to Costa Rica with you and start our business :)

 

 

 

 


My cute family: I can't believe how spread out our family is in this world. The Borland's have taken over! I am so blessed to be in the prays of so many loving people. I love each and every one of your families and won't ever forget the fun times we've spent together. You guys are crazy and I love it!! We all mesh so well together which makes every moment 10x better. Thank you for the kind words you've sent to me while I've been trying to get through the beginning of this journey. I miss and love you all!

 

 
 

 

& to every other loving person: I'm so lucky to have so many friends that love me and care about me. You guys are one of the biggest reasons for my happiness and I just want to thank you all. I can't wait to see where each and every one of you goes in life and I'll be on the sidelines cheering my little heart out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiananmen Square - Pica, pica? Shank yoo.

I wish that you guys could see me in my Chinese class. It's just one big mess…. I have no clue what's going on and my classmates seem to think that it's very entertaining, along with my teacher.. I get so frustrated because nothing makes sense! Four different tones for each letter that make it a completely different word? Come on now, is that really necessary? I don't think so. Today I was struggling so bad with the number 9 and the word water. I could not remember them for the life of me! My teacher just kept making fun of me and Douglas and Danielle were enjoying it just as much. Why am I always the joke of life?

After an excruciating day of class I decided to go wonder around since I finally had my first day off. I ended up meeting up with Douglas (a classmate if you haven't figured that out yet), unexpectedly and he decided he wanted to be a part of my big adventure. We took the subway         to Tiananmen Square and looked around                                                                     
      not really understanding where we were                                                                                     supposed to go. Supposedly it's this huge                                                                               place that tons of tourists go to so we were                                                                             pretty excited.Ya, it's just this huge open land                                                                              shaped as a square. 

Douglas is super shy, and you know that I don't have a shy bone in my body, so at first it was kinda rough. We were just walking around aimlessly trying to figure out what we were supposed to be doing. Then of course, me being me, I decided to make this super boring trip become something fun. I started modeling in front of all the huge buildings and told him, "We're tourists, so why don't we embrace our tourism?" He looked at me like I was on cocaine… I grabbed his camera from him and forced him to start taking cheesy tourist pictures with me. Next thing you know, look who's out of his shell! :)

 

       So we're walking around doing our thing right? Then I see one of those guards that is supposed to just stand there and be serious without moving. Of course this makes my brain start thinking of every single way possible I can make this man smile. Poor Douglas… I'm jumping around, talking to this guy, putting my arm around him. Ya, nothing. I was upset so I gave up and let Douglas take a boring picture with him……

Now we're walking around doing our thing again when Douglas turns to me and says, "Have you notice how many people have been following us?" Me, being as naive as a three year old, turns around to see a line of people walking behind us all with their cameras and phones out taking pictures. It was the most bazaar thing I've ever witnessed. I started laughing so hard, which drew even more attention to us, and could not control myself. This makes Douglas start to laugh too because once you get me laughing, there is no stopping it! So we are just these two kids standing in the middle of this huge square, laughing uncontrollably. Next thing you know, some woman comes up to me, pats my shoulder and hands Douglas her camera. Before I can even say anything she has her arms wrapped around me and somehow got her scarf wrapped around my neck so our faces were pressed together. Douglas was laughing so hard at this point I though he was going to pass out.

AND THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF IT ALL.

People were coming up to me left and right, handing Douglas their cameras, posing with me, handing me their children, making me touch them and all of their possessions. I was getting the biggest crack out of it! I have never had so much attention in my life! Every time I stopped to take a picture with something 20 people would surround me and start taking pictures not only with me, but of JUST ME! I had a trail of Asians following me around for the 45 minutes I was there. We finally get some control over ourselves and then of course see a sign that says "We serve coffee, tea, fast food, and spaghetti." Wait what? hahaha I don't think Douglas has ever laughed so hard in his life. 

oh and p.s, I ended up making one of the guards laugh.

xo

Check me out fools.

       First off… I'm raising a ninja. Jerry.

Second off… I'm a mom. Sarah.

                                                       Third…. I HAVE FRIENDS!!! and they're so cute! Linda on                                                      the left (from Sweden) and Kelly on the right (from AMERICA)

            Fourth… nice translation guys. 

                               Underground markets have become my life.

                                              And fifth… There are like 5 ginormous malls 

                                       all on the same block. 

So I guess you could say I had my first encounter with someone being racist towards me. Why can't everyone just be nice? It was at this little store in one of the malls and I took a shirt of the hanger and got yelled at by like 3 workers. Then Linda tried to buy something and this guy just shoos her away like she's a dog, won't even make eye contact with her. I understand it's hard to communicate with us because we don't speak Chinese, but if I ever did that to someone while working at Vans, I would get in so much trouble! I guess it's literally just another world over here. I hope everyone at home will be conscious of the way you're treating other people. 

You've probably heard rumors that there are no such thing as lines, patience or manners here. Well, those rumors are correct. Like I said with the driving, if someone wants to switch lanes, they will do whatever they need to to get over, no matter what else is going on around them. It's the same everywhere else on your feet too. Everyone is pushing, shoving, running. It's complete chaos constantly. No one says please or thank you, no one gives you an apologetic smile if they ram into you, and NOBODY WILL HELP ME. 

And these kids that I'm teaching…. holly cow! I am cramming manners into their brains like there is no tomorrow. Not trying to be rude, but I'm worried about the generation of these kids when they are all older. They will not take no for an answer. And the worst part about it is they have their parents wrapped around their fingers. If they aren't happy with something they will throw the most obnoxious fit until they get it.... and they always do. So here I am trying to make a difference with two children each day. Not kidding, I make Jerry say please and thank you with everything we do! And when he starts to whine about something I say, "Jerry, it's not the end of the world." I feel like I'm starting to get somewhere, but who knows! I'm also trying to work on the whole cheating thing too. Because he will NOT lose regardless of if it's going up the stairs or playing with Legos. I really hope Jerry makes it big someday because by the time I'm done with him, he'll be the nicest, sweetest boy here.

Seriously, if any of you have any tips for me on what to say to these kids, what to play, what to do, how to help them with their English but make it fun too, that would be so helpful! I'm up for any advice. Jerry is 4 and Sarah is 1 and a half, so she's pretty tough….

I miss your manners!

xoxo