Back in the USA

The last week of school was absolutely crazy; I had finals all week and the next day we were on a plane! Wednesday was probably the busiest day. 
The night before, I had a sleepover with some friends. In the morning, I walked over to the school and finished my finals. We only had school till noon so in between my class; I (as well as many others) had our yearbooks signed by as many of our friends as possible. As soon as my last class ended, my dad and sister were waiting downstairs to take me to lunch. TAAS (the school my mom works at and my sister attends) were having lunch at a restaurant for all the staff and their families. I was kind of sad that I didn't have much time to say goodbye to all my friends, but we were already a little late. With some help from our trusty guide and friend, Shin, we found the restaurant and ate a TON of food. As soon as I got home, I had to pack everything for our trip back to the states. After I finished, I went to the Senior Graduation for my school with some friends. I got home pretty late so I went straight to bed. 

Early the next morning, we lugged our suitcases up the 97 steps into the van, drove to the airport, and hopped onto a very VERY long airplane ride. The first flight was 11, almost 12 hours long. The second was about 3 hours long. It was pretty miserable. Of course I had to get sick the night before we left. :/ I was kind of in denial, I just couldn't be sick, not now! But, after a few hours on the plane, there was no doubt that I was sick.

Eventually, we arrived in Seattle. I was sick, jet lagged, and absolutely exhausted, but I was back. Walking out the entrance of the Seattle airport brought back a flood of memories. Memories from the last time we were in this airport, leaving the States to go to the foreign land of Taiwan. I remember waving goodbye to Caleb and Stephen after they dropped us and our luggage off. Afterwards, I told my mom I needed to go to the bathroom. After making sure no one else was in there, I just sobbed my eyes out. I hadn't really cried about leaving until then. It just hadn't seemed completely real I guess. Anyways... I don't know why I'm mentioning that, I hadn't told anyone that because it's a little embarrassing, even if it was a natural thing to do. I'm SO glad that we moved to Taiwan though, as I have mentioned many times before. It was great to be back though. 
As I stepped out of the airport doors and stepped onto American soil I thought, "Wow. I'm really back!' 
Soon, Stephen loaded his truck with our luggage and we started on our 3 hour drive to his house.

It was so exciting to open the door of their house and see them all again. Some other friends (the Jones) came by to welcome us back as well. That night it was wonderful to get some much needed sleep. My hours and days were very confused besides being sick. It is kind of funny how we arrived in the San Francisco airport before we left Taiwan (12 hours earlier). 

On Sabbath, we went to the Cashmere Church. Again, it was so exciting to see everyone! My special music went… well, okay considering how congested I was and how sore my throat was just the day before. I was feeling better that Sabbath, praise God.
I was touched by all the food people had made for me. I was able to eat a whole plateful of food at potluck! Something I haven’t been able to do for a while.
After potluck, we went for a hike with the church. I usually don’t care that much for hikes, but this was an exceptional hike. It was so much fun catching up with all my friends, laughing about old memories, and just being together.

Sadly, we had to leave the next day. We knew we were coming back and we were excited about going to Utah.
So, right now I’m in Utah! But I’ll tell you more about my trip later… ;)