Best Thing I Ever Did

I started my college education as an Interior Design major at Ricks College. I have to brag for a minute and say that it was one of the only two programs there (nursing was the other one) that required a separate application and took 3 years instead of 2 (it was a 2-year college at the time).

I started the summer of 1999 with an old-school drafting class. That was neat, but not really what I was thinking when I thought of Interior Design. I have some pretty cool blue prints scrolled up in one of those blue-print tubes. Yeah, I did that.

The next semester I took several more Interior Design classes. . . like drawing, and 2 other design classes that I can't remember the names of. It was hard. I did ok; I didn't mind that it was hard. I just got frustrated. For one thing, the grades were tweaked: an A- was a 95% and a B- was a 90%. Talk about pressure for a perfectionist. Also, I'm a perfectionist, but so not when it comes to tiny details with my unsteady hands. Like. . . my lines aren't always perfectly straight and there might be some eraser marks you can see. One assignment we had to create a decor ball. I decided to use puzzle pieces, but got super frustrated because I kept hot-gluing my fingers and then I could see the glue sticking out. Oh... and the teachers were kind of perfectionists, too. Let's not even get into the drawing class (Del Parson's brother was my art teacher, that was pretty cool). Anyway, by the second semester I was feeling a little shaky about my decision to be in the Interior Design program. I fasted about it (must have been in October, around midterms). A few days later I got something in the mail.

A "teach English in China" pamphlet. Everyone got one. I read through it and felt so excited that I conned my roommate, Kathleen, into committing with me. I called my parents late at night and told them my new plan: could they pay my way? I don't think they thought I was serious, and there was a pretty involved application process, so they told me that if I filled it out and did all the work then they would support me. I surprised them and got myself into the International Language Program (ILP).

(Shanghai, spring 2000. These are pre-digital camera days, so this is the only picture I have on the computer)

I spent over 4 fabulous months teaching English to preschoolers in Wuxi, China, and I came back confident and happy. So happy that I decided to go back the next year as a head teacher. I returned to Ricks in the summer of 2000 with the goal to learn Mandarin and somehow spend the rest of my life in China.

Then I started dating Joe (I met him in the Mandarin 101 class--and I will tell you that story soon, because you will love it). Actually, I think I applied for the job around the time we started dating (November 2001). Then Joe made me start talking about getting married, and my parents rushed out to meet this stranger, and one afternoon while Joe was doing something with my dad and I was hanging out with my mom--I got a phone call. ILP had accepted my application (this was in March--so quite a few months after I had applied) and could I go to Hefei, China that summer? I explained and apologized, but I was getting married and wouldn't be able to go.

Well, they countered, they would send us both if I would move my wedding date before August. I told them I would get back to them, told my mom, and we kind of cheered and then called the boys to come to the apartment so we could talk.

Joe--he was a little hesitant at first. It would mean delaying school for a semester, meaning that he would have to push back his graduation, etc. But I won (it wasn't hard to convince him, and after all, he had promised me that we would someday live there) and we honeymooned for 5 months in Hefei, China.

So.... I'm thinking of all of this, because:

I've been pushing and pushing to buy a house next summer. We've been saving our pennies for a nice downpayment (and I want a nice house).

But then today I thought. . . what if we saved and rented for one more year. . . and took the family to China for the summer. We don't have a mortgage, and except for Ammon, the kids are old enough to remember, but young enough that they don't have jobs or sports commitments over the summer, and Joe's job situation is such that he can take off for a while and even get a good amount of work done from a distance.

How amazing would that be? I know so many people think I'm crazy for loving China--but I LOVE it. I love the people, the culture, the food--not so much (something about those 10 months living there ruined it for me, but I would deal with it), the shopping, the history, the sights. I want my kids to love it, too.

It's so tempting!