Joyful Noise

Since my body clock has not adjusted yet, it was 5:30 in the morning. I grabbed by comforter off the bed and sat down in front of the television. WhilenI was in the bathroom, I noticed that I have added two new roommates - earthworms in the tub! Now, I know that earthworms are just worms and are harmless, but something in my brain kept saying, "What if they're poisonous earthworms? Do you really want to take that chance?" With disgust, I resigned myself to not showering until I could figure out what to do about the situation. You most definitely can take the girl out of Granville, but you absolutely cannot take Granville out of the girl! While I was contemplating their fate, I nicknamed them Frick and Frack.

There is only one English channel on the T.V. here: CCTV9. It has a repertoire of about 10 shows and just as many commercials. I think that I had them all memorized before lunch today.

On to breakfast! Now, local fare for breakfast will turn any respectable American's stomach over - noodles and veggies in broth...yuck! Fortunately, Wal-mart has a bakery, so I got bread and peanut butter and jelly. This morning, it was dry, cold bread with jam and milk. Now, many of you know that I am somewhat of a jam snob, in that I only eat strawberry jelly and I prefer to only eat my grandma's magic homemade strawberry freezer jelly. Well, honeys, this won't grandma's! I suppose it will have to do though. (Grandma, this just means there will have to be a freezer full when I get back ;-) ) As I was opening up the blinds and windows for the day, I was taken aback by the sight outside of my kitchen window. Marvelous hydrangeas! These are one of my favorite flowers because they remind me of my Grandparent O'Ds house on Dilworth Lane when I was growing up. The hydrangeas outside my apartment are in all different colors: blues, purples, pinks, whites. But the ones RIGHT outside of my kitchen window are Carolina Blue! It was like Father planted them there just for me. I couldn't help but smile and thank him for this simple, but very appreciated blessing.

After breakfast, I decided to do some cleaning. After sitting empty for a month or so, the entire apartment had developed a film of dirt and grime. I broke out the trusty broom, sweeping pan, mop, bucket, gloves, and the all important BLEACH! It must be genetic, but the smell of bleach just soothes my soul (and I know that my sister agrees!) I started in the bedroom and worked my way around, ending in the bathroom. I had had some time to figure out what I was going to do with the worms by this time and I decided that I would just try to wash them down the drain. That would have been a great idea, except that the drain doesn't drain. So, the worms just went for a swim. As the water S-L-O-W-L-Y drained, the worms ended up right back where they started. Sigh! Luckily, bleach kills EVERYTHING - unseen germs and visible worms. They just curl right up.

After cleaning, I decided to go to the foreign affairs office to see about getting my toilet fixed. Only one problem...I didn't know where the foreign affairs office was. I was walking back and met another foreign teacher here. I was so excited, I could have given him a hug. (Except he didn't seem like he was too big on hugs) He showed me where the foreign affairs office was. Unfortunately, no such luck. Seeing as how it is Sunday, no one is on campus. He did, however, give me the suggestion that I could manually flush the toilet by pouring water from a bucket into the bowl.

I decided to go for a pwalk around campus this afternoon and hoped that I might run into someone that I knew. I was very excited about this time because I FINALLY was able to charge my iPod. Music provides such a source of comfort and inspiration to me, and without it I was starting to get in a rut. (Note: All of the titles have been song lyrics or titles) So, I strapped on my tennis shoes and struck out to cover every square inch of campus. I started up my rap playlist (yes, I listen to rap music) and off we went - me, the 116 clique, and my father! Fortunately, this is a relatively small campus, and since I have been here before I knew where I was going. We walked these grounds often on our last trip. As I was walking, I was struck by the beautiful flowers that are all over campus. They have put a lot of work into landscaping here and it shows. Magnolia trees (Mary), water lilies, little yellow flowers that smell AMAZING, hydrangeas, roses, etc. While I was walking around one of the ponds, "Joyful Noise" by Flame came on my iPod and I was so encouraged. This song perfectly captures our desires. Father was here with me last time, he has been here even in my absence, and he is with me this year as well.