Life, post-Europe

I swear, I just blink and a week goes by. Summer, what are you doing to me?!

So my dad randomly showed up last Wednesday night when he wasn't supposed to be home until Friday. Turns out my grandfather had been hospitalized and was in the ICU, so my dad came home early and bumped up his flight back to Taiwan from the 15th to that Saturday, the 11th. I drove him to the airport at 5 AM that morning, and let me tell you, driving our Suburban (thing is a BEAST, it handles like a tank!) by myself for the first time and that early was probably not the best idea, haha.

Then on Sunday, a bunch of us went to Schlitterbahn! Jessica, Robin and I all drove in one car, and Natasha, John and Kristin took another. We didn't get there until like 3 PM what with people at church and getting off of work and coordinating rides, but we still had an amazing time. I hadn't been there since I was probably like 14 or so, but I still think it's the hottest coolest time in Texas!

I started class on Monday, and I'm actually really enjoying it so far (barring the daily parking nightmare of UT campus, ugh). I'm taking Psychology of Religion with Dr. Domjan, and goodness, I love that woman. She announced to the class today how cool she thought it was that I attended High Mass at the Vatican and saw the Pope, haha, she's so adorable.

Tuesday night, however, I got the incredibly sad news that my paternal grandfather had passed away. I really regret not having had the opportunity to visit Taiwan (since I graduated high school in 2006) and now I won't ever see my grandfather again, but at least my dad made it back in time to see him before he passed, and I know he's not suffering anymore. But even though I knew it was inevitable, I just cried when I got the call from my parents. Now, I think I'm just still a little lost and trying to piece things together, I'm not sure if it's really hit me yet. I was never able to be super close to my grandparents like most of my friends because mine were across the world, but I did used to visit every other year, and always for like the entire summer. It's kind of weird to be home in the US by myself and so disconnected from my family in a time like this. I'm okay, for the most part, though, and it helps that I have incredible friends (who insist on coming to see me, even though I CAN take care of myself!). So RIP, 爺 爺, you were an incredible man whom I will always honor and remember, and I'm proud to carry your family name ♥

So I'm under house arrest, more or less, until he's buried. We're going through all the Chinese funerary customs, so like I'm not allowed to visit friends or go to parties, I'm supposed to wear drab colors and absolutely NOT red, I'm wearing a blue ribbon around my wrist, etc. And Chinese burials traditionally take 49 days because they hold a special ceremony once every seven days for seven cycles, but since my brother has to come back for school, they're shortening it to once every three days so my family is coming back August 11th. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with myself until then, but I really need to start friggin' unpacking and cleaning already. The house is a total disaster because I'm the only one in it so 1) my shit has spread all over the house and 2) there's no one around to yell at me about it. I'm SO in denial about NOT being in Europe in anymore and having to deal with *~the real world~*, ugh. August 21st, could you please get here sooner?!