To the Laura of Last July.

Here is Laura of ten months ago, on the cusp of heading to China: 

Yeah, the one failing at making Chinese food in her American kitchen. 

Inside, she's a mess of emotions, not knowing what on earth to expect out of the next year of her life.
And here's what I would tell her:

Stop freaking out. China will not kill you. Seriously. You’re going to be fine.

Chinese food really is delicious. Just keep eating it—you’ll see.

You’re allowed to be silly with your students. Encouraged, actually. Play with them on the playground. Be ridiculous and entertaining in class. Give more hugs than you can count. Treasure your silly times with them.They will remember those moments better than anything you teach them.

Come up with some fun cues to use in class. They don't have to make sense, but they should sound positive. There’s nothing worse than yelling or clapping to get 36 Chinese kids’ attention.

Buy new curtains. A year is a long time to have crappy curtains and not feel like your home is home.

You’ll live without chocolate chips.

Maybe. 

On second thought, pack a few bags. 

Bring a nice camera. 

Give relationships time. You don’t have to be close to your co-teachers two weeks in. You’ll be surprised at the end of the year.

Things will change quickly. This is the Father’s plan and is better than everything staying the way it was, though you may not see that at first.

Overnight trains are not the worst things ever invented. Don't worry about using them to travel around China.

You’ll get used to squatties and may even come to like them.

Make learning Chinese part of your daily routine. You may think you’ll pick it up the way you do other languages, but you won’t. You’ll regret later that you didn’t study it harder.

It’s ok to be tired and moody for the first few months. Don’t let it get you down—press on. You’re laying a foundation that will be built upon during the bright, happier days of Spring.

Buy more plants. Keep them in your room. Pretend you live in a forest. One plant is not enough.

Appreciate that Taiyuan has hardly any bugs.

Maan Coffee will appear in your future and you will love that place.

Taiyuan Teens is worth the energy you spend on it. Spend that energy. Don’t freak out when they ask you to help out with camp. You’ll be more blessed by them than they will be by you.

For goodness sakes, bring more than two pairs of teaching pants with you. Chinese people don’t wear pants that will fit your American behind and you won’t be able to buy more pants in China.

The same goes for shoes, leggings, and underwear.

Yeesh.

Bao bao zhou. Get it, eat it.

You will find yourself again. Don’t worry.

You are going to love Christmas. Stop being sad about it.

You’re not going to date anyone you meet in China. SORRY.

Laughter will solve a lot of your problems.

You have been chosen to go to China, and you will be taken care of while you're there. If that weren't the case, you wouldn't have even gotten this far. 

YOU ARE A DIVA AND YOU ARE STRONG.

You will not LOVE China, but China will wiggle its way down inside of you, and you will be better for it.