getting on a fast train
Once again, I am on an amtrak train heading back to Seattle. Thanksgiving this year was a much needed and wonderfully relaxing 5 days. There was the traditional potluck this year only this time around, I felt too old to be playing MASH with the 12 year old girls but awfully young to be sitting with all the Westlake Moms while they talk about the best recipe for green onion pancakes. They say that Lake Oswego is posh and clique-y and all that, but honestly, my own mother is apart of a Lady’s Tea club with a very exclusive membership. Talk about preppy Lake Oswego Moms.
This quarter is (thankfully) almost over. I honestly cannot wait to go back to China. It has been too long since I’ve been back and somehow feels like a large part of me has been missing all these months. My family’s a bit scared of the cold we will face in Chengdu (since most homes do not come with a heater, yikes) so we’re heading south to Hainan, the Hawaii of China except with much better food. The best part is that Allen will be coming with us too since he will be done with his exams on the 20th. Me and my big brother need to catch up.
Its funny how things come full circle. I haven’t stepped foot in Sea-Tac airport in 12 years, not since my first flight from Beijing to the US. Seattle was the first bit of America that I saw and before I understood the word “train” I took it Seattle to Portland. And 12 years later, I make the same trip a dozen times a year.
I am much happier now that my horrid disease is behind me and I am less than two weeks away from Beijing, Chengdu and Hainan. It will be a very good Christmas indeed.