(no subject)
Sorry it's been so long since I have upate you all. I'm sure you've been on the ege of your seat wonering if I have fallen into the grips of SARS or something. I'm also very sorry that this post shall be brought to you entirely without the help of the letter that comes after c as it oes not exist on this keyboar. Therefore if anything looks peculiar, know I am not an iiot.
So...it is currently 10:00 on Friay which means in exactly 12 hours I shall be on a plane to Beijing. I am extremely happy about this because the real trip is beginning. In two ays I will be climbing on the Wall. The Wall. It ain't the Great one for nothing, you know. I cannot wait. I think I just might cry...much like when Big Ben began to chime...one of those surreal moments that just overpowers me.
However I am also somewhat sa to be leaving this place because I have only just gotten use to it. Toay I went to a man who specialize in Chinese meicine for a massage. The thing about Chinese massages is that they are not so much soothing as they are extremely painful at the time but effective afterwars. This man, upon examining my pulse, the conition of my tongue an fingernails, as well as who knows what else, eclare that I shoul take care of my heart an my stomach because they woul cause me trouble. He also tol me that my bloo was ba an it woul make my liver weak...just call him Mr. Bummer Man. He trie to make up for this ba news by constantly telling me that I was hen piaoliang an ha the most beautiful feet he ha ever seen. I woul be really intereste to fin out what stanars my feet were juge by. As I was walking back to our hotel alone, through the ghetto-like suburbs that have become oh so familiar, I was overcome by a feeling of complete peacefulness. I stoppe for a secon an just watche my two chickens eating in the gutter an the ol people sitting together playing mahjong an the puppies scurrying across the roa an I realize that I coul o this. As I continue walking, I encountere three seperate people who greete me by name. The last of whom was a guy I playe volleyball with. We ha playe together a couple of times, an I ha been the only American who coul return his spike...he was a really goo player. He invite me to come along an play again but I explaine that I was leaving Harbin so he bought me yi bei kela (a Coke) an we talke for a bit uring which I learne that he was grauating this week with a egree in civil engineering an woul be moving to Beijing for work.
I on't know. It's nothing really. I know that this trip has been really really goo for me. I was hoping for some kin of life changing revelation or growth of some sort, an in a way I feel there has been. I now know that I coul very well pull this off. For the first time, I ha to epen solely on myself to pull myself out of my little slumps. I in't have Jesse to tell me that life is currently going great an that I shoot 99%, an here, evoi of familiarity, I was not meloramatic of self-estructive. I have not smoke, I have not one any rugs, an I have not rank to quiet any of the thoughts permeating my brain. Reaing this it oesn't seem like something I shoul really be prou of, but nonetheless, I now have some sense that after grauation, I am going to be just fine. In fact, I have alreay inquire about career opportunities here. I coul teach English here. It woul be one hell of an aventure.
If not there's always my vineyar in Tuscany...
Anyway...what else can I report? Not a lot has happene this week. It's been crazy as hell wrapping up the acaemic portion of the trip as we were cramming everything in an ha our final yesteray. I got a 96. Fastest 8 creits in history.
I am well aware of the fact that there are countless momentary glimpses an souns an errans that are too trivial to mention here, but will always stay with me an be use as comparisons for any other city I ever spen a prolonge amount of time in. An I'm sure I'll eventually acquaint all of you with all of them.
Once we start travelling tomorrow, I will try to get to a computer as much as possible, but I can't make a lot of promises. We will be in Beijing from June 18th till the 21st, Xi'an from the 21st till the 24th an Shanghai from the 24th till the 27th which is when I shall be returning to the states.
Love you all.
Miss you all.
See you soon.
So...it is currently 10:00 on Friay which means in exactly 12 hours I shall be on a plane to Beijing. I am extremely happy about this because the real trip is beginning. In two ays I will be climbing on the Wall. The Wall. It ain't the Great one for nothing, you know. I cannot wait. I think I just might cry...much like when Big Ben began to chime...one of those surreal moments that just overpowers me.
However I am also somewhat sa to be leaving this place because I have only just gotten use to it. Toay I went to a man who specialize in Chinese meicine for a massage. The thing about Chinese massages is that they are not so much soothing as they are extremely painful at the time but effective afterwars. This man, upon examining my pulse, the conition of my tongue an fingernails, as well as who knows what else, eclare that I shoul take care of my heart an my stomach because they woul cause me trouble. He also tol me that my bloo was ba an it woul make my liver weak...just call him Mr. Bummer Man. He trie to make up for this ba news by constantly telling me that I was hen piaoliang an ha the most beautiful feet he ha ever seen. I woul be really intereste to fin out what stanars my feet were juge by. As I was walking back to our hotel alone, through the ghetto-like suburbs that have become oh so familiar, I was overcome by a feeling of complete peacefulness. I stoppe for a secon an just watche my two chickens eating in the gutter an the ol people sitting together playing mahjong an the puppies scurrying across the roa an I realize that I coul o this. As I continue walking, I encountere three seperate people who greete me by name. The last of whom was a guy I playe volleyball with. We ha playe together a couple of times, an I ha been the only American who coul return his spike...he was a really goo player. He invite me to come along an play again but I explaine that I was leaving Harbin so he bought me yi bei kela (a Coke) an we talke for a bit uring which I learne that he was grauating this week with a egree in civil engineering an woul be moving to Beijing for work.
I on't know. It's nothing really. I know that this trip has been really really goo for me. I was hoping for some kin of life changing revelation or growth of some sort, an in a way I feel there has been. I now know that I coul very well pull this off. For the first time, I ha to epen solely on myself to pull myself out of my little slumps. I in't have Jesse to tell me that life is currently going great an that I shoot 99%, an here, evoi of familiarity, I was not meloramatic of self-estructive. I have not smoke, I have not one any rugs, an I have not rank to quiet any of the thoughts permeating my brain. Reaing this it oesn't seem like something I shoul really be prou of, but nonetheless, I now have some sense that after grauation, I am going to be just fine. In fact, I have alreay inquire about career opportunities here. I coul teach English here. It woul be one hell of an aventure.
If not there's always my vineyar in Tuscany...
Anyway...what else can I report? Not a lot has happene this week. It's been crazy as hell wrapping up the acaemic portion of the trip as we were cramming everything in an ha our final yesteray. I got a 96. Fastest 8 creits in history.
I am well aware of the fact that there are countless momentary glimpses an souns an errans that are too trivial to mention here, but will always stay with me an be use as comparisons for any other city I ever spen a prolonge amount of time in. An I'm sure I'll eventually acquaint all of you with all of them.
Once we start travelling tomorrow, I will try to get to a computer as much as possible, but I can't make a lot of promises. We will be in Beijing from June 18th till the 21st, Xi'an from the 21st till the 24th an Shanghai from the 24th till the 27th which is when I shall be returning to the states.
Love you all.
Miss you all.
See you soon.