Disillusioned

Emily is out buying glasses, and I'm supposed to be packing. But I'm not. I slept until 12, and then read a bit, and now I'm playing on the interwebs. Most of my stuff is packed, but I will admit to a little bit of panic when I think about the whole ordeal of flying home. I will admit it. I don't travel well. I would love to say that I enjoy the process of traveling, reveling in the sights and sounds of cabs, planes, trains, etc. I would love to say that I treat each and every travel experience as a new way of relaxing and seeing the sights. But I don't. Usually I just tense up, get grumpy, and bull my way through it. Once I reach the destination I am usually okay. Sigh. It is disappointing how little one's self image matches reality.

Change of Plans

Today Emily and I were subjected to the mind numbing horror that is inputting grades. The foreign affairs office has worked hard to develop and perfect the most infuriating and inefficient method of doing so. After 4 hours of frustration and tedium we were told we would have to return tomorrow! AAACKKKK!

The good news is that when they heard we would have to be driven to Shanghai at 3AM to make our plane, the school finally acquiesced to driving us up there on Thursday! Hurray! We made sure that they knew we needed a big car/van/semi to carry all the crap we have to take home with us. Hopefully it all will work out and the hotel will have an airport shuttle. It will make like (hopefully) much easier. We are almost done packing and are busy just finishing up with last minute visits, trips to buy Emily some new glasses, inputting grades, and cleaning up the apartment. It is going to be so great to be home!

I already have the first few days back in America planned out and first on that list is meeting my new nephew!

One Week

Only one more week until we are winging our way home to the good old USA. It seems like this year has flown by, with tons of wonderful experiences and some very interesting times. I will admit to being a little nervous about the next step that Emily and I are taking in life. Moving to China was such a freeing experience, getting rid of almost all of our stuff and starting new in another country. But we are REALLY ready to be home. And now (having gotten rid of all our junk) we are really starting over. The plan right now is to move in with Ma for a few weeks until we figure out where we will live and job stuff. I will be going back to Starbucks for a while and will be attending GTCC's school of music this fall. I have a pretty good class schedule and Starbucks has always been great about working with me time-wise. Emily will be looking around for library type jobs that are semi-close to NC. We are so excited to go home and spend time with friends and family. I have a new nephew I haven't even met! Being away for so long makes you realize how much we took closeness and family for granted. I have lots of big plans when I get home and can't wait to see everyone!

Tidings

So it is almost time for us to come home! We are very excited and incredibly busy getting exams and grades ready. But the big news is...OWEN!!! My "little" nephew was born last week and we couldn't be more excited. Emily and I cannot wait to get home to see him! I have regaled all my students with his size (converted to kilograms). Most of them don't believe me! Today marks six years that Emily and I have been together. It seems like such a short amount of time. We have done so much and look forward to a great future of even more excitement! I had to miss the final Pumpkin concert as it was delayed until today and we didn't want to spend 3pm-10pm of our six year anniversary at a overheated concert hall. But I have gotten a chance to go and play with the band a few times at their many different practice spaces. I've been reading a lot in my downtime, not playing guitar enough, trying to memorize all the countries of the world (I realized my geography was atrocious!), and listening to a lot of Afropop (my recent faves are Prince Nico Mbarga, Amadou and Mariam, and the Soweto Gospel Choir). Emily has been knitting toys for Audrey and Owen, watching some fun movies (Bill and Ted!) and cooking lots of delicious foods. Her tom kha is awesome! We can't wait to come home and try out some recipes on friends and family. We will be home so soon!!!