For those of you that are counting (all two of you) I have been away from my home for one year as of this past week.



Unfortunately for the rest of you, I'm coming home on Tuesday, arriving on Wednesday, and set to begin re-terrorizing the neighborhood (in very limited engagements) on Thursday. It was suggested to me that I start taking naps during the afternoon and staying up late nights these few days ahead of time in order that my body clock adjust to the 13 hour time difference. When the suggestion was made, however, I was forced to look into that dear friend's face and ask how that would be different from what I do already.

Today I went to our International Fellowship for the last time. I said goodbye to the corporate meeting, and I was a bit sad about it. But it's over, and I'm glad they were here while I was. I know that my impact on that body was minimal, but it was wonderful to have somewhere to go for this time. I've had other fish to fry in that department this year, anyway.

I also said goodbye to Danilo, who is now back in Mozambique for time with his family. Danny's father died this past week, and through amazing programs in place he was able to get a free roundtrip ticket Beijing-Maputo-Beijing and go home for the funeral. I'm so glad that this worked out for him. I realize that you don't know who Danny is, but he's a friend I've been seeing regularly this semester, and Dad has done some growing in his life that has been so encouraging to see. He went with us to Shanghai, if you'll recall. Anyway, it's good that he was able to go home (even if the circumstances are sad) because otherwise he wouldn't be able to see his family for a full 5 year stint in Beijing. I can't even begin to imagine what that would be like. A year is up, and I'm limping back to America like some sort of broken colt.

I also said goodbye to some young ladies that we've had the privilege to get to know since Christmastime. They have been a lot of fun to hang out with, and I'm sad to say goodbye to new good friends, but instead of lingering on it, I'll be thankful for new contacts across the US. Speaking of which, I now have friends from so many different places it's ridiculous. I'm pretty sure that if I wanted to go to Jakarta or Seoul I would have a place to stay. And then there's San Diego and Milwaukee. And Melbourne, London, Manila, Yamaguchi prefecture (which would be Shan Kou prefecture if the Japanese could read right, I mean look at it: 山口 . It's clearly shan kou-- mountain mouth. Silly Japanese and their weird language.), and let's not forget Maputo!

In all, I must say that I'm running on fumes here, and that I am looking immensely forward to being in my own bedroom soon. In a bed with a real mattress, not a pad on top of a wooden box, and with central aircon. And I do look forward to my car. I know that gas is super-expensive, but I want to DRIVE. My game plan for the next week and a half is something like this: Sleep until I wake up, get up, dressed, what have you. Go to Target and not buy anything, though I will look through the entire store for bargains. Go to Old Navy to compare prices of similar items but still not buy anything. Spend a half hour at each store converting the prices to RMB, then deciding that's not a healthy thing to do, but still be shocked at how much stuff costs in America. Go to Starbucks, order the cheapest thing available (probably 当日咖啡... or whatever it's called in English, you know, regular coffee of the self-same exact day) and read books and call people and have them come talk to me about their lives. I also plan to watch movies at the theater on Tuesdays late, since it's cheaper that night, and I intend to sneak in as much dark chocolate as I can from a quick visit to Albertson's immediately beforehand. It's not really cheating to sneak in candy that the theater doesn't even sell.

I'll probably need people to have some mix cd's ready for me of whatever crazy music is popular in America now. I have no idea of music that has come out in the last year. The only song that I've heard that wasn't out when I left is that stupid "Beautiful Girls/Suicidal" song, though I have no idea who was singing it at the time. I've gotten nothing. So don't be surprised if I hate whatever you're listening to in the car, friend. It's all new, and we all know that popular music is only palatable when we know it's what's cool. Don't kid yourself. It mostly sucks. That's why we have to listen to it over and over on the radio and tv commercials. Eventually it makes it's sneaky way onto our iPods, and before we know it, we have spent money on what they told us to buy. Clever devils!

I'm thinking I might also spend some time at the park, but it will depend on how ridiculously hot it is outside. I might do yard work, as well. I kind of miss that. Don't get any ideas, Dad.

Which brings me to this: Happy Father's Day!
Sorry for missing two in a row. But I'll bring you a cool present in a few days anyway.

T