LOST entry found!!

Surprising how things turn up when you least expect it. I found a draft that I had completely forgotten to publish. It was written in January and many of the things written here are long overdue. But better late than never, right?

So enjoy!

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It has been a very long time since I've posted on my blogspot. Since my last post, life in China has been an unpredictable, but always thrilling rollercoaster ride. No matter how much of a routine I can try to create for myself, the Chinese somehow always manages to sneak a few surprises for me each week. So much has happened since the last time I've posted that, unfortunately, my motivation to document them has long since passed.

But the last couple of days have been one of the best days of my life here in China. Three of the greatest friends I could ever ask for paid a much needed visit to me. I celebrated a late christmas and new years eve with my friends doobz (debbie), boobz (yvonne), and my bra (scott). From the moment I met them at the Luo Hu train station, I felt as if I had been whisked away back to America. Suddenly, the spitting and the hair in the food didn't bother me anymore. The large crowds and threat of being pick pocketed was no longer a real big issue to me. I felt as if they had brought Home to me. Nothing seemed unfamiliar or foreign to me. Nothing had changed. We talked about the same random perverted stuff as usual. We made the same, lame repetitive jokes as we always had. And we took the same awesome calendar pictures as we always did in the States. I was still in China. But, somehow, I was too distracted by their company to even realize that I was half way around the world.

They truly brought Christmas and everyone's heartfelt wishes and thoughts of me to China. I couldn't have appeared more spoiled by all the goodies that my friends from home had packed for me. Thank you Sam for my very first pair of Rainbow slippers and the picture frame. I have it by my bed. It is the first thing I see when I wake up and the last thing I see when I fall asleep. Thanks to Kel for the awesome sweater. I love it. It's a perfect fit and ever since I've gotten it, I've already worn it three times! Thanks to Dan for the CD. You always only burn one thing onto each CD, yet it's always the best things that can ever come from a CD. Thanks for giving me an alternative to Chinese infomercials about breast enlargements. Thanks to Danton for all the split shirts. The patterns are quirky and the colors are unique to China. Yet oddly, I've only been mistaken as a Chinese when wearing those shirts. Thank you to my family for packing for me every little stupid thing I asked for from America. Thanks to Phildo for the Golden Graham penis cereals. I don't understand why there are penises drawn on the box, but I will just assume those are flavor sprinkles! Thanks to John for the Mens Health magazine. I will wait for each month's subscription. Thank you!

And of course, a big heartfelt thank you to the people who've made the last couple of days so memorable. I thought I was fine until you guys showed up and made me realize how homesick I really am. While those couple of days were amazing, I can't help but feel a bit empty and displaced now that my visitors are gone. I hate the fact that our goodbye had to be so rushed. Work really does get in the way of more important things. I wish I had a longer time to just hug them and tell them how much their visit meant to me. I wish I had the chance to sit with them one more time in Kingdom hair salon and talk smack in English without any inhibitions. And I wish I had one more night to share a crowded two person, wash closet sized hotel room with. Knowing all the great people I have waiting for me at home will definitely make these next six months go by painfully slowly. Not that I am not enjoying my time here in China, but it just sucks to have to live new experiences without those who you love most.