Almost There

It's finally here. After 140 odd days of wait I'm leaving. Tomorrow is my last day at home before I leave for California and then onto China. I don't know what to think. I am so ready to leave, it feels like I have been waiting forever, but I'm also sad. I know this is the end of a chapter in my life. I'm going to come home a little different and perhaps the people around me will be a little different as well. I keep reminding myself its the beginning of something wonderful and new.

I do have a bit of exciting news. I found out my host family situation. I have a mama (mother), baba (father) and jiejie (older sister). My sister is a sophomore at the University in Beijing and is home "quite a bit" according to the information sheet I received from SYA. I also found out, when I braved a phone call to my new Chinese family, that she speaks some English. I called and spoke to her for a little while using my limited mandarin vocabulary. She seems very nice and is going to pick me up at the airport of Friday. My host father said something in rapid fire chinese and then handed the phone back over, but even in a different language he sounded friendly.

The whole phone call made me excited and so ready to get there. I just want to be there and skip these painful goodbyes. My friends threw me a lovely going away party but it didn't feel real. I couldn't make myself understand I was saying goodbye for a year, not just a coupe days. It will settle in eventually I'm sure.

I probably won't write again until at least Saturday because I will be disoriented, tired, and overwhelmed, but by then I will be in Beijing. At home. :)

Until then,
Julia

Song of the Day:
Like A Rolling Stone By: Bob Dylan