Well, I'm Back.

I have been waiting for things to slow down, and for life to return to its normal routine, before I started summer blogging. However, after almost a month of waiting, I have learned that there is no routine (and there probably won’t be for quite a while).

WORK–Work is lovely. I like my office and I like my work. That is why I returned this summer.

CHINA–Amazing! It was so nice to see my parents and to traipse around Hong Kong. The city is very impressive, but unfortunately, the food was nothing special. (It must be the British influence). The food in Beijing didn’t disappoint us–it was worth flying half way around the world to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant. And, as always, the shopping was great. We also went to Macau. Macau was relaxed, but still exciting. Beautiful Portugese buildings dot the hills (in between the Casinos).

HOUSE–We have one! We received our keys on Saturday. Closing was a nightmare, but all’s well that ends well. We have been furiously painting ever since Saturday. Late nights every night. Poor Yang- I don’t think he has received more than three hours of sleep a night. He pulled an all-nighter last night. I left the house after 11 pm, and he was planning to work a few more hours. A few more hours turned into all night, and he is welcoming the carpet installers as I write. (And we thought law school was hard). So, here is our tentative schedule: carpet in today; finish painting doors and bathrooms tomorrow (and put all the fixtures back on the walls), and finish cleaning the new house tomorrow; pack up our apartment and move on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday; clean the apartment on Tuesday. Hooray! Last Sunday was our last day at church. I said good-bye to all our friends there (sniff).

My life has been our new house lately. I haven’t been reading the news, I haven’t turned on the television in weeks (that is a good thing), and I feel very disconnected to everything outside the move. A friend at work told me that Fantasia won American Idol days after it happened (I can’t believe I missed the finale!). My A Paper re-write and research assistant responsibilities are hanging over my head–I think I’ll have time to get to them later. I hope everything will calm down a bit in another week or two.

Cheers everyone, and thanks J for the strawberries!