I’d like to offer some kind of excuse for why I can’t seem to keep up with a blog. Maybe a good enough reason is that I don’t really do it for myself—more to keep other people updated. And the last month or so I just haven’t been very good at keeping anyone updated on life here. I could also argue that my internet isn’t that great and that the place I live likes to block stuff on the internet all the time.

Now it’s already the end of June and I’m sitting on my couch in my mostly packed apartment. The last few weeks have been crazy. June showed up with 90+ degree weather and some amazingly smoggy days. It’s also been hectic to clean out my apartment and pack up my life so I can move in the fall. I’ve accumulated a lot in the last 3 years so that’s part of it. The other part is that most of my “stuff” is in Asia now, not in the States.

Recently, I was able to make a quick visit to the campus I’ll be living on next year. It was a great trip and I am really looking forward to the changes that will come next year. For the first time in my Asian life, I’ll have a “shoilet” in my apartment. (That’s what we affectionately call the Asian style bathroom). There isn’t a tub, just a shower head on the wall (so everything gets wet when you shower). I have been a little spoiled in Beijing and now I will have to buy a squeegie in order to have a dry life next year. Once I hit my campus in August, I’ll show you what life is like there.

The end of the year is always a little bittersweet. Teaching (especially teaching a foreign language overseas) can be very exhausting and by the time you hit the last month you are just ready to have a break. Things at my school this semester have been a little tension-filled as well, so I’m ready to leave that behind. There are so many other things though which are hard to say goodbye to. I love my teammates and they’ve become family to me. I know them so well and I’ve spent such an intense, intentional year with them. It’s strange to know that when I return in the fall, they will not be returning with me (although, two will still be in China so I’ll get to see them sometimes).

We fly to the States on Tuesday June 30^th and I’ll be there until August 7^th. I hope I’ll get to see some of you while I’m there for the summer!