Tuesday, March 28, 2006
We have plans, finally!
Matt and I have started to make our plans for the next few months. We fly into San Francisco on May 17. We will stay in San Francisco till the 20th, then drive up to Eureka to visit Matt's parents. We will drive with them to Joseph, Oregon for Matt's cousin's high school graduation. Then, I will fly back to San Diego for my friend Rachel's bachelorette party. I am very excited! Then I will stay in San Diego and gets lot of quality time with my beautiful little sisters, then Matt will fly down and we will go to Sam and Rachel's wedding on June 18. After that, we are going to rent a car and visit all our friends in northern California. After that, we have no idea....Still no long term plans but I am SO happy to at least have the next few months planned out.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Too Much Jello!
This weekend one of my friends hosted a girls dinner for my good friend Mel, who is moving back to London in April. It was so sad! I feel like there is a mass exodus from Hong Kong...everyone is leaving!
Our friend's apartment was amazing, all the way up on the peak, so that the view was even better than the one you get from the tourist area on top of the Peak. It was HUGE, and she had her helper there to help her cook and clean everything. This girl is 24 and her boyfriend is 26. It is insane...I can't even begin to imagine what her apartment must have cost. Plus, it had like, art and stuff. Who has art when they are 24? Also, all their furniture matched and was tasteful and they picked it all out themselves. They are more together than most adults twice their age. She made an elegant meal of wild mushroom risotto, and delicious salad and for dessert a moist chocolate cake that was rich and delicious with a raspberry puree on the plate and two artfully placed, perfectly beautiful raspberries on the side. OH MY GOD! Talk about Bree Van de Kamp, right? I hope to host an elegant dinner party like that when I am 35.
From knowing our hostess, Kelly and I knew how perfect everything would be so Kelly thought it would be funny to bring Jello shots instead of wine...just to throw a little trash in the mix. It was pretty funny, except that Jello is very deceiving. You can eat a lot of it, especially if it has whipped cream on it. I never drink very much, and a lot of times am the only sober one around, along with Kelly, who doesn't drink at all. I guess her and I both love Jello, cause we both ended up drunk. When we met up with the guys at Kee Club, both her husband and Matt were shocked. They kept saying, "I can't believe you guys are drunk." Matt is always telling me to drink more, cause I will have more fun...I guess he is right because the night went by really fast and the other drunk people didn't seem so stupid anymore. But then, I started to feel sick and the next day I felt horrible, I couldn't do anything.
Yes, this story is very embarrassing...I am too old to accidentally get drunk from Jello shots. It was a bonding thing for Kelly and I though...I will be so sad when we don't live in the same city any more, it is not often that you find such a good friend once you are out of school.
Our Elegant Dinner
Our friend's apartment was amazing, all the way up on the peak, so that the view was even better than the one you get from the tourist area on top of the Peak. It was HUGE, and she had her helper there to help her cook and clean everything. This girl is 24 and her boyfriend is 26. It is insane...I can't even begin to imagine what her apartment must have cost. Plus, it had like, art and stuff. Who has art when they are 24? Also, all their furniture matched and was tasteful and they picked it all out themselves. They are more together than most adults twice their age. She made an elegant meal of wild mushroom risotto, and delicious salad and for dessert a moist chocolate cake that was rich and delicious with a raspberry puree on the plate and two artfully placed, perfectly beautiful raspberries on the side. OH MY GOD! Talk about Bree Van de Kamp, right? I hope to host an elegant dinner party like that when I am 35.
From knowing our hostess, Kelly and I knew how perfect everything would be so Kelly thought it would be funny to bring Jello shots instead of wine...just to throw a little trash in the mix. It was pretty funny, except that Jello is very deceiving. You can eat a lot of it, especially if it has whipped cream on it. I never drink very much, and a lot of times am the only sober one around, along with Kelly, who doesn't drink at all. I guess her and I both love Jello, cause we both ended up drunk. When we met up with the guys at Kee Club, both her husband and Matt were shocked. They kept saying, "I can't believe you guys are drunk." Matt is always telling me to drink more, cause I will have more fun...I guess he is right because the night went by really fast and the other drunk people didn't seem so stupid anymore. But then, I started to feel sick and the next day I felt horrible, I couldn't do anything.
Yes, this story is very embarrassing...I am too old to accidentally get drunk from Jello shots. It was a bonding thing for Kelly and I though...I will be so sad when we don't live in the same city any more, it is not often that you find such a good friend once you are out of school.
Our Elegant Dinner
Maybe I AM bipolar...
Both of the things I just ranted about on this blog (my oatmeal breakfast and how much I hate going to class) I now don't feel the same way about at all! It is like writing such strong feelings down negated them in some way or made those feelings less strong...
Now, I am slightly bored with my oatmeal breakfast. After TWO YEARS, I am all of a sudden bored with it!! Amazing. Strangely, it is tasting too sweet to me all of a sudden even though I don't put sugar in and I switched to the most tart kind of apple I can find. I am now thinking of switching to cranberries to limit the sweetness.
About my Chinese class...now I don't dread like I had been. After I wrote that blog last time I had a really bad attitude about going to class, but I had to because we had a dictation. I called poor Matt up at work and told him all about how boring class was and how I never wanted to go and it was too slow and that I wanted them to just give me the exam early so that I could leave...But then, all of a sudden, class wasn't that bad.
All I can say is, no wonder Matt is always saying, "Jesus, you are freaking bipolar!" Luckily I am with Matt, the most laid back, steady, consistent man in the universe.
Now, I am slightly bored with my oatmeal breakfast. After TWO YEARS, I am all of a sudden bored with it!! Amazing. Strangely, it is tasting too sweet to me all of a sudden even though I don't put sugar in and I switched to the most tart kind of apple I can find. I am now thinking of switching to cranberries to limit the sweetness.
About my Chinese class...now I don't dread like I had been. After I wrote that blog last time I had a really bad attitude about going to class, but I had to because we had a dictation. I called poor Matt up at work and told him all about how boring class was and how I never wanted to go and it was too slow and that I wanted them to just give me the exam early so that I could leave...But then, all of a sudden, class wasn't that bad.
All I can say is, no wonder Matt is always saying, "Jesus, you are freaking bipolar!" Luckily I am with Matt, the most laid back, steady, consistent man in the universe.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
I never want to get back on the train AGAIN...
I am about to head off to school today and I am dreading it! For some reason, I dread my class more and more every day. I hate it! It is so tedious! Just more and more memorizing of characters and practicing grammar patterns. It is three hours long every single day, plus a one hour train ride to get there. I think I hate it so much in part because of the fact that I have to take the train...it gets to be very annoying. I have to change 2 different subway lines and then change to the train, so it is not like I can settle in and read a book or anything. Plus, it is CROWDED. I feel so cramped! By the end of the week, I hate every single person on the train. It is horrible...I hate having such bad vibes in my body, hate is a bad thing. But it is too crowded, and everyone is grumpy and everyone is rushing to be the first one on the train, or off the train, or to get the free seat so they don't have to stand with their nose crammed into someone else's arm pit.
There is really no good reason for me to hate going to class. I am getting good grades, and the people in my class are nice. Kelly likes the class...I hate it though. I like learning Chinese and practicing it, especially in china. It is so rewarding when you can communicate with someone in Chinese, or when you can read something or recognize characters. I just HATE sitting in class everyday. Plus, the teachers annoy me, particularly one that I call dragon lady. She is from Beijing and I think she is manic or something. She stares in the corner while she asks you a question and if you get it wrong she screams, "Bu Xing!" That means "Not OK". She is crazy! The other teachers are nice but it is just such a tedious process.
I used to worry that I wouldn't like going back to grad school if I can't even handle this class...but grad school will be different. There will be exchanges of ideas, not just memorizing things and repeating them.
There is really no good reason for me to hate going to class. I am getting good grades, and the people in my class are nice. Kelly likes the class...I hate it though. I like learning Chinese and practicing it, especially in china. It is so rewarding when you can communicate with someone in Chinese, or when you can read something or recognize characters. I just HATE sitting in class everyday. Plus, the teachers annoy me, particularly one that I call dragon lady. She is from Beijing and I think she is manic or something. She stares in the corner while she asks you a question and if you get it wrong she screams, "Bu Xing!" That means "Not OK". She is crazy! The other teachers are nice but it is just such a tedious process.
I used to worry that I wouldn't like going back to grad school if I can't even handle this class...but grad school will be different. There will be exchanges of ideas, not just memorizing things and repeating them.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
My Morning Ritual
My Morning Ritual:
First, I put the kettle on so that my tea can brew while I am making my oatmeal. Then, I start skinning the apples. I used to prefer fuji apples, but now I like the tanginess of Granny Smith. I put the apple skins on a plate with cinnamon on top, then pop it in themicrowave for 2 minutes. Then, I start chopping up the rest of the apple to put in the oatmeal. I mix the apple, a half a cup of oatmeal, alot of cinnamon and about a cup of water in a bowl, then microwave that for four minutes. It is so delicious! The apples become soft and sweet and the cinnamon is a perfect complement. It is like eating a giant, mushy cinnamon roll with apple. So good! So good that I have eaten this every day for almost to years! The apple skins are a new thing, but I love it too...when you microwave the skins they get sort of crunchy and sweet and it is so yummy.
Big Bowl of Delicious (aka "oatmeal")
When Grandma Janet came to visit me she was shocked at how big my bowl of oatmeal was. She said, "How can you eat that? You should never eat a whole apple, only a half..." It looks bigger than it is because something about cooking the apple with the oatmeal makes it puff up alot. But even so, I have no trouble finishing off a whole apple at a time. I didn't know anyone ate just half...
Microwaved Apple Peel...Yummmm
The Full Spread
In addition to oatmeal, I also like to have a pot of green tea, and I like to read a magazine while I eat. The more mindless the magazine the better...I don't think very clearly first thing in the morning. I would probably prefer to read the newspaper but we don't have it delivered to the house, and it isn't convenient to run out and get one.
I don't look my best in the morning...
My morning ritual that has been in effect for almost two years now. Anyone who has stayed at my house or lived with me knows about it. When we were in Beijing, our elictricity would go out randomly. One morning we woke up and my roommate Audrey said, "Oh no, there is no electricity so the microwave won't work...what about your morning ritual??" So nice of her to be concerned! (Don't worry, I still had my morning ritual...I just made it on the stove instead.)
Yes, I know...it is very boring to eat the same thing every morning, but hey...I love it.
First, I put the kettle on so that my tea can brew while I am making my oatmeal. Then, I start skinning the apples. I used to prefer fuji apples, but now I like the tanginess of Granny Smith. I put the apple skins on a plate with cinnamon on top, then pop it in themicrowave for 2 minutes. Then, I start chopping up the rest of the apple to put in the oatmeal. I mix the apple, a half a cup of oatmeal, alot of cinnamon and about a cup of water in a bowl, then microwave that for four minutes. It is so delicious! The apples become soft and sweet and the cinnamon is a perfect complement. It is like eating a giant, mushy cinnamon roll with apple. So good! So good that I have eaten this every day for almost to years! The apple skins are a new thing, but I love it too...when you microwave the skins they get sort of crunchy and sweet and it is so yummy.
Big Bowl of Delicious (aka "oatmeal")
When Grandma Janet came to visit me she was shocked at how big my bowl of oatmeal was. She said, "How can you eat that? You should never eat a whole apple, only a half..." It looks bigger than it is because something about cooking the apple with the oatmeal makes it puff up alot. But even so, I have no trouble finishing off a whole apple at a time. I didn't know anyone ate just half...
Microwaved Apple Peel...Yummmm
The Full Spread
In addition to oatmeal, I also like to have a pot of green tea, and I like to read a magazine while I eat. The more mindless the magazine the better...I don't think very clearly first thing in the morning. I would probably prefer to read the newspaper but we don't have it delivered to the house, and it isn't convenient to run out and get one.
I don't look my best in the morning...
My morning ritual that has been in effect for almost two years now. Anyone who has stayed at my house or lived with me knows about it. When we were in Beijing, our elictricity would go out randomly. One morning we woke up and my roommate Audrey said, "Oh no, there is no electricity so the microwave won't work...what about your morning ritual??" So nice of her to be concerned! (Don't worry, I still had my morning ritual...I just made it on the stove instead.)
Yes, I know...it is very boring to eat the same thing every morning, but hey...I love it.
Carnival Club
This weekend Matt and I some of our friends went to Shenzhen to go to a spa called the Carnival Club. It is not like any spa that I have been to in the US...it is sort of like a cross between a spa and a casino. You go inside and they give the girls pink and white striped suits to put on, and the guys go and put on blue and white striped suits. In the locker room they have everything you could need: saunas, showers, steam rooms, individual rooms with milk baths, salt scrubs, and every grooming supply you would ever need.
In the main part of the spa, they have a huge room with chairs that have TV's attached. You can get a pedicure/manicure, or any of a whole variety of massages: foot, neck and shoulder, or scalp. Or, you can get your ears cleaned. I had that done once and I hated it but other people love it and say it feels good. They use a really long sharp needle type thing and try to scrape all of the wax out of your ear. Some people have a whole bunch of stuff come out. The whole time I was having my ears cleaned, I was worried they were going to accidentally jab me and pierce my ear drum...and then when the ordeal was over, he said I didn't even have any wax built up! How anticlimactic! I guess I am not a wax collector, like Grandma always said I was...
They also have separate rooms for full body massages. I had one ninety minute massage, and another 45 minute one later. I was in heaven! The place is huge, and has two restaurants, and little fruit platters that they bring to you while you are sitting. They also have a workout room, ping pong tables, pool tables, a "cinema" where you can watch movies, and mahjong/karaoke rooms. We played mahjong, which was really fun. Matt and I finally learned how, after two years of saying we wanted to learn. The scoring seems really complicated, but then, I was super tired after all the massaging and I don't think my brain was functioning properly.
We stayed there overnight. You can sleep in these little pods that are quiet and have pillows and blankets and everything. After spending almost 24 hours in the spa, I felt sort of weird...we left the next day at around 3 pm, and it was weird to be out in the fresh air again...The inside of the spa has the artificial feel of a casino, with fake trees and waterfalls and stuff. It is a self contained little world in there, you lose track of time. The crazy thing is, all of the massages and food and mahjong and sleeping and salt scrubs cost less that 100 US dollars. Matt's bill was only about 70 US dollars! Pretty cheap for all that pampering...
Before we went to the spa, we did some shopping and I picked up some spices. I thought I was buying cinnamon but, when I got it home I realized that it wasn't. Unless there are different types of cinnamon? I also got what I thought was turmeric, but is actually curry powder. They had lots of spices there for really cheap prices but they were labeled in Chinese, and I don't know my spices well enough to tell what they are without names. I want to buy more though, since it is so cheap, so I will have to do some research before I go to China next. I also bought more of my favorite tea, longjing green tea, and a new discovery: lemongrass. Tea made of this is so light and fresh tasting. It is delicious, especially when served cold!
The tea that I bought
The spices that I bought
This doesn't look like cinnamon to me, but I am not sure what else it would be...
In the main part of the spa, they have a huge room with chairs that have TV's attached. You can get a pedicure/manicure, or any of a whole variety of massages: foot, neck and shoulder, or scalp. Or, you can get your ears cleaned. I had that done once and I hated it but other people love it and say it feels good. They use a really long sharp needle type thing and try to scrape all of the wax out of your ear. Some people have a whole bunch of stuff come out. The whole time I was having my ears cleaned, I was worried they were going to accidentally jab me and pierce my ear drum...and then when the ordeal was over, he said I didn't even have any wax built up! How anticlimactic! I guess I am not a wax collector, like Grandma always said I was...
They also have separate rooms for full body massages. I had one ninety minute massage, and another 45 minute one later. I was in heaven! The place is huge, and has two restaurants, and little fruit platters that they bring to you while you are sitting. They also have a workout room, ping pong tables, pool tables, a "cinema" where you can watch movies, and mahjong/karaoke rooms. We played mahjong, which was really fun. Matt and I finally learned how, after two years of saying we wanted to learn. The scoring seems really complicated, but then, I was super tired after all the massaging and I don't think my brain was functioning properly.
We stayed there overnight. You can sleep in these little pods that are quiet and have pillows and blankets and everything. After spending almost 24 hours in the spa, I felt sort of weird...we left the next day at around 3 pm, and it was weird to be out in the fresh air again...The inside of the spa has the artificial feel of a casino, with fake trees and waterfalls and stuff. It is a self contained little world in there, you lose track of time. The crazy thing is, all of the massages and food and mahjong and sleeping and salt scrubs cost less that 100 US dollars. Matt's bill was only about 70 US dollars! Pretty cheap for all that pampering...
Before we went to the spa, we did some shopping and I picked up some spices. I thought I was buying cinnamon but, when I got it home I realized that it wasn't. Unless there are different types of cinnamon? I also got what I thought was turmeric, but is actually curry powder. They had lots of spices there for really cheap prices but they were labeled in Chinese, and I don't know my spices well enough to tell what they are without names. I want to buy more though, since it is so cheap, so I will have to do some research before I go to China next. I also bought more of my favorite tea, longjing green tea, and a new discovery: lemongrass. Tea made of this is so light and fresh tasting. It is delicious, especially when served cold!
The tea that I bought
The spices that I bought
This doesn't look like cinnamon to me, but I am not sure what else it would be...
Monday, March 13, 2006
This weekend was very busy! On Friday, Matt and I went out with some friends to a very cool Nepali restaurant in Jordan. It is pretty unique because all of the clients are actually Nepali. We have been there twice, and have only seen two Chinese people eating there, and definitely no Western looking people. It is pretty rare in Hong Kong to find a place where there aren't a lot of Chinese people. Anyway, this place has the BEST chana masala that I have had in Hong Kong, nightly shows of a woman doing Nepali dances, and best of all it is really cheap. It was less than 100 US dollars for 7 of us to eat, and that included 3 pitchers of beer.
We had an early night because on Saturday we were going on a junk boat trip. I had faith that the weather would be warm, but it stayed cold the entire time. We were on a huge, beautiful boat...the nicest junk boat I have ever been on! It was a good thing, cause we stayed on the boat the entire time. I didn't even go swimming! I got totally sea sick cause the water was so choppy and we were the only ones that brought food onto the boat. Usually there is so much food on those trips, so we just got a few thing: chips and salsa, fruit, a salad. That is more than enough if everyone brings stuff to share, but no one brought a single thing. We only knew the guy rented the boat, and the rest were his friends. They were a bunch of guys who had been out really late the night before. They systematically devoured each piece of food we brought out. One guy even ate a leftover chunk of tomato that I had half eaten! I guess everyone was hungry...
After the junk boat, we had our friend's birthday party, which was pretty fun except that we were knocked out from the boat trip. We left early without even saying good bye. I will never, ever do that again! The whole taxi ride home, I kept thinking about how rude it was to leave without saying goodbye. It would be such a process though, and it seems like you can never just leave...people always act shocked and try to convince you that you should stay and that you are really lame for leaving.
Through out the weekend, people were trying to convince me that I shouldn't move back to the US, that I have it made living in Hong Kong and not working, and that I could certainly find a job here. Well, maybe I could find a job...I did find jobs when I first moved here, but they don't want to go through the effort of getting a lawyer and getting a work visa unless you have some specialized skill, like in finance or if you are a lawyer. I am not, nor do I want to be, in either of those fields. Also, people that tell me I have it made not working...they just don't know. They all have great careers. I want to feel productive and make money. I am just too young to not be working. It would be great if I was older, had already been working for 10 years, and I wanted to settle down and have kids. It was nice traveling for two years, but I am ready to feel productive again! When I was applying to grad school, I rewrote my personal statement, and I was remembering how much I like working. Also, I found two things that I had written while working on the task force, which are published on the task force website. (One is the Compendium of Traffic Safety programs and the other is the Pedestrian safety fact sheet. They are the fourth and fifth links under "Our Publications".) They aren't a big deal or anything, but it just brought to my mind how I liked working. Also, it made me remember how grief stricken I was when Dad died. My boss had emailed me to tell me she had published my papers on the web, but I completely didn't register that fact because I was so overwhelmed with grief. When I was going through my old emails, I saw the link she sent, and it was completely new to me! Grief is so amazingly powerful...I was literally out of my mind with grief, but I had no idea at the time.
We had an early night because on Saturday we were going on a junk boat trip. I had faith that the weather would be warm, but it stayed cold the entire time. We were on a huge, beautiful boat...the nicest junk boat I have ever been on! It was a good thing, cause we stayed on the boat the entire time. I didn't even go swimming! I got totally sea sick cause the water was so choppy and we were the only ones that brought food onto the boat. Usually there is so much food on those trips, so we just got a few thing: chips and salsa, fruit, a salad. That is more than enough if everyone brings stuff to share, but no one brought a single thing. We only knew the guy rented the boat, and the rest were his friends. They were a bunch of guys who had been out really late the night before. They systematically devoured each piece of food we brought out. One guy even ate a leftover chunk of tomato that I had half eaten! I guess everyone was hungry...
After the junk boat, we had our friend's birthday party, which was pretty fun except that we were knocked out from the boat trip. We left early without even saying good bye. I will never, ever do that again! The whole taxi ride home, I kept thinking about how rude it was to leave without saying goodbye. It would be such a process though, and it seems like you can never just leave...people always act shocked and try to convince you that you should stay and that you are really lame for leaving.
Through out the weekend, people were trying to convince me that I shouldn't move back to the US, that I have it made living in Hong Kong and not working, and that I could certainly find a job here. Well, maybe I could find a job...I did find jobs when I first moved here, but they don't want to go through the effort of getting a lawyer and getting a work visa unless you have some specialized skill, like in finance or if you are a lawyer. I am not, nor do I want to be, in either of those fields. Also, people that tell me I have it made not working...they just don't know. They all have great careers. I want to feel productive and make money. I am just too young to not be working. It would be great if I was older, had already been working for 10 years, and I wanted to settle down and have kids. It was nice traveling for two years, but I am ready to feel productive again! When I was applying to grad school, I rewrote my personal statement, and I was remembering how much I like working. Also, I found two things that I had written while working on the task force, which are published on the task force website. (One is the Compendium of Traffic Safety programs and the other is the Pedestrian safety fact sheet. They are the fourth and fifth links under "Our Publications".) They aren't a big deal or anything, but it just brought to my mind how I liked working. Also, it made me remember how grief stricken I was when Dad died. My boss had emailed me to tell me she had published my papers on the web, but I completely didn't register that fact because I was so overwhelmed with grief. When I was going through my old emails, I saw the link she sent, and it was completely new to me! Grief is so amazingly powerful...I was literally out of my mind with grief, but I had no idea at the time.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Now that I am living in Hong Kong and studying Chinese, there aren't very many exciting things to write on my blog! I think I have hit a wall with the Chinese thing...I never want to look at another character again and I dread going to school every day. It is becoming so tedious! Plus, I feel like I am wasting my time since I never get a chance to practice speaking to anyone. Kelly has a tutor that she practices with, but that costs 50 US dollars per hour, and I refuse to pay that. I guess I was spoiled by Beijing, where you can get a tutor for under three US dollars and hour.
Other than that, not much is new. I have had a mini breakthrough in yoga, which was exciting for me but probably not for anyone else! I can do headstand against a wall, but not in the middle of the room. On Monday, the class was so full that I couldn't move to a wall, so I tried it in the center. It was a really intense class, and I think I was too tired to be afraid...so I popped myself up in the headstand, and comletely fell in the opposite direction, onto my back! Yes, this sounds bad...but actually I think it is a good thing. It didn't hurt at all, and now I can get over my fear of falling. I am horribley afraid of falling, as anyone who has skiied with me would know!
Other than that, not much is new. I have had a mini breakthrough in yoga, which was exciting for me but probably not for anyone else! I can do headstand against a wall, but not in the middle of the room. On Monday, the class was so full that I couldn't move to a wall, so I tried it in the center. It was a really intense class, and I think I was too tired to be afraid...so I popped myself up in the headstand, and comletely fell in the opposite direction, onto my back! Yes, this sounds bad...but actually I think it is a good thing. It didn't hurt at all, and now I can get over my fear of falling. I am horribley afraid of falling, as anyone who has skiied with me would know!
Saturday, March 04, 2006
It's been a long time....
I haven't written for quite a long time...since the Masseys first arrived in Hong Kong! Alot has happened since that time, but all of it has been internal. I have had a major self identity crisis! The trip with the Masseys was great, they were very laid back and relaxed and seemed to welcome every new experience that came their way. It was fun! I am not sure why, but the day after they left, I decided I should finally educate myself about multiple sclerosis. So I bought a book by Dr. Howard Weiner. It scared me! I could no longer deny that I have this chronic disease. The further I got into the book, the quicker my carefully constructed work od self delusion came crumbling down. Now I think I have actually had 3 MS flare ups, not 1 like I had thought before. The first one happened when I was 18. THis is very scary considering that the disease usually takes 15 to 20 years to progress (or so the doctor says...) and I am already 25 years old! So that is 7 years of the disease...a long time! My mobility is precious, and the thought of losing it makes me feel ill, literally....after reading this book I was (coincidentally?) sick for 2 weeks. Bummer! During this long time spent in the house, sick, I thought a lot about what is important to me. The ONLY thing that is really important to me is family and friends. Also, I want to have a career, or at least start one. Also, I want to have kids. If I (tentatively speaking...) only have 8 years left of mobility, I want to spend those years with my family nearby. Also, somehow I feel that my medical care will be more consistent and thourough in the US. This is probably just my own feeling, because actually medical care in Hong Kong is excellent, and I love me doctor. So, in conclusion, I decided to try to apply for graduate school again, even though I am more than a month past the deadline! So, now I await news...Matt and I might be back to the US soon, or we might not, I have no idea. It is hard because in Hong Kong, the culture is so travel oriented, and it is seen as sort of a weakness to go back home. It seems like everyone has given me all the reasons why I should stay. I agree, there are lots of benefits to living in Asia, I love it here! But, I love my family even more.
Anyway, enough blathering on about my issues...There is good news in the family, Kristi is pregnant! I am so excited! Also, my friend Rachel is getting married, and I will be back in the US for the wedding. Yay!
Who wouldn't want to see these cuties more?
Anyway, enough blathering on about my issues...There is good news in the family, Kristi is pregnant! I am so excited! Also, my friend Rachel is getting married, and I will be back in the US for the wedding. Yay!
Who wouldn't want to see these cuties more?
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