Is there anything better than to be longing for something, when you know it is within reach? - Greta Garbo
Today marks day 250 in China and 69 days until I return to the great US of A. I also have 19 days until my marathon on The Great Wall in Beijing. There is only 1 more working day this week and 2 days until I head to the hot tourist destination of Guilin with Andreana for our "Labor Day" 4-day holiday.
I think first things first and I must make a solid disclaimer about my last blog. I mentioned a boy - Lio. I used the term - boyfriend. Most of you, my dear friends, are thinking like the true Americans I know you are. I can hear you. The wheels are turning something like this: "Rachael mentioned a boy in her blog. She never does that. She called him her bf (boyfriend). This must be a REALLY big deal...I wonder what one wears to a Chinese/American wedding..." You must remember, I have been living in China for the better part of a year and have taken to some Chinese ways of thinking. This is how the Chinese wheels turn: "Rachael referred to a boy in her blog as her boyfriend. She is living in China and he is Chinese. Ah...he's a "Chinese boyfriend". That is just like the boy/girlfriend I had in junior high school. He/she was great! His/her best friend passed my best friend a note from him/her asking me if I'd be his boy/girlfriend. We often talked on the phone on the weekend. It was totally serious - we "dated" for at least a week!" In layman's terms, while Lio is great people, he is Chinese people and our relationship isn't serious. In China, you are "dating" someone if they are of the opposite sex and you hang out with them or talk with them at any time outside of when you have to (such as class). Please forgive me for using this term so casually and not considering the heinous repercussions I'd have to face by doing so. Now, hopefully that issue is cleared up and I can move on.
While life in general is going just fine, I am ready to come home. Outside of school I am keeping busy with planning for my return to the West Coast, planning some last minute travels I want to do before I leave Asia, and training for my marathon. While I feel like my dedication to my training schedule is spotty, I ran 20 miles the weekend before last and made it all the way home. I was absolutely filthy as the route I chose took me to possibly the dirtiest little coal mine city I have seen and quite disgusting in general, but I did it. The feeling of finishing even that far was quite liberating. Too bad there was no fanfare or adoring race supporters at the end - just Andreana asking if I was finished running yet and ready for dinner. I wasn't sore the next day so that was a good sign as well. I have just about 3 weeks before I head to Beijing for my race - which is over 6 miles longer - but I am feeling pretty good about it. I just have to get the motivation up for 3 weeks.
I applied to San Diego (of course) and LA (God only knows why). They both got back to me about interviewing but I can't do so until I come back stateside. Right now the plan is to put all my eggs in the San Diego basket as I would really rather live there than LA. Hopefully I can get a job for this fall otherwise the plan is to substitute. The alternative is to work at Vons (the Safeway of Cali) and try to get whatever I can. At any rate, the plan is to be settled into SD in August. I am moving there with my best friend Craig. Yes, he's a boy. No, we are not getting married. No we are not dating nor plan to date at any time in the future. We are both looking forward to the sand, sun, and surf.
Andreana and I are taking advantage of our short work week and going to a city called Guilin on Thursday. It is considered one of the top attractions in all of China for its natural scenery. I will tell you more about that once I return. I usually have to work at the high school on the weekend but she and I are hoping that when I get time off we'll be able to do a little more exploring of the province we live in. We are the china making capital of the world after all!
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