vacation time is here!

I am up too late. Morning will be here before I know it and I have a lot of preparing to do. I leave for China in less than 48 hours and I still haven’t laid out a schedule here like I said I would do. I’ve been trying to get little piddly things done here at home so I will have less to worry about tomorrow when I’m actually packing for the trip.

Things didn’t work out this week as I had planned. Monday was going to be an extra preparation day for me to lay out things, get my papers and lists in order, etc. But. . . Monday at work I got a phone call from my friend s. She told me that our friend k’s mother had just had a wreck and k’s dog had been killed in the accident. Not good. I didn’t know if the mom had been injured or if her dad was also in the accident. I was pretty sick to my stomach. Also, I did  know that k’s dog was VERY dear to her (I did happen to love him too).  I spent Monday night sitting with k and trying to be there for her as best I could. That consisted mostly of just being present. S and I also went to k’s apartment and packed up some clothes so she wouldn’t have to go home for a couple of days. So, right now I have dog food in my closet until k feels okay enough to decide what to do with it. It was and is pitiful. I hate seeing a friend hurt like that. Also, this accident came at the wrong time. I hate to leave town and not be able to be here for my friend.

On to my life. I’m anxiously awaiting my vacation that begins tomorrow when I leave work at noon. When I said, “anxiously,” I wasn’t kidding! Since my friend had trouble earlier in the week, I spent two of my nights being there for her. That left tonight and tomorrow. I haven’t done half the things I wanted to have done by today. Tomorrow I just wanted to be able to go through what I had chosen to pack and make sure I have everything organized. Then I was to head to bed early, all comfortable like, because I knew I had everything in order. *sigh* Tomorrow is going to be a scramble.

Short and sweet, here is the plan for China:

Fly to Shanghai. Book it from Pudong airport to Hongqiao airport and catch another flight for Beijing. Then it will be 3 nights in Beijing. 2 of those days we’ll tour whatever we feel like in the city. 1 day we’ll go up to the wall and hike from Jinshanling to Simatai. (That’s my favorite! As of now the weather is favorable. I can’t wait.) When we’re done in Beijing, we’ll take an overnight sleeper train to Xian. We’ll spend 1 day there where we’ll see the terracotta warriors. That evening after the warriors we’ll get on another plane and fly down to Guilin to spend 1 night. We may take a river cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo where we’ll spend the next night. Guilin/Yangshuo is known for it’s magnificent peaks and beautiful scenery. After our visit in Yangshuo we’ll have to catch a bus back up to the airport in Guilin and fly to Hangzhou. We’ll be staying with some of my friends who are teaching English at a University there. We’ll have 3 days with them before going back to Shanghai to catch our flight back to The States. Shoo! It’s going to be busy.

The best part about this vacation is I will feel like I’ve been gone for a very long time. I welcome the extreme change of scenery that I am about to experience. There is so much beauty around the world and I don’t want to miss it.

it has arrived

Arg. It’s time for an update. Looks like I’ll be writing here while I enjoy this huge bag of jelly beans that I bought the other day. That’s right! I love me some jelly beans. I will have to say though that the pink ones are disgusting. I can eat a purple one if my life depends on it but why waste good calories on that when you can eat the black ones. Mmmm.

It has come down to the wire. The wedding that I am in is happening on Saturday. That means that tomorrow as soon as I get out of work I have to run home and change clothes for the rehearsal and the dinner after that. My whole Saturday is full. Initially I thought that my friend was having an afternoon wedding but, alas, it is at 6pm. That means my whole day is shot. I’ll get up and go have my hair done. Then, I’ll rush home to pick up my dress and get to the church. Then, oh no! I’ll have to put on makeup and get ready for hours of pictures. (Let’s see if my poor feet can handle these 4″ heels that I bought so I wouldn’t have to alter the dress.) The big deal is at 6pm and then I’ll be stuck at the wedding dinner for at least a couple of hours after that. *sigh* Can’t I just stay home and rest.

Rest. “For what?” you say. That’s right. It’s vacation time for me. I’m making the final plans for my 11 day trip to China. We’ve got flights and hostels. All that I need to book is our Great Wall hike ride/escort for the 6ish mile hike from Jinshanling to Simatai. It is going to be glorious and, yes, I am talking about the hike. The whole trip will be indescribable but I’m looking forward to the ridiculous mountains that I will be staring at for hours as we trek along the wall. My right pointer finger is getting itchy just thinking of how many times it will get to press the shutter button on the camera.

I’ll lay down a schedule in a day or so with a little more detail. Now, I have to start getting things together and beautified for the wedding. Hurrah.