I was coming home tonight from a friend's house and, as it was dark, the moon was quite visible in the sky.  At one point I was passing a large open field and the moon was on my left so I had a clear view of it as I drove along the highway.  It was so beautiful!!!  It had rained earlier in the day so there were still a few clouds in the sky, but I think they added an ethereal charm to the moon's light as they passed around and in front of it.  When I got home I just stood in the driveway for a few minutes marveling at the beauty of the night, and just wishing I could fly up in the sky to be closer to the "man on the moon" and the stars that were visible.  Because of the brightness of the moon and my proximity to the city, only the brightest stars and some of the planets were visible.  But it was still a gorgeous view.

Another thing I noticed as I drove home was how spacious the sky seemed.  I passed that field, saw the moon, and thought "Now that's a Texas skyline!"  Things certainly do seem bigger in Texas ;o).

Being home is weird.  All that I thought would happen, hasn't; and what I thought wouldn't happen has.  So basically: things haven't turned out at all like I thought they would.  Quite the opposite, actually. I didn't get the homecoming from family like I thought I would (friends and people I barely know at Church made me feel more welcome than my brother did), and things in the YSA group were a lot better than I had expected, also.  I thought it would be like it was a couple of years ago, with all the different cliques and people having issues with each other and whatnot; but it's actually much better this year.  There seems to be a lot of cool people there this year, and some that were there before that I never got to know, but I'm remedying that this time around.

So I'm hoping that the rest of this summer will be a good one, and that I'll be able to "fly under the radar," so to speak, of my ever-critical older brother's notice without mishap or incident.

I haven't been able to blog for the longest time!  So much has happened!!!

For starters, I'm back in Texas now.  I've been home for 2 weeks and it's been tough.  Never thought I'd go through reverse culture shock, but I am.  I miss China and my friends there a LOT.  It's hard being home.  Well, it doesn't really feel like home anymore.  I mean, my room is still mine and the things in there are still mine, but the rest of the house doesn't feel like the home that I grew up in.  Things are just so different now.  I'm looking for a job so I can move out and have my own place to call home.  I think maybe things will feel a little better then.

But a bit better of an update on what's happened: My last week in China Karrah and I took a little trip as a sort of "last hurrah" for us, even though she's going back next fall.  We stayed in Nanjing for a few days, then headed on up to Beijing.  While there we did the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Jade Museum, Ming Tombs, and a traditional Chinese tea house.  Oh, and a garden that I forget the name of.  Not bad for just a couple of days, eh?

On our last day together we went to the train station to try and find Rachelle (she was supposed to be joining us), but she never came and we got caught in this huge rainstorm and got sopping wet, and when we tried to get a taxi the first one locked her doors, and the next few pretended not to know where our hotel was, but we found one nice enough to take us in our sodden state.  And then he dropped us off in a wading pool of a puddle, and we had to run through a "river" to get to our hotel.  It was an interesting afternoon.

So because we didn't find Rachelle that day at the train station, I went back the next day by myself (Karrah was already gone) and didn't find her then, either.  I ended up checking out early and went back to Changzhou to chill for a few days before catching my plane home.  My students were surprised to see me again, even if it was the day before they got out for the summer.

Coming home was no picnic.  I hadn't been in Houston 3 hours before my brother started hounding me about getting a job.  I mean, come on!  At least let me get over jet lag before you start getting on my back, right?  geez.

Anywho, so now I'm home, my social life is getting in gear, and I'm looking for a job.  I wish I was back in China.  :P