Fam and Friends

No turning back now, I have my airplane ticket, my lunch packed up, my shoes tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight. Ok, for people who don't watch stupid comedies I ripped off Billy Madison to help me start this entry. The past few weeks I have been hanging around in Macon, and driving back and forth to Columbia to get immunizations, nine so far. This time back home has been well spent, giving me time to relax and see some friends and family before I head out. Living in Columbia it is easy to forget the kind of small town character that Macon offers, including; having strangers wave at you while riding in a car, people driving ten miles per hour slower than people drive in columbia, and most of all running into people I haven't seen in years at places like Church, the grocery store, the Hill (a local bar that is an institution in Macon),the pharmacy and similar social gathering locations that are essential in small towns.

Most people that I run into I haven't seen in quite a while and have not had the opportunity to tell them about my trip to China; and at first I was always interested to tell them about it due to my own excitement about the adventure. However, after my first week in Macon I discovered that I was having the exact same talk over and over again, several times a day. These conversations became a little menotinous but it was worth it to talk about my trip with interested people. Just encase I missed anybody, below I am going to outline a typical conversation about China.

Interested Person: Hey! I havent seen you in awhile what have you been up to?

Me: Oh, I just graduated from MU and I leave to teach English in China in a few weeks?

Interested Person: China? Are you serious? How long are you going for? Why do you want to go to China?

Me: (Since this is kind of a complicated question I just started making up random answers for people, a few are below)

A) Why not?
B) Because I like Chinese Food and Asian Women
C) People always told me I had squinty eyes and I figure I would fit in there
D) I am self conscious about being small so I figure I will be huge there
E) I don't know just felt like a change in senery

Intersted Person: Thats awesome! What a great experience

Me: Thanks, I am excited

Interested Person: (At this point the conversation is winding down and the person would offer me a bit of advice for my trip, or impart some of knowedge about China they have aquired upon me, again I have listed a few of the best ones below)

1) I hope you like rice!
2) There sure is a lot of people over there!
3) Dont get the Bird Flu
4) If you get the Bird Flu don't bring it back over here
5) Don't become Communist
6) If you go to Tiananmen Square don't stand infront of any tanks
7) Stay away from those Geisha Girl Places (Geisha Girls are Japanese)
8) You are going to eat some awesome Sushi (Again Japanese)
9) Do you know how to say hi in Chinese? "Konnichiwa" (I have learned that some people have difficulties distinguishing between Japanese and Chinese cultures)
10) When your year is up you are comming home!! COME HELL OR HIGH WATER!! (This one is by my Mother)

I kid around because you are all so awesome. These last few weeks have reminded me of how great my family and friends are. I am going to miss you all so much. I have so many good memories of the good times I have had with my Macon buddies, who have been my best friends since before I can remember, and going out with my college of Ed friends to the bars where they would force me to drink way to much. Getting to see all of my family at graduation was especially awesome, I mean, how many people can say that their grandmother learned some phrases in Chinese so that she could presnet me with her gift which was A Dummies Guide to Chinese Phrases. Which was awesome, however her writing the check in Chinese characters might have been a little overboard.

And a special thanks for Jenny for the scrap book she made for me to help remind me of all the amazing friends I have back home. Also thanks to everybody who contributed pictures and quotes to it. I really liked it a lot and I am going to show it off to all the friends I make in China. I don't want to get all sappy but I had a few tears.

Don't worry I will make my comeback tour to CoMo and Macon during the Summer of '07. I don't think I have a choice. If I wanted to stay longer I think my mom would pay people to have me kidnapped and brought back home.

Until then I am off to educate some Chinese kids on the finer points of the English Language! The next time I put up another post I will be in China!

Quote of the Week

There are a billion people in China. It's not easy to be an individual in a crowd of more than a billion people. Think of it. More than a BILLION people. That means even if you're a one-in-a-million type of guy, there are still a thousand guys exactly like you."
A. Whitney Brown, "The Big Picture"

P.S. I also would like it if you all could write comments to let me know how I am doing on the blog