The Home Stretch

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Entry #4: 2 days before the trip

Nice Things

Recent days have been filled with nice new things for me. A new laptop a month or so ago, a new camera a few days ago, and a new phone this morning. Of course, all will be coming on the trip with me. Actually, all the photos you see here were taken with the new camera. Man I love this thing, the picture quality is excellent. And it takes panoramas! *EDIT, having trouble with the panorama feature on this site, just e-mail me if you want a bigger version. Enjoy the nice view of my back yard. The other pictures are of my second to last dinner at home with my family. Pork tonight, with corn, salad, two different wines and sweet potatoe fries. It's ridiculous how often we eat like this, my father is an incredible home chef. Definitely one of the perks of moving back home next year. Porterhouse steaks are lined up for this Sunday, can't wait for that. Actually we got the cuts from the butcher today, where I commented that I thought meat shopping for men is comparable to shoe shopping for women. What an excellent way to kick off my last weekend in the States.

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Packing Up

What crazy weather this week. Freezing two days ago, 90 degrees today. With all the graduation, finals, unexpected work, and trip business combined this has felt much more busy than I intended for my last week at home. Oh well, at least Alex's graduation party will be a nice way to relax. With our departure date looming just a few days ahead, it's crunch time. You wouldn't believe the amount of detail I've gone into preparing itineraries and ensuring I have the right documents and copies of documents in the right places. I went so far as to prepare a daily tip allowance much as someone would prepare their vitamins for the week. Apparently I got this need for preparedness from my father; no wonder trip leading has come so naturally. Our plane tickets are printed out and waiting, all that's really left at this point is packing my suitcase.

So how much clothing do you bring for three months? I'd assume a week's worth of outfits would be solid enough for me. Excuse me for sounding like my sister for a moment, but just how will I pick out the perfect things from my wardrobe? Thank heavens, my mother and sister have volunteered to help me with this endeavor. After all, matching outfits can be a little difficult when you have partial color blindness. You wouldn't believe the pains I go through trying to pick out which pairs of pants of mine are the green ones. The two of them made the embarassing point of prohibiting me from bringing shirts that I wore in high school. I actually still have shirts from middle school sitting in my drawers, really need to throw some things out. Ah, the days when I thought basketball shorts that came halfway down my shins were the bee's knees. I never would have thought back then that I would ever don a polo shirt.

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The Expo

Anyway, sorry to bore you with the details of packing. Wish I had something more interesting to put into here... oh, I know! This summer, the World Expo will be in Shanghai, no more than an hour or so from where I will be staying. I had not heard of this event before this year, but apparently it's a big deal. A whole slew of countries will have their own booths showing their national pride and culture, like some kind of crazy international job fair. Apparently the U.S. was really late to RSVP to the party, but don't worry everyone we're going to have a gigantic eagle situated in the building. Along with the crazy flight transfers I have scheduled, this has become quite the multi-cultural experience. I'll take plenty of pictures so you can experience it for yourselves. Panorama style too, you know you love it.

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Photos

The Second to Last Supper
Insert biblical reference here. Allison is totally Judas.

A Toast
Not really toasting anything, just drinking wine because it's so good.

My Back Yard
Loki is hiding somewhere in the grass, see if you can find him!

Comments

[Yan]

:)
I like the details of packing in your home, your sister and mother helpled you:),and yes, the World Expo, i'm sure you'll get excited for it, I hope you would enjoy your time in China, very soon:D,Harry.