Finito! No Looking Back!

I finished my lessons! Yay for me! :) Now I just need to get them graded, receive my certificate, send it off to China, have them do their thing, send me the thing I need to do my thing (get my "z" visa), fly to Beijing and TEACH! I've worked very very hard these last seven days. Every minute after work and all weekend. The staff at Panera Bread know me very well now because that's the nice, quiet environment I chose to hunker down. Too many distractions/temptations in my house. I'm done! Now I can get down to the business of packing (the house, that is; packing for China will come later). I hope to leave the first week in September but that may be too optimistic. It all depends on how fast I get my certificate and how fast the Beijing government processes my immigration papers. Oh, the excitement of it all!

My friend Liyin gave me CDs of all her pics of our time in China and this is one of me feeling a little nervous about taking the "rollercoaster cars" down from the Great Wall at Badaling. But it turned out to be great fun! I am especially looking forward to exploring some of the unrestored sections of the Great Wall this winter. It's the best time to meander around without throngs of tourists. Hard to believe I'm going to be a Beijing resident, isn't it? Ahhhhh.....life is good.