Well I finally did it. I finished packing a little while ago. I'm at T-3.5 hours before embarkation. Does that word even work here? Oh well I am going to make it work.

There isn't really anything left to do. I have to make a last minute run to CVS due to the fact that my allergies have decided to rear their ugly heads and if I want to breath through my nose at all while I'm in China I need nasal spray...and stat.

There is a half moon out tonight. I don't know if its waxing or waning.....ah waxing. This is a good omen I think a waxing moon is a time of growing energy, newness, rejuvenation, growth, renewal and hope. It is a good point to make changes in your life, such as ending bad habits or relationships. So here I am renewing, starting out on a new adventure. Good stuff.

I'm trying to treat the clock as it would be if I was already in China, meaning right now its actually 1pm. This is bit weird since its pitch black outside. A friend of mine suggested it to try and get a jump start on the new time zone. It is said that it can help with jet lag. I don't know how my body is going to deal with jet lag. When I was San Fran last year it was a 4 hour difference and it didn't effect me too much, but China is 12 hours difference from Eastern so we shall see how it goes.

Ok I'm off to CVS.

When next we meet I'll be on the other half of the world.

Tina

In less than 72 hours (by the time most of you read this it will be 48 hours) I am leaving on a jet plane to China. I know it sounds like a cheesy retort like "I'm going to put you on a slow boat to China." or "what does that have to do with the price of tea in China." Only I am actually going to China. Me, Christina, the woman who still gets freaked out about getting onstage and doing what the universe put her on this plant to do, is going halfway around the world. And it all started just 5 weeks ago. JUST 5 WEEKS AGO THERE WAS NO THOUGHT IN MY HEAD OF GOING TO CHINA ANY TIME SOON!

Am I insane, what has possessed me? Where in the universe does a sane person meet a new friend (a good friend of friends) has one to many glasses of wine, and says "why not" when this new friend says "Well why don't you come visit me in Shanghai, catch is you have to do it before June 12th." Apparently mine.

Backround.

As some of you may know I have a couple of friends who have a fantastic A Cappella group called Blue Jupiter. Over the last several years they have taken no less than 6 trips to China. One one of those trips they were brought to Shanghai to work with the kids at the Shanghai American School. Blue Jupiter have a week long education program where they come in to the school and spend the week intensely working with the kids on music and such. The teacher who brought them over was an Aussie by the name of Sally Oxenberry. She has been teaching all over Asia for the last 8 years, which I thought was fascinating and after a 3 hour car ride we had become fast friends. So one night at a bar we were chatting and I happen to mention that I had always wanted to visit China, which I have since I was a little girl, and when the Beijing Olympics came around it really cemented my desire to visit. Which brings me to the one too many glasses of wine (which was really good, especially with the cheese platter) I know, if you know my aversion to cheese then you are asking yourself, Christina eating a cheese plate...and liking it... the world really has gone topsy turvy. Well, anyway Sally tells me that I must come to Shanghai before she leaves, her contract with the school is up on June 12th and then she heads to Hanoi. Of course I say no. That would mean that in the next 10 weeks I would have to come up with the money, and plan a trip to China. Two weeks earlier I had just come back from my first Caribbean cruise, which was my first foray into international travel. I had always thought that my first trip to another continent would be some where a little more familiar. You know England, Ireland, maybe France, China was on the list of future destinations but....now....in the next 10 weeks! But I was curious, what would it really cost, I mean I had never even looked to see how much the plane ticket might be.


Conclusion

Well I found a deal I couldn't pass up, the money somehow seamed to be there, the flight was direct, I had a place to stay for free....so why was I hesitating. This was one of those once in a lifetime....or maybe a couple of times...kind of offer. It was fear, fear of being on my own in another world, another culture that is mysterious and appealing to me. Oh did I mention that I'm going alone! And after several weeks of fighting with myself, two weeks ago I sat in front of my computer on the Continental Airlines website for 15 minutes before I finally got the courage to click "BUY", and then it was done. No turning back, and no regrets.

So in less than 72 hours, I'm going to be on a plane to China, 14 hours later I'll be in Shanghai. I'll be spending 6 days in Shanghai and on Saturday night I'll hop on an over night train and head to Beijing for two days then I'll then back to the states. I'm going to see the Great Wall of China, the Olympic Village, Suzhou & Zhouzhuang which are two of the oldest villages in China, I will see the Beijing Opera perform, and taste real chinese dumplings.

I am on an adventure, the kind that I've only read about. I've read more stories than I can count about people going off to exotic places with strange sounding names, eating strange foods, and finding something within themselves that they never knew existed. Maybe that is what I'm hoping, maybe I'm hoping to find apart of myself within the twisting alleyways of old Shanghai, or the Gardens of Suzhou. Or maybe in simply taking this trip, even while still carrying the fear and uncertainty with me, I've already discovered a strength that has always seamed to elude me. Either way there is something telling me deep in my soul that the Christina who returns from China will not be the same one that left.


Wow, sorry about that, every once in awhile I unknowingly wax poetic. I think it is the part of me that always wanted to be a writer. Hope I didn't bore you. But I'm fighting the urge to delete this entry so I'm going to publish it before I change my mind.

I am going to try and make entries every day on the trip. A few people have expressed interest in my little adventure.

直到下一次
"Dào xià cì"
"Until next time"

克里斯蒂娜
"Christina"