the end of summer.

Summer's ending.

I know it's painfully cliche to say, but this summer really has flown by. For me, summer came in 3 segments, 2 weeks pre-europe, europe, and 3 weeks post-europe. Those 3 "post" weeks are coming to a close - school registration is next week, and my new job begins the first week of Sept.

I ended my tutoring on Monday, so these past few days are just chillax days, kind of a "calm before the storm." But I'm not anticipating a storm. Just real Chi.na life.

Finally, I recieved my contract for my new job, things have been crazy regarding getting paperwork done from across the world when the HR dept. is in California and I am in Ch.ina. Thankfully, most everyone has been super helpful. It's not been a particularly smooth experience, but the people involved have been great and that makes such a difference.

I've (not surprisingly) recieved zero information regarding school/signing up for classes/etc. I'm debating when to go marching into the office since Chi.nese people don't routinely answer emails. This isn't causing me stress though, because I don't really give a crud about school. I just figure I'll go in one of these days and see what's up.

These past few days have been really nice: the gym, re-organizing my room, and visiting the hairwashers again. My hair dresser has moved on to bigger and better things in Beijing (waaaaaaa) so I am now trying to find a new guy to cut my hair. Because I permanently straightened it, I have to get it cut rather often, and finding someone I trust and can communicate well with will be difficult. I tried out a new dude today who is new at my salon and I think he's a top contender. At least he says he has cut foreigners hair before, so we'll see. haha.

Here's some pics from a lunch my friend Ting bought from Chi.na's Groupon site. It's safe to say she's a Groupon fanatic. (the company just started business in Chi.na this pat year and it's caught on with young people).

This Groupon included a set menu lunch for 3-4 people. It was at a cute, Tib et an style hostel out near the tea fields. It was great scenery, great food, and presh friends. It made me reminisce for my first days in Ch.na when all my experiences were new and fresh. When every meal was this exciting. I want to find that feeling again. (sounds like a marriage gone bad, huh? haha).

Anyways, here's some presh pics:

breaded tomato slices = YUM

how cute is this place?
up in the hills, overlooking the tea fields...

walking down the hill toward the bus stop...

Peace.

walk slow. xoxo.