Still saying goodbye and going to China...

Well, this has been such a hard week. On Tuesday I had to say goodbye to Kristine. As many of you may remember, she was pretty much my first friend here. We talked by email before moving to Japan and then met at the orientation in Tokyo. We spent our entire first month together shopping and exploring Ise. Although we both got caught up in our own lives for a while, we started hanging out more again recently and I was so sad to see her go. John, Taylor, and I went to the train station to see her off. Watching her ride away really made me feel like the first part of my Japan experience is over. I'm kind of in the inbetween stage now, waiting for the next chapter of my life to start. Today I had a goodbye lunch with John and Taylor. It feels weird to think that they won't be here anymore. I think I took them for granted. Honestly, I'm not too sure about the new JETs moving to Ise. I'll be happy if we can all get along even half as well as everyone did this year.

Tomorrow I leave for China. I'll be there for around 9 days. I'm going with my good friends Genevieve, Juan, and Phil. We are going to Shanghai, Beijing, and maybe Xian. We really haven't planned the trip out at all. The only things we know we want to do are to climb the Great Wall and visit the forbidden city. We are all very laid back travelers so we just decided to take things as they come. It's definitely going to be a very cheap trip. We are staying at $6.00 a night hostels and plan on spending as little money as possible (since none of us have that much money to begin with).

I return to Japan on Sunday, August 5th. As soon as we get back, I have to rush to catch the first train and get back to Ise by 6:30. After a quick shower, I'm going to meet the first group of new JETs at the train station and will take them to dinner. I guess China will kind of be the turning point where I feel like my new life in Japan starts. When I get back, so much will be different. The 2nd half of the new JETs arrive a few days later. I'm both excited and nervous to meet them. I'm sure I'll be writing more about that later.

Alright, I won't be able to update my blog from China, but expect lots of pictures and stories when I get back. Love you all!!!