:)

Hi everyone!

So it’s been forever and a half since I last posted. Lots has happened and I don’t quite remember the details of all of it, so I’ll just go through highlights.

The past few weeks have been pretty wushu-packed for me. Weekdays are pretty much dedicated to training, and then on weekends I get a break to go and actually have a social life. Feels like high school all over again lol. A few weekends ago my friends and I went blueberry picking, which was quite fun. At one point while picking berries I realized I was standing in an anthill and there were ants swarming over my shoes. That part was not so fun. Anyways, we ended up with A LOT of blueberries, and furious baking ensued. We made blueberry muffins and a blueberry tart, both with twice as many blueberries as the recipes called for. They was quite delicious. And very blue.

The weekend of July 4^th I went into DC for the Folklife festival and fireworks. Walking around DC is generally fun, but especially on the 4^th of july when there are lots of interesting people around. On the way to Folklife we got accosted by some very enthusiastic Mormons, tried to wade through a parade, and made a pit-stop at the Smithsonian. I’ve decided that I really have to go back to explore the Smithsonian more some other day. But that will wait. Eventually we got to Folklife, which is this annual cultural arts festival with lots of cool exhibits from cool places. Wandered around there for the better part of the afternoon, whiling away the hours until it got dark enough for fireworks. The fireworks were very pretty, and the group sitting behind us kept up an interesting commentary throughout the show. Getting home afterwards on metro was an absolute mess. I had never seen so many people on metro at the same time before, but that’s to be expected on july 4^th.

Then this past week my friends dragged me out to the midnight premiere of harry potter 6. we decided to go all out and make tshirts. Actually compared to everyone else there we were pretty un-dressed up—some people had some very impressive costumes.

So I stayed out til around 4 that night, and practice the next day was not fun. This last week or so I’m back to my old training schedule where I’m at wushu literally all day, 9 am to 9 pm. When I’m not training I help teach the little kids, which is pretty entertaining sometimes. Frustrating at other times, but they’re cute. Especially Caroline, who is 4 and follows me around everywhere.

And now I’m sitting in Narita Airport in Tokyo, waiting for a connecting flight to Taipei. I have no internet here, so I’ll post this when I get to Taiwan.

Interesting coincidence: I ran into Nekka here! She’s with the US women’s basketball team, on her way to worlds in Thailand.

The gate next to mine is a flight going to SFO. I kinda really want to sneak over there and fly back to Stanford...

Edit: Arrived in Taipei and I’m super tired. and I’m leeching wireless off of I don’t know where but it works. It is nice to be in Taipei again. As much as I hate cities, in some ways I really love this place. I'm here for a few days, then going to southern taiwan for world games, then coming back here to visit family and stuff for another few weeks. but in the more immediate future, i’m meeting up with my lovely roommate tomorrow!! :D