Goodbyes

I really dislike saying goodbye to people. Perhaps it's the word. It just sounds so final. That's why the Chinese word for goodbye is so much better because it actually means “again see." 再见.

This weekend, I said goodbye to a lot of people. It leaves me exhausted and I crash in my bed and fall asleep like I'm suffering from jet lag.

Yesterday, I spent the day with my Chinese friend 艺泉 (Yi4 quan2), and two awesome guys from my Chinese class, Chance and Thomas. We went "shopping" at the mall (kind of like teenagers) and bought 艺泉 her first pretzel in America. Following that, we went to the dominating local Walmart and bought Valentine's Day treats since I will be travelling and miss Valentine's Day completely. When we went back to 艺泉's apartment we didn't do much of anything but eat and talk. Sometimes, I think that's the best time spent even though when people ask you what you did, it sounds totally lame. I'll be seeing 艺泉 in Shanghai before I fly home in June and I can't wait to see her in her own element.

Then I went to a bar.

Matt and Jayson came home from school this weekend. Jayson called me and told me to bring a coat and my wallet, but refused to tell me where we were going. We drove on the treacherous freeway to Salt Lake City and I saw 3 cars flipped over and at least ten other cars off the road because of the slick ice. We got to City Creek Mall and Jayson and I showed Matt our favorite store. It's our favorite store because when we were looking at clothes, Jayson found an article of clothing and asked me, "Why does this skirt have butt pads." I died laughing because it was a tube-top with a built-in bra. When Matt finished eating his Chick-fil-a chicken, we walked the snow covered streets of SLC to a bar. Jayson has been talking about this bar for a long time. It's called Keys on Main and apparently sometimes it's a karaoke bar. It wasn't karaoke night. It was Mardi Gras. It was really fun to watch the musicians play request after request of popular and not so popular music. They were so talented and probably make a lot of money off tips. I can't say I was completely comfortable being there surrounded by alcohol, but it was the best people watching I've ever had.

That is how we say goodbye. In just 4 days, I will be off to CHINA! The next blog post will for sure be all about China. Until then, 再见.