The Prologue, part 2: Rumination

1:35ish to 2:15ish am, December 31st 2009

There’s not really much in the world that can make you reflect like seeing your mama cry. Well, she didn’t really fully cry today, but kind of. For the past few months now I’ve been looking so forward to my adventure that’s happening in just a few days. I was having a late lunch/early dinner with her and family friends Susie and Allen, and as we were eating Mom spoke for a moment of how she’s “Gonna miss mah baby boy! He’s leaving so soon!” with just the faintest wet at the bottom of her eye. And it’s true. I’m departing Saturday the 2nd for San Francisco, then the 4th from there to Shanghai, the first leg of my trip. I’ve been telling lots of people over and over how much I’m anticipating my study abroad:

The Prologue, part 1: an Introduction

My name is Shane Henry Kwiatkowski, and right now I’m at my home in Vancouver, WA (no, not THAT Vancouver, that one’s up a couple hundred miles and across the US-Canada border). It’s the 29th of December, it’s snowing outside (which is definitely a surprise!), and I’m typing the first of hopefully many blog entries about my trip to China.