We Go China

MUCHO updating to come soon (hopefully) of my recent travel to China.

Quick summary: it was awesome.

Made 4 new wonderful friends, of whom I was glad to add to my 700+ friends on facebook and I don't plan on deleting them anytime soon. ;) FUN FUN times in Beijing (some not-so-fun things too but those tend to make for interesting stories). Flights were long but bearable. Was DEFintely away from life as we know it. Jet lag and the cold I picked up on the return trip serve to make me glad to be home again, sleep in my own bed, be surrounded by the familiar, etc. Pennsylvania is beautiful, and green and wooded and smells good and three cheers to the awesome Creator who thought up blooming trees in the spring!! Thoroughly enjoyed the 'engrish' sightings (which may eventually get their own entry) and spotted some really cute kids butt cheeks peering out of potty-training split pants.
There was more than one time I had to just shake my head and say... "its China"

short day

In case you haven't found out... I'm taking a vacation to China. !!!!!! Ting! Sooo exciting. The thing is, I know its going to come and go so fast and then it will just be a memory. But oh the memory. I'm getting pumped for some memory-making, YEAH! Funny how on the way over I'm going to lose a day and on the way back April 18 is going to be like 30+ hours. I think I'm going to focus on being present. Not thinking about what I'm coming back to or missing or anything. I just want to enjoy the moment. and enjoy it I will.

feeling a little batty

What is it about being told 'no' that makes us suddenly desperate to something we hadn't thought about in months, maybe years? Its been months since I've been caving (not so long since I've thought about going though) but upon hearing of the sudden moratorium of all underground activity from Maine to Tennessee, something in me rises up and thinks its my job to go hollar crawlin'. The cause is totally understandable though. Its to save the bats from an uncontrollable, unknown infection commonly known as white-nose syndrome. Its been spreading like wildfire in a parched land of timber and has killed an astronomical number of friendly cave-dwellers. Bats get a bad rep but I plead with you to consider how much of a blessing they are! Ever been annoyed by a mosquito or worse yet, scratching a bloody bite by one days after the fact? yeah, bats EAT mosquitos. Bats are like rock in rocks, paper scissors, or Mario in Mario Cart. And I've had one fall on my back while caving as I accidently brushed up against it. I didn't grow fangs, lose my eyeballs or get rabies. Poor little guy was more upset about being displaced than I was about having a blind little bat on my back --not to say I particularly enjoyed the piggybacking but all things considered, it freaked out more than I did. (This one got off better than one ill-fated bat squashed by Mr. Brown's bum during a high school excursion... hahah! RIP little brown bat).

Conclusion of this report: white mysterious fungus is bad, bats are good.