I’ll admit it to you folks and you folks alone. I never really wanted to travel that much until I met Leah. Actually, I had resigned myself to never leaving the United States. See, I wasn’t a US citizen until last… April (had to remember there). I moved to the US from the Philippiines in 1983 and just never got around to filing for citizen ship. Then when I met Leah, the ultimatum came down that if I wanted to be with her I would need to get my citizenship so that I could accompany her on her journeys and travels.
So after some haggling and pushing from her, I eventually filed the apps and paperwork in August of ‘06 and then I got sworn in as a US citizen in April of ‘07. I know, super fast - probably because I’m not on the list of stereotypes that they worry about - plus I’ve paid taxes for 15 years with no criminal record so… why not let me join your country eh?
So now we’re a week away and it’s gonna be crazy. I know I keep talking about it, but we’ve just been planning this trip for SO LONG and now that it’s almost here, I can feel it. Leah will tell you that I don’t really get too excited about things until their happening or at least not until the last minute - up until then all I can think about is the list of things I need to do in order to make it possible. Like this China trip, I didn’t really get too excited until about a month ago - there was just so many things that I had to do to prepare. Writing articles for extra money, setting things up with work to make it possible (and so I wouldn’t just lose my job) and then other factors.
Leah’s great and while I know it’s only a short month that we’ll be gone, I’m hoping, and deep down I know, that when I come back, I won’t fall into any daily sort of grind-rut. Because I’m not in one now, so I shouldn’t be in one when I get back. I actually really like my job quite a bit. MY job is awesome - I’m not sure about everyone else’s, but mine is great. Honest. Really.
I don’t have a savings account. I don’t think I’ve ever had one in my life. I’ve generally always had a checking account but I never really needed a savings account because I never saved any money.
So. When I did finally start saving money, I threw it all into a mutual fund account. I didn’t have much to start with so I signed up for one with a $50 per month minimum investment. It used to automatically pull from my checking account (that was part of the deal for allowing the low startup amount and monthly investment) but then I changed accounts and then it stopped pulling automatically. And then I realized that I could pull money out of my mutual fund pretty easily. I just had to to wait 1-2 days and it would be back in my checking account.
So today I’ve pulled out all of the money for my portion of the China trip - $2000 (that’s the roughly estimated cost for each person during our month in China) and it’ll appear in my checking account in a few days.
Up until we leave fly out - I’m poor. I’ve been eating mac & cheese, and oatmeal for two weeks straight. (Except the birthday meal here and there and other exceptions, but all day at work and most dinners lately have been one of those two dishes.) Food is not a luxury I’m splurging on until we leave and get out of the country. Even at the airport, if I’m hungry, I’m going as cheap as possible.
MUST wait to eat chinese food IN CHINA!
My money did appreciate in the short period of time that I had it in the mutual fund - even in this tough market. But that’s because it’s a stable fund and they don’t really take much risks. Hence the reason for their mascot being a turtle.
I’ve never saved so much money in my life. I know it’s not that much in the grand scheme of things, but over the course of the past year, I really haven’t been on the negative side as far as money goes. No matter what, I’ve been able to save, and still pay for emergency bills that seem to pop up (mostly my car and little things that add up - like beer.)
Leah’s at home sick today and I hope she feels better soon. I’ve never been that sick in my life - and I was there when she was SICKER than this - it all sucks.
Sorry I haven’t posted lately. I’m sick! Like, the crawl in bed and shiver kind of sick. I’m stuffy-headed, achy, sore-throaty, sleepy yuck. I haven’t been sick like this since the Dreaded Mono Episode of 2005. Granted, that was way worse, but I know I have to take extra-good care of myself now because Epstein-Barr and his cronies could always come back. And with swollen lymph nodes for two weeks, I know my body is trying hard to fight off whatever is invading it.
Still, being sick sucks. It’s hard to even drag myself out of bed to go to the bathroom, let alone feed myself, make tea, etc. Mark does an excellent job taking care of me when he’s home, but he has to work today so I’m fending for myself. I wonder if I could teach the cats how to make soup?
Back to bed I go. I promise to write a more thrilling post once I am well again. Ciao!
So here are some pictures of our packs and other gear for the trip. Mostly rope, and clips, and chords, and other things that we just may need depending on where we go - since we won’t always be in the city - and even then, ‘the city’ in China isn’t the same as the city in America or other places…
And then we’re also going to a few remote areas where there are small villages and they have the rice paddies carved into terraces on the mountainsides… you know… places exactly like this:
So it should be really cool. And hopefully we’ll just be out there… wherever there is. But not too far out, and even then… when we get out there, I doubt that I’ll really worry about work so much - even if I am technically telecommuting.
Oh yeah. I almost forgot. If you look at this picture above, on the left side you’ll see a picture of a man wearing a headband - it’s actually a flashlight holder. Below is Leah modeling the awesomely hip headband:
And finally… while we were taking the photos, One-Two deciding to hide in the REI paper bag.
