rooftop reading club.

Karaoke last night was everything I never expected. Fifteen, and then about thirty of us, crammed into one room (all karaoke is in private rooms here) and decoded the Chinese karaoke machine. Some Spice Girls, Celine Dion and N'Sync later and things got pretty hilarious. We had a great time despite the shadier than shady karaoke bar.

When we all came alive at 10am, a few of us decided it was rooftop beach day for sure. A bucket brigade to fill the pool and a borrowing of some iPod speakers led to perhaps the best turn out for rooftop beach yet. It was a beautiful day, sunny and hot hot hot. We all spread out our blankets and cracked open the books. Pretty soon, a bunch of us were all reading, sharing details of our latest books. Mine is Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin... a book about a K2 mountaineer who gives up everything he has to build a school in an impoverished village in Pakistan. It's wonderful. It combines basically everything I love about life... nature, adventure, living in rewarding, simple ways.

We're all getting pretty anxious to start work. It's been great hanging out and seeing the city, but we're ready to catch the Olympic spirit. I know that once the Games start, things will fly by. Honestly, I get a little misty thinking about this trip being my last connection to Purdue as a student. A lot of our conversations here revolve around food (mostly things we wish we could find here)... and I think I brought up those delicious Oasis tuna wraps with S&V chips (you might know that this is in my top five meals of all time and that I would do dangerously illegal things to obtain one). It really saddened me to think that I don't know when I'll get another one of those deliciously tuna-y delights. It hit me then thinking about the other things I'll miss about WeLa and Purdue. I'm one of the three of us on this trip have graduated... it throws me off a little when the others talk about classes and professors... I realize that all of that is over for me. The bittersweetness is sinking in. (But right now, things are pretty sweet.)

[Birthday Eve. 22 here I come.]