Tough

The good news is the weather is magnificent. Nothing lower than 65, nothing higher than 85. Isn't that ridiculous? More good news is that I had a friend to spend the morning with. It's always good to have those. And I had my first fresh-squeezed apple juice after a year of none.

It was also good that gramma answered the phone. Because the bad news is that my uncle passed away this weekend. I don't take deaths in the family all that well. There've been so many, it seems. I can't grasp how my friends feel who have never had a close one die. The first funeral I remember was great gramma Dathel, when I was six, maybe. I still remember how she would reach for my hand. Or at least, I have a memory of it, whether it really happened or is just one of those memories we think we have from childhood.

This distance thing, while I knew it would be hard, is harder than I thought, I think. Or perhaps it's just the actual feeling as opposed to the theoretical. Because now that I think of it, I really did think long about how hard it would be. It's really tough with my closest friends being virtually inaccessible. Tanzania-shmia. Out of minutes and 12 hours difference. 13 hours difference and the middle of the night.

I think I may need some different friends. It was really stupid to come to China without my address-book!