Anticipating departure

I have chosen this moment, two evenings before our departure, to initiate my dialogue with my unseen guests.  One week will bring a complete scene change: language, food and environment.  As I type to the patter of rain against the window, my eyes travel around our little office, pausing at the map of China taped to the wall, the ‘Year of China’ t-shirt hanging beside it.  They trip along past the bookshelf, crammed with books.  I have lost myself in a few of them over the past months, gleaning the sense of the world in which we will soon be immersed.  Certainly, my senses anticipate the tantalizing experiences that await them, the sights, the smells, and–my favorite things—the language and the food.

My wife, Kelly, has detailed our pre-flight preparations.  You can read her blog postings at signsofkelly.blogspot.com.