invitation letter and other things

Just as I brought this window up to write a post, I managed to spill an entire cup of coffee across my desk, narrowly missing my computer and passport.  I nearly had a heart attack.  The passport is now on top of my bookcase, where hopefully even I won't have the clumsy skills necessary to spill coffee.

I got a call from China last night, telling me that they had finally gotten the invitation letter.  Apparently the official in charge of signing and sending my letter had been out of town until now, so that explains the delay.  I should get it this Friday at the earliest, and then I will buy a plane ticket for September 9th, if all goes as planned!  I'm just happy to know that the wheels are now in motion.

I would also like to harass the person who decided that the United States would be totally run on 110V while the entire rest of the world runs on 220V.  Rude.  So, I bought a converter/adapter today that I'll use to keep my electronics from going up in flames and smoke.

Mom and I went to Goodwill today, and I found a great hardback copy of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, plus the June 1985 copy of National Geographic with the Afghan girl cover. I am really fascinated by that picture--her eyes are beautiful and intensely haunting.  I'm interested to read the article that goes with it.  Apparently, the photographer went back pretty recently to find the girl, and she had aged a lot since he took the photo.  She's had an unimaginably hard life, I'm sure.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Girl
Oh, and Gilead is a great read.  We read it this past semester in American Lit, one of the last books on the syllabus, and it was one of the most enjoyable books we read.  It's in a journal/letter format--a minister, who is close to death, writes letters as journal entries to his young son to read.  It is not a hugely exciting or plot-driven book, but there were many sections in it that just hit you with the beauty of language and life.

great quote

The primary reason to study Blake and Dickinson and Freud and Dickens is not to become more cultivated, or more articulate, or to be someone who at a cocktail party is never embarrassed (but can embarrass others). The ultimate reason to read them is to see if they may know you better than you know yourself. 
- Mark Edmundson 

imagine

This little treat is from the time that Rachel, LiLi, Bethany, and I went to Central Park and walked by the John Lennon memorial.  Rachel really wanted to walk on it, across the rose-strewn peace sign, but Bethany didn't think it was a good idea.  I think if she had walked on it, the people sitting around strumming guitars and singing "Imagine" would have jumped up, forgotten about world peace, and killed her with their guitars.  Just a guess.

I need a visa

Lately I've have been checking my email in hopes of seeing one about my work visa invitation letter.  I finally got one last night.  And now, it's looking like I might not get the invitation letter that I need to apply for my visa for another two weeks.  So the visa probably won't arrive until the day of or a couple days before I leave.  Yikes. I'm hoping to fly out August 26th, so that I can get over at least some jet lag before teaching starts on September 1st, but that might not happen.  Well, either way, I am getting more and more excited!  Now to figure out how to stuff 10 months worth of my life into a couple suitcases...