It’s absolutely amazing. It’s only been 3 days and we’ve experienced so much. Being with this much family is incredible - all these people are related to me. The concept is almost incomprehensible to me, a girl who’s only known 3 family members for my entire 22 years of life.

I don’t have time to write a real entry right now, but just wanted to drop this note to let everyone know that I’ve arrived safely and I’m having a great time. Aja’s doing really well too, she loves it here. I’ll put up a real post later on.

Hope everything is going well back home!

2008 already, unbelievable.

We went to the New Years party, which started out kinda slow but turned out to be really fun overall. It was great to be able to see everyone one last time before I leave on the 22nd (only 19 days left, OMG!). It was especially nice to see the girls again - and I got to talk to Shahnaz more about the wedding plans. It turns out her friend is almost definitely not going to be able to come, which concretes the “koldash” spot for me. The wedding is scheduled for the end of August, which gives me a solid 7+ months to learn how to speak & dance Uighur-style. And to get my dress(es) made. I’m so excited!

Graduation was great. Dai-An was right when he said it gets kinda unexpectedly emotional. That whole Wow, I’m actually done! feeling hit me out of nowhere and I might have teared up a little. Aziz bey and Gwen came down for the ceremony, which was awesome. It was so nice to see them again after such a long time. They’re really the only family we have in the U.S. so it meant a lot for me to look into the stands and see them sitting with my parents and Camira, cheering me on. Aja’s family was there for the main commencement ceremony and they came over for brunch on the Friday after graduation; it was nice to see them again as well.

I really didn’t have a chance to catch my breath after graduation before all the holiday stuff started. There was bayram & all the craziness that comes with that, and then Christmas and New Years. Hasan & Amina’s family came down for New Years and went to the party with us, then came for brunch the next day - it was nice seeing them too. Canan and Fatih are so big now! It makes me feel old.

Yesterday was the first day of work (of “real life”) after all the graduation/holiday madness, and it was the first chance I had to look at the calendar and think OMG, I’m leaving for Urumqi in 20 days. Understandably, I freaked out a little. I had the weirdest dream the night before, about trying to hold back gushing water from flooding a house or something… stress will do that to you. But I took care of some things & just now I took a look at the WorldTour(TM) Travel Prep List and I realized that I could check a lot of things off. The only major things left now are the doctor’s appointments and the financial stuff, which I will take care of tomorrow and next week, and then we’re set to go!

On Saturday, we went out to dinner with Aja’s family. This was the first meeting between my parents and Aja’s parents, and I was nervous. Mainly because I was afraid they’d compare the vague details of the WorldTour(TM) they’ve each gotten from me or Aja, separately, and come up with a big picture far too close for comfort to the real thing (which I feel we’ve been careful to avoid explaining too clearly on both sides). What they don’t know can’t hurt them. If that makes any sense.

But in any case, my fears were unfounded because the dinner went very well. We went to Levante’s, a Turkish restaurant in Dupont Circle. The food was good, the company was good, and our parents got along splendedly. Our dads even went so far as combining their respective passions and planned a future Uighur/film project, which is cool so long as they don’t drag us into it.

As far as the 2ish year thing goes, it sounds like our parents think that we think we’re gonna be gone for an extended amount of time, but that we’re wrong-oh-so-wrong and that we’ll come back homesick and broke, and with our tails firmly tucked between our legs, within half a year.

Well, they can think whatever makes them happy, because we all know that of course the whole tour will be a huge success and it’ll be years and years before we’ll want to come back. Of course.

In other news, my mom finally got confirmation on the tickets. We’re leaving on the 22nd of January, which leaves us with just over 2 months left in the States. (Check out the handy-dandy counter I just installed for a more accurate countdown.)

This thing is becoming more and more real everyday. Crazy.

This weekend was the celebration (Bayrum) for the end of the holy month of Ramadan. When we were little we’d get money for Yet, but alas, we are now considered “too old.” (I know, it’s completely ridiculous.)

Anyway, the UAA sponsored a party for the Uighur community and a lot of people went, including us. It was fun; there was eating, music, dancing, etc. Also, we finally got to see Shahnaz and Dilnaz; we hadn’t met up since before they left for Urumqi, early in the summer. Shahnaz is getting married, which is beyond awesome, and doubly so because both Camira & I will be there for the wedding in Urumqi next summer. Yayness. I’ll finally get to see a real Uighur wedding from start to finish, Uighur style. And like I said, it’s even cooler because it’s someone I actually know - not some random cousin I haven’t seen since I was four years old.

Hopefully I’ll be able experience some real Bayrum celebrations Uighur style, too, during the first branch of the World Tour (TM).

Today my parents left for Urumqi, China. They’ve been planning this trip since March, at least. We drove them down to the airport this morning. Dad let me drive the Jag (since it was the only car all the luggage would fit into). The luggage turned out to be overweight and they had to pay $100 extra, and they’ll probably have to pay even more at Beijing, which sucks. Now Camira and I are home alone for three weeks. It’s nice to have a break from them, but the house feels empty.

Mom’s going for our cousin Ilnure’s wedding. Dad’s going to celebrate his mother’s 80th birthday. She actually already turned 80 a few weeks ago, but they held off the party to coordinate with the wedding so mom & dad could participate.

 Dad wrote all this in his journal this morning and he read it to us on the way to the airport. They were both in surprisingly good moods as they left and there were no last-minute freak-outs. Other than the luggage overweight charge, everything went really smoothly. I hope it sets a good precedent for the rest of the trip.