Today we’re at Arsilan Aka’s place. It’s one of the houses here in Urumqi that we can get reliable web access, though we still haven’t figured out how to get the internet to work on our own computers. It’s a little annoying, but this will have to do for now.

I do have to admit, though, that the lack of internet access doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it did in France. There’s just too much going on around here for us to worry about such mundane things. Like I said before, the amount of family here is amazing - they’re everywhere. It’s amazing to me how there are always people around to help with any kind of problem we may have, and most of the time they take care of things before any kind of problem even becomes apparent.

I guess since I grew up in a family that’s been completely isolated (culturally, linguistically, geographically), - it’s always been my mom, dad, Camira and myself alone in the world - that the idea of a big family now is still amazing and terrifying to me. It’s completely wonderful to have so many people who care about me on this level. It’s strange and great to see and get to know all these people who knew me when I was little and can even tell me stories about my parents as children. But at the same time, it can be a little overwhelming to go from a family of four to family of 80+.

But overall, Urumqi has been great so far. There’s always something new to do, to see, to eat. I’m having a lot of fun. And if nothing else, this is an amazing way to put off Real Life for awhile longer.

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!

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.

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.