"I Feel Lonely Already"

The fourth floor is very quiet this morning.

I thought of starting out this post with the sentence, "It was a cold, snowy morning in Manchuria," but I could actually see Snoopy atop the dog house with that one.

Anyway, last Friday there was an exodus as the students from our school headed home for the winter/ Spring Festival break. Since our campus is actually in an entire suburb of universities, the whole neighborhood is shutting down. Within the next couple of days, shops and restaurants and street vendors will all close. Inside our dorm building, the hallways are starting to be deserted. Even our beloved fourth floor is getting empty as people head off to America or Korea or Japan. I think the Russians are staying.

This morning our Japanese neighbors and I stood outside the building and waved goodbye to Justin as he headed off to the airport. Poor Kelly left too early in the morning for me to get up and get all dressed to go out and wave to her. Besides, someone important was traveling with her so most of the English department was downstairs to send her off. And we all said goodbye to Mathew here on the hall, him not being the type who wants a large production. Justin has a made a real effort to befriend our Japanese neighbors, so they were up and ready to send him off properly and expected me to join them. (Honestly, Justin, I would have said goodbye upstairs, but I didn't want them to think you were unloved by your American friends.) So anyway, Steve and Tommy and I start back up the stairs after waving at Justin, and Tommy says something in Japanese which Steve translates to me. She said, "I feel lonely already."

It's a good thing that I'm traveling to America on Wednesday, and Steve and Tommy return to Japan on the weekend, and Heidi will be headed for somewhere exciting within a few days. My exams are totally finished, and now I have two days to really clean my room, do all the laundry, shop for a few Chinese goodies to bring to people, and pack. So right now, I'm going to drink some tea, eat banana bread, and read the Word, here on the very quiet fourth floor.