T - < 12 Hours

I'm back at MIT, and in less than 12 hours will be boarding the plane to Kenya, Africa. Taking care of some last minute things- laundry, bank, packing...haha. the past week has been great. i've been staying at my friend Anton's place, and it was such a great feeling being able to live with a chinese family and get to hang out with my bro Anton. Man, if I knew living with a brother was this great, I would have told my parents to make me a little bro instead. ( j/k sis :) The whole family was great....his parents took care of my really well, making great food, a great bed, ( heck, anton's airbed got flatted out that he had to sleep on the ground ;) His sister Alison is the best sister in the world. She is so independent, outgoing, and really smart. I can't think of a day where she didn't ask us what food we wanted, or if we wanted to get ice cream. She was really nice to me, and same to her brother. Anton is one lucky guy to have such a great family.

But it wasn't all play ( or was it? ) I managed to get some Java learning done, and had Anton help me out along the way. I've been also reading through the chapters of my Java book, and doing the exercises and trying to understand the concepts. It turned out to be okay, and yesterday when we had our final meeting for our Africa trip, I was able to understand some of J2ME material that Michelle was presenting to us. But I know I still have a lot more to learn and do, and that one week before the program starts, I'll be the Chinese Boy in Africa working his ass off.

I also got to hang out with some homies before they left. Jenny and Feng went shopping with us early in the week. I was hoping to buy my 'goods', but unfortunately the Burlington Mall we went to didn't have squat. So we weren't able to buy much, but we did happen to eat Chick Fe Le, the place William likes to eat at.

Bowling was on Friday night, and it was tons of fun. I haven't bowled in a while, but was able to do well enough to beat Will in the second round. Anton and Bohan weren't doing so hot, they kept getting gutter balls everywhere. but it's okay, they ain't from hawaii, so i forgive them.

and Sandra, oh sandra. I had a great walk with her as we were walking to the bowling alley cause there were no shuttles to take us there. she is one ambitious chinese girl, and really excited for her. can't believe she is so great at balancing school and a boyfriend. maybe i should have worked hard to get an impressive resume.

so after whooping these MIT kids in bowling, we headed back, and enjoyed the last couple nights of living with Anton. Oh, i forgot to mention i finally watched the movie 21. we borrowed it at the library as me and alyson jogged around malden, and stopped at the library to pick up anton and feng. oh, i remember now, that day was also alyson's birthday. we had pizza, and watched how MIT kids made thousands of dollars from using their smarts. i'm hoping 6.042 will teach me how to count cards as well ;)

that's pretty much it. last night was my last night at anton's. i gave him the book i got from him last week at the mit book sale "Historical Linguistics" he looked pretty excited, and can't wait to hear how it went . he's got a lot of stuff going from him, and lots of goals. i better see you all jacked after this summer bro!

as for me, i got a haircut that makes me look gangster, some new knowledge of java, oh, and developed an addiction for the t.v. show 'One Tree Hill'. other than that, i'm loaded with google phones, ready to make some great applications, and even more importantly, ready to teach and learn computer science and business. oh, did i mention-->I bought a $200 backpack. yup, not so chinese anymore with my money. i'm using it for the two weeks after the program to go exploring around africa. oh i have to survive on is the stuff in my bag...so, hopefully i'll have packed enough, and ready to go.

gonna go get some lunch right now, and then take care of business. leaving tonight for kenya. going to miss the U.S.A. and my family. but hopefully when i come back, i'll be a lot more wiser, mature, and appreciative. and i can't wait to share everything i've learned and seen with my family and friends. take care everyone, and ALOOOOOOHAAAAAAA!