Hao jiu bu jian

Hey everyone!
It has been a really really long time since I last wrote, partly because of lack of internet access, partly due to sheer laziness. Now isn't really the time to write about all my adventures of the last month because I am in the middle of a 4 day hike, but I did want to send out a message to everyone. I haven't been the greatest about keeping in touch and I wanted to apologize for that. I haven't forgotten about you, in fact I miss you all very much and am hoping to hear from you soon! Hopefully now that I have a working blackberry in a country with almost boundless coverage, my habits will improve.
The update, in brief: a few weekends ago, I accompanied my boss and coworkers and a couple of donors on a business trip to Zhao tong- an area in north east Yunnan where my company does a lot of school resource material projects, scholarships, and other charity work. We met with government officials, saw the schools we had built or helped supply, met the students we were sponsoring, and talked with the villagers and teachers about future projects. It was quite the experience! I got really sick the last day and spent the whole night on the toilet (I won't go into details, but let's just say it was quite something EVEN for china) and I was still thrilled to be on the trip. A few days after getting back from Zhao tong, I flew to Princeton for the admit weekend and then down to Harvey Mudd for one last look before the big decision. I flew home Sunday night and spent about 3 1/2 days at home seeing friends, getting a new passport and visa, sleeping in my own bed-it was awesome. Even though I was returning to china to backpack for a month, what I have been waiting to do all second semester, it was hard getting back on that plane for the 15 hour flight back to Hong Kong. While in America, I got to spend time with dean in New York, Maddie and Jenny at Princeton, Lauren and Patrick in Claremont, and many more friends and my family in Palo Alto. I wasn't ready to be done with china and I think I spent the entire time at home talking about how much I missed it and how excited I was to go back, but I also wasn't ready to leave home. I realized that I have reached that point where no matter where I am for the rest of my life, there will be somewhere else that I am missing: if I am at home, I will miss china, if I'm in china I will miss home, and if I am in college I will miss both china and home. But in a way that is a good thing - always somewhere else to go, always something to look forward to.
Well now I am back in china and having the time of my life. On Sunday, I flew with Michelle (my former boss) to Lijiang where I met up with Dave and Eric. Monday morning we took a 6 hour van ride mostly on unpaved roads to Baoshan - a village propped on a stone citadel in a very very mountainous region. It was amazing. We hiked into the village and spent the night before starting out 4 day trek to Lugu Lake, and that's where I am now, but more on that later. For now, I am going to put the blackberry away (I am in the middle of nature after all) and enjoy where I am. I hope everyone else is having a fantastic May Day!!
Best,
Megan
Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless