Sorry for the mass email guys-i wont do it again unless someone begs me to, but I have limited time and I need to save all of my precious internet cafe time for checking my myspace account after all. Feel free to not read this email by the way. I wont be offended. This is just a quick email to announce my arrival back to China, again. I am definitely in, what the Whitman College Study Abroad Program Culture Shock Curve graph describes as, the "euphoric stage." I am seriously so happy to be back here! Everything about a summer in Beijing makes me smile, even almost being running over twice, caught in the line of fire of a snot loogie (think farmer's blow), and being squished to the point of fear of crushing crossed my mind in the subway this morning, couldn't change my euphoric culture shock graph placement. I even love the smell of Beijing-well, not that rotten putrid stank burning tofu smell. (Brook and Nikki-you know the smell I speak of) I am staying with an adorable family and when I arrived they immediately took me out to a restaurant and ordered all of my favorite dishes--chicken feet, duck stomach, cow veins, you know, the staples. I literally felt like the sister/daughter character in the film National Lampoon's European vacation (Audry was her name, for those in the know) when she has that dream about eating and the food just keeps coming out and she just keeps eating and stomach gets bigger and bigger until her buttons start to pop open. The plates of food just kept coming and finally I had to announce "Wo Chi Bao Le," which means, literally "I am full guys, seriously though, for reals this time, I am soo full, im not kidding around guys" Right after I announced this the waiter walked in with two ducks on his plate. I managed to squeeze in 3 plates of Beijing Dukc and 4 watermelon slices even after all of that. I think this family and I are going to get along--they respected and admired my love of their food culture. Like I always say, starting today, food is the way to win foreigners over. Well my first full day here and I realize I am back in China: the sky isn't blue, the pollution is ba-ad, and it is ridiculously hot. So I guess we will see how long this euphoric state lasts and I move on to other emotions on the culture shock graph, like bitter resentment. Today I ran some basic errands and then I had some time to kill. I passed a group of guys playing soccer and so I asked them if I could play. They were SOOOO ecstatic to let me play with them-even more so than those little boys I used to play with in Peru (until I threw Lupito's shoes in the tree to get the ball down and got his shoe stuck in the tree and got him in big trouble and then i ran away). Anyway, as I was playing I was feeling very proud of overcoming my initial hesitation to ask the guys if I could play with them and I realized four years ago, when I first came to China, there was no way I would have ever had the guts to do something like that. I was too scared to even buy fruit for the first few months (Tania--I owe you for helping me overcome my fear to buy food in China) However, my feelings of self-congratulations wore off later this afternoon when I stopped at a grocery store to enjoy some air conditioning and to buy some of my favorite snacks that I have missed over the last year. No matter how many times I go to a Chinese grocery market, I will never figure out the organizational theory behind it all. (Charlene--I think you feel me on this one) I got yelled at three times for not entering in the righ tplace, I got lost somewhere on the 4th floor, I lost my ticket to pick up my item 8 counters down the line, and I couldn't find where i had checked my bag. That experience put me back in my rightful position here in China: just another lost foreigner who doesn't know the rules and never will, ever. Well, I'm off now, but I just wanted to let you guys know I am safe and happy in China again.  I am here in Beijing until end of August, and then off to Vietnam for the month of September. For those in the area-I am looking forward to meeting up again! Email me back with all of your own updates as always. Love Love Love HeatherPS If you got this far, thanks for reading, mom.