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noisy morning

I started back with a Chinese tutor yesterday morning. 3 hours, 9-12pm. It was great. I've been such a slacker in finding the time and energy to study and for whatever reason I've gotten motivated recently. I knew I needed to just do it and it needed to be done all in one shot. 3 hours is a long time to stare at your teacher, or Chinese characters or talk only in Chinese. I'll meet with her every Wednesday morning. We meet at a bakery, Leanna's Bakery. So, it's a nice place to meet and I get a good lunch out of it.

As I'm writing, a funeral tent is being taken down. I can't see it from where I sit but I can hear all the metal poles hitting the cement. They started the process before 6am. The tent went up in our apartment courtyard at the beginning of this week. It was a long rectangular shaped structure made out of poles and tarp. I never peeked inside but I guess the body was in there and there were folks hanging out with it 24 hours a day. The first night a van pulled up with several mahjong tables. I guess there's not much to do during those midnight hours. What a bad time for our camera to be broken.

We had the most beautiful day we've ever had in Chengdu 2 days ago. Again, no camera to capture it.

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This morning I got up around 5:30am. I'm leading a study tonight at a friend's house and so I've had time to this morning to think over what I want to share with my sisters. Our weather cooled off yesterday and this morning it's still cool and the crickets sound so lovely. Something about this morning has reminded me of working at My Favorite Muffin in Clarkesville. I had to get up around 5:30am back then so I could be at the shop at 6am. We opened at 6:30. I was never the only one on the road but it always felt peaceful and fresh driving to the bakery. The baker was always at the shop before me. He would get there around 5am to start the days baking. I really loved that job. It was so simple and predictable but it was just a great job. The sun is just coming up here and it looks like a nice day is coming. This is our last full day with the Littletons here. They'll leave tomorrow night for their flights back to Thailand. I'll miss them.
It's simply  the break in the clouds the huff up the mountain the cover of yellow leaves the toast of the sun that brings the swell of the spirit.