朋友。回家。中國！

I'm not sure if that was right, but I figure I can have Daniel, Shanan, or Felix help me out somewhere down the road if it's not :) Basically, that's a summary of this post (which is a super-short update that I feel I should post to let you know that I made it home!).

First off, 朋友:

I wanted to thank all of my friends at SIS for their friendship this semester. You guys have been an incredible encouragement to me and I'm looking forward to seeing you down the road! Like I've said many a time before, there's always room for you guys in Santa Barbara, so come and pay us a visit! :) Also, a big thanks to everyone that came to Plaza de España Naboo on Saturday for the bocadillo potluck. Hanging out with y'all was the best way I could think of of ending my time in Spain, and I want you to know that you'll be sorely missed by one certain Belarusian kid. A shout-out to my frisbee bros for helping me desecrate the halls of a historical monument with a good game of Three Flags Up (Five Hundred, for everyone that is confused about the real name of the game). Good luck with finals, everyone! You got this!

Then comes 回家:

Filly, Ty, and my dad picked me up last night in LAX and brought me back to Santa Barbara. Couple things to note from the past 24 hours: Chipotle dinner, my sister's home-made lemon bars (my favorite dessert, and made with our home-grown lemons; you really can taste the distinct taste of our lemons in 'em!), eating breakfast with Filly (thanks mom for the delicious food!), biking a bit with Fil, moskovskaya kalbasa with hren and chorni hleb + tortilla chips and guacamole for lunch (hooray for multiculturalism), depositing Europe-expense-offsetting tax returns (albeit a very minimal offset), Pascucci's with my family and Kozachuki, and visiting the Bancrofts for a bit (minus Ape and Eli :( ).



Here's breakfast with Filly!

And lastly, 中國:

Our orchestra is going to China tomorrow! We're getting on a bus at seven tomorrow morning and hitting the road down to LAX. We'll be traveling for ten days to see and play in Beijing, Suzhou, and Shanghai. Pray for safe travels, good performances, and lots of fun and fellowship for all of us, as well as an easy transition for me to playing the new repertoire from this semester with the orchestra. Can't wait to see all of my buddies, including my two studly roommates and all my brass bros! Ahhhh!

Well, I'm going to bed! The fiend they call jet lag has not been my friend, and he will probably continue that trend in the next couple dozens of hours. Also, before I go: pray for Alison as she finishes up her finals and then travels for the next three weeks!

Ok, I'm out for realz now. Tsa luego!