Finally back

So I guess Cam seems to be doing pretty well with being in the US. I know things here are pretty hard on him, especially the English. But so far he seems to be doing really well. When we first got to Chicago he was talking to me about all the changes and how he didn't feel comfortable with some things (based on where we were staying), but now that we're back in my home in Chapel Hill he hasn't really said much in relation to the changes. Kinda typical Cam, pretty quiet. I think it means he's slowly dealing with things. Hopefully being here in Chapel Hill for a while will allow him some time to relax. We still have a lot of things to teach him, I taught him how to use a garbage disposal, dryer (for clothes) and a dishwasher yesterday. Today we have to show him some of the bureaucracy of the US as we have to go get my driver's license, possibly get him an ID card and also try to get him a Social Security Number. He's working really hard to try and cut back on the smoking and I'm really proud of him for that, I think he's doing it more for my parents than for me though but no matter the reason it's still a good thing. My dad is also working really hard to include him, trying to teach him some English and taking him out to Eastern styled restaurants.

Today I've been trying to get my appointments and dates scheduled. I'm also really interested in trying to see some NC Architecture and take some pictures on my new camera. It's a nice little camera but it's totally great, same one a friend of mine had that I really loved.

Prince

And they all lived happily ever after....

Unfortunately they don't ever live happily ever after. In this story the prince and princess went off to live in the castle. But the princess wasn't happy in the castle, she didn't know where she was going in it's walls and kept getting lost when she wanted to go somewhere. She didn't know anyone aside from the prince in the castle. All of her friends were still in the forest outside the castle and while she could see them from time to time it wasn't nearly as if she were still living in the forest. She got bored with the prince's daily activities and no matter how much she asked the servants for more entertainment it just wasn't enough, she just kept getting bored. She didn't recognize the food in the castle for it was too foreign to her woodly tastes. Her boredom sent her into rages with the prince every now and then and while he knew she wasn't happy it was her choice to come live in the castle and they still loved each other. The prince knew not what to do, nor the princess. The prince hoped every day that the next day would be better, not knowing if it really would.

Chinatown and Macy's

Aside from a pretty good scare tonight, at least in Cam's definition, we had a pretty good day today. Tonight the scare came from Johnny's brother who decided to go crazy and come pounding on our door right when we came in. Fortunately Cam had remembered to lock the door and we have the only key so all it ended up being was a stupid boy yelling through the door asking who we were and saying he owned the place and lived here. I called Mandy and they figured out it was Johnny's brother, Johnny's mom came up to see if we were ok and then had a talk with Johnny's brother. That was it but the whole thing scared Cam.

Today we went around taking pictures of different churches, Cam wanted to take some pictures of the inside of one but it's Sunday and they were having mass so I didn't let him. He didn't really understand why I wouldn't ask them if we could take pictures but I think he just went with it. He asked if we have a lot of churches around here and I guess we have quite a bit, especially compared to China. Afterwards we went to Chinatown to look around a bit and have lunch. I tried to speak Mandarin to the waiter at lunch and he didn't understand me at all. Cam spoke to him for one second and figured he spoke Cantonese so they spoke Cantonese the rest of the time. Afterwards Cam told me that he thought Chinatown was more Chinese than China. I didn't really understand what that meant until he explained that China had been modernized and Chinatown hadn't as it was still run and owned by Cantonese since before the doors of China were opened. There were a lot of signs there written in old Chinese, from right to left and Cam said the grocery store we went to only sold things from Canton so it made sense that the people didn't know Mandarin but knew Cantonese.

We tried to go downtown to the Art Institute but we figured out it's free on Thursdays from 5-8pm so we decided to just go then. Cam had an interesting time sitting outside it as there was a small protest with a couple people with signs outside walking up and down the streets saying things like "Honk to Impeach (Bush)" so there were a lot of people honking, which I thought was kind of cool, although it did make the place loud. We decided to go and do some shopping instead so we went to Nordstrom Rack, an Art store (which he really liked), and his favorite Macy's (which unfortunately closed almost as soon as we got there but not before Cam bought some pants). I've gotta find him a better one than Macy's...

Shedd

Mandy, Cam and I went to the Shedd Aquarium today after getting up a little late and only having some cereal for breakfast. It was definitely a cool little exploration, Cam had fun taking pictures of almost all the animals (except the dolphin show and blue whale show we got to see). By the end of it we were absolutely starving and it was around 6pm. After all of us getting a little pissed off we finally got on a bus towards the Navy Pier but got off when I saw a Thai restaurant on the side of the road. Cam was extremely excited about it as it was the first thing closest to Chinese food that he'd had in a while. It was pretty decent food. After dinner we went to Navy Pier and walked around for a while before finally getting to see the fireworks show. Cam said it was a better show than at the baseball game.

Baseball

We had a pretty kick ass day today. Cam was complaining last night about the fatness and ugliness of people here, as well as their lack of fashion but I explained to him that all we'd done was hang out in Bolingbrook and Johnny's neighborhood, Pulaski, neither of which are where the wealthy are. Today we got to show him the more wealthy side. We went to brunch at a Mexican place, he had the fajitas, althoug he said the quesadilla looked better. Then we went downtown and got some tickets for Wicked for next Friday and got to check out a lot of cool buildings with Johnny.

Cam had a blast taking pictures. We walked through Millenium Park and saw Buckingham Fountain after going through a sea of people at the Taste. There were some pretty awesome sights. Cam said there were people from so many countries around he didn't even know what countries they were from. We said that's America. Last night I was telling him the reason it's so hard to answer people's questions about the US, because a lot of the times I don't know the answer. For example, what's an American wedding like?

After walking around we took a train to the baseball field where I got to teach Cam baseball, we both think it's slightly dul and the other team won but we still had fun. Afterwards we got to watch the fireworks which I enjoyed even though Cam said they weren't as good as Chinese. Yesterday we walked around, taught Cam a bit of how to swing, what a mailbox is, how we deliver newspapers here and about an American mall, his favorite so far is Macy's.

We did it!

We finally did it! We are currently on a flight headed towards Chicago. Part of me never imagined this day would actually come I remember the day he got his visa, June 18th. He was so nervous he didn't sleep the night before. I was so nervous waiting for him in the coffee shop near the embassy. I couldn't read or eat. Then he simply sent me a text message, "I got it!" I was so excited, I texted a lot of people including my sister before finally calling my parents. I was so excited I couldn't help but cry when they picked up. Now it's been 2 weeks, 2 of the fastest weeks in my life looking back on them now. I'm so nervous I can't sleep and keep thinking of things with Cam. He needs to learn to say thank you. I'm talking for him most of the time but he knows the word, just needs to use it more often. I've got to remember what he likes so ordering can be easier, vinegar sauce not ranch-like so far and he's not a huge straight sausage fan, more an uncooked salmon type. This is definitely going to help me get to know him more.

Got a bit of jet lag this morning (so I'm up pretty early), didn't really do anything last night but set up my phone and call friends back in China to make sure they know we made it.