With whom I will spend my weekend

An email I received today made me smile. Sent by my best friend S, it detailed to a T how she planned to leave the key to her place when I arrive on Friday. Typical of S, it has bullet points, and contigency plans galore. I felt like I was receiving an encrypted code to the biggest military secret!

Likewise, S has also planned out the few days I'll be staying with her: dinner, the ballet, Christmas dinner. Those also came in a second list. Such obsessive detailed emails are not so suprising from her, since I've known her to be like that since the time we lived together in China. I don't know if it's just her Germanic upbringing that makes her like that or if she is just the kind of person who feels unable to live without order. Luckily, I'm not averse to small portions of letting her take care of everything, so long as she doesn't start parcelling out an allowance I should be fine.

S and I won't be spending Xmas alone, we have a guest, A flying in from Texas. S and A were housemates in Texas when S was an exchange student back in high school. S calls A her American sister, while I'm her Filipino sister. I didn't get to meet A during S's wedding last year in Germany, but I've heard a lot about her, and vice versa. We're looking forward to getting to know each other over the few days I'll be with the two of them. It will also be A's first trip to Asia, she'll be travelling through China for a few days between stops at S's place. I'm sure we'll spend enough time preparing her for her trip that she'll be like those kids heading off to summer camp looking like the michelin man, prepared for all contigencies, and bid farewell by teary eyed parents, handkerchief's fluttering adieu. We have maps! guidebooks! words to keep her safe from chinese toilets! menus! antibacterial wipes! bad tummy pills! more maps! A bandaid?