At Driver's Ed, except it is my driveway and we are not driving. Apparently we have to walk/run/not drive around the block. I do. The teacher, an elderly, overweight lady whom I don't recall having seen before, tells us to do it again. Apparently, this time, we are supposed to do anything necessary to get around the block as fast as possible, including running through people's houses and yards. I'm not sure how that makes anything faster, but we all did. I ran into the house of a girl I was friends with years ago (she actually does live about half a block away, albeit on the other side of the street, and her house is therefore fair game), but I can't seem to find her back door. I look everywhere, including upstairs for some reason. I remember wondering where her dog was and now I realize her house was also laid out entirely differently. It isn't until around the third time running down her stairs that I notice every member of her family sitting at their dinner table staring at me. I explain what is going on. Then I wake up.

Shortly before I went to sleep last night, my best friend told me something important. I had a dream that I was walking down a hall at school and went "Holy shit! [Important thing!]" and then I woke up

I'm typing this frantically so I don't forget. Excuse my grammar.

In China, alone, for the same dates that I am going this summer. Leave my hotel with nothing but my clothes and start walking. The only road is a dirt road with pure desert on all sides, even though my mind says I am somewhere near Beijing. Walking, suddenly find myself inside basically a Target. I walk through the store and out the other side, where I find myself in a shady little suburb. Clearly, this is where my grandmother and brother live. I go to see them. 

When I arrive at Grandma's house (which is not anything like that house she lived in before she died like six years ago), I let myself in. It's a very, very small house with one main room and a tiny bathroom off to the side and a staircase leading down on the other. There are two water fountains, one of which is labeled "Our Poor Excuse For Water". I taste a little from that one because I am thirsty (I have been walking all this time, you know.) and curious. It tastes like warm, stale water. I spit it out. In the dream, I remember thinking I should because it was marked bad and clearly was not meant to be drank. Now, I remember that one is not supposed to drink the water in China unless it is marked drinkable. Hm. 

I go downstairs to see my Grandma. She is standing at the landing of the staircase, looking a little more frail than she was when she was alive, but not by much, and carrying a slightly different cane. I say "Grandma, it's me!" and she screams and throws her cane at me, then runs to curl up on the fetal position in the room at the bottom of the stairs, which looks like a combination of my two grandmother's actual houses. I toss her cane on the floor beside her and she grabs for it before it lands and does not catch it. I'm kinda pissed off and do not help her. I leave. 

Back on the street, I start walking away as fast as I can, because I was just abused by the elderly and I am upset. Pretty soon, I want the camera that I left in the hotel. Everything I see is picturesque. Unfortunately, I have no idea where I am and I do not speak French, clearly the necessary language. After focusing and remembering how to say "Do you speak English?" in French, I walk back in the direction I think I came from. 

I eventually get back to the store. The first employee I see is standing with several others, who aren't doing much of anything. She is a kind looking oldish lady, so I approach her. I ask her, in French, if she speaks English. She says, in English, that she does not speak English. I start to walk away and she stops me. I inform her that some people learn to say "I don't speak English" without an accent. She and her employee friends laugh a little and then she asks what I need. I tell her I can't remember how to get to my hotel or what it is called. She and her buddies start pointing out buildings in the distance and telling me their names. A lecherous old man employee tells me I should just come stay with him. I tell him no, I have too much luggage. All of the employees tell me I really don't need luggage. The old lady and man mention a hotel whose name seems very familiar. I tell them that I think that is my hotel. They agree to take me there.

We leave the store and walk into a collection of roller coasters. It is not an amusement park because there is no one else there. We board one and suddenly I am by myself about 1000 feet from a hotel I recognize as mine. I start walking towards it. I pass a boy who I have a class with at school and sometimes talk to. I realize he is the brother that was not present at Grandma's house. I think this is the second time I have dreamed of him being my brother, though I think it might have been half brother in both instances. I tell him that I went to see Grandma and she screamed and threw her cane at me. He says something about the recession and thanks me for visiting. We both keep walking. I reach the hotel. I wake up.