another suitcase in another hall

After a long back and forth, I am going to Shanghai this weekend. This week is one of the Golden Weeks for the PRC, so 1.3 billion Chinese people and a handful of us foreigners all have holiday at the same time. Figure that one out. If you've ever seen busyness in an urban setting, you could take that and multiply it by let's see... NYC is approximately 8 million people. Now double that (Beijing is over 17 million), and make them all switch places with out-of-towners. You can only imagine the beauty of the traffic on Second Ring Road outside my window. There was a wreck this morning, but I was not here to watch it go down. I walked by later, though, and the back window of a hatchback was smashed in by the front bumper of a Jeep. The little dog inside the Jeep (there's always a dog in BJ) barked at me as I walked past.

So anyway, I'm meeting up with the Professor, Cowboy, and another friend in Shanghai tomorrow morning. I'm taking an overnight train there. I'm really looking forward to it, because a change of locale even for a couple days could no doubt be useful. I think even in the Shanghai madness it will be refreshing.

In other news, I learned how to say, "Just kidding!" in Chinese yesterday from Jill. She's so useful! I mean, we discuss more important things than that, but how cool is it that she taught me that? Actually, I'd heard it, but I didn't know what it meant, so I asked, and lo and behold, it's a good one.

So, I need to get a few things packed for the weekend. And I should pay the maid before she heads out. Here's hoping things are decent in other places. I arrive back in 47 days.

T