In other news, we have started to finalize our plans for our return home (or back to America, home is kind of a fuzzy concept at this point). We are flying to San Francisco on 8/2, Seattle on 8/7, and then either driving or flying to New York the next weekend. Considering the previous 3 weekends to those we’ll be on vacation, it’s shaping up to be a busy 6 weeks or so. Ever since we actually finalized the return date and booked tickets, I have been getting more anxious to return home. Not sure why, probably just because we have a date set and can start counting down (37 days for those keeping score).

Long time since the last post. Had a couple very different months. From February to early March, we didn’t spend a weekend at home. I went to Singapore to visit Sriram and met Nhi in Hong Kong on her way back from Seattle. Then we went to Thailand and Shanghai. Lots of fun but somewhat tiring also. In March and April, we have finally started settling down and getting into a routine. We both started Chinese classes. Nhi is trying to learn to write better and expand her day-to-day vocab while I am taking the 101 class. I forgot how much I dislike language classes. The first class is kind of exciting, but very soon it gets overwhelming and frustrating. Still the payoff is pretty good, I can understand numbers ok now and words here and there. So in the end I think it will be worth it and be helpful during my time here.

So we are both adapting to our surroundings better, I wonder if we will go into sensory deprivation when we get back to the US. Things are definitely more lively here. The process has been somewhat subconscious. For instance, one very different part of the culture here is how you treat people. People seem to treat friends and colleagues very nicely, but treat strangers like dirt, or worse. There is no such thing as a line, and people have no second thoughts about doing many things that would be considered rude in the US, in some sense it folds into the true capitalism that seems to be the way to do things over here. eat or be eaten and such. One day a lady waiting to enter the metro paused at the turnstile for an instant to pull her metro pass out of her purse. Not really thinking I just stepped in front of her and swiped my card. Something I would never do in the US, but here it’s become second nature. So if I screw you over when I get back, don’t worry. Nothing personal.

Now that I’m in China, I’ve been torrenting away. Watched the past Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage seasons. Overall pretty good for both. Entourage seemed to be slipping, but this past season wasn’t bad. Also started watching 30 Rock. I didn’t think I’d like it but it’s actually pretty funny. I watched a bit of True Blood and found it really annoying.

Normally if people in the US ask me if I have dietary restrictions in the US, I say something like “No, I eat anything.” In China, I don’t have the same swagger. Here’s some of the weirdest stuff I’ve seen so far:

• live turtles (at wal-mart no less)
• back half of alligator whole (at upscale supermarket)
• slab of dog ribs hanging up
• dried sea horse
• dried bat

In the never ending game of  “can you top this” of public child urination, apparently a kid had to go in the metro. So rather than wait for the next stop, the mom pulls out a grocery bad and holds it for her kid to pee in. I am so glad the Shenzhen metro is nice and new, providing a really smooth ride. It could have gotten very ugly. Now where does that rank? I think the topper still goes to the mom who held her kid over an open trash can in the metro station. Sure it might have been lower degree of difficulty but I think it still comes out on top. Honorable mention to the mom who had her son just whip it out and pee off the top steps in a public street of the Dongmen shopping area.

Finally, in a don’t “tase me bro” homage comes this quip from a Georgetown student at a basketball game Obama was attending:

After a referee made a call that went against Georgetown, an obscene chant was cut short after one student admonished another, “Dude, the president of the United States is right there.” [link]

How to cope? Still figuring it out. For the sewer line, it’s a known problem so I can hold my breath or try to judge the wind direction and pick an advantageous path. Another technique I am considering is walking behind women in very heavy perfume. There is no personal space here so people won’t find it odd if you walk right behind them in an open street or plaza. And I figure the perfume combined with the air displacement will form a protective bubble. Thoughts? Any other ideas?