Well I was back... now am... soon to be gone again...

I WAS back... but then my internet didn't work for another week! AH

Let's see... Last weekend I went to Shanghai. I met Debbie there and we had the lofty goal of seeing the Eric Clapton concert that was on Saturday night. We didn't have tickets but were planning on scalping them there... which we did, for 100rmb! $13. A steal. Except of course, much like every other thing in China, they were fake. The people at the doors even had scanners for the tickets. We felt like we had been taken and pretty dumb for not thinking about that factor (seriously EVERYTHING in this country is knock off- there is no ethnic crafts or designs or anything that is used in present day living- its plastics and misspelled knock offs).

We regrouped and walked around the theater a few times, looking for open doors or a way to finagle our way in. We saw one man smoking at an open window, and asked him if he would mind throwing us his ticket stubs through the window and we would give it to him when we got in... which to our surprise... he DID! We snuck in to a concert and had a great time. The entire foreign population of Shanghai was there as were quite a few Chinese people. Live music. It's been a while.

Sunday I met a distant cousin for the first time- in Shanghai! Barry is a third cousin or first thrice removed or something. He is my parents age and lives in Perth, Australia and comes to Shanghai often for business as he is planning on buying some property here. We had spoken a few times but our schedules hadn't worked until now. It was really nice. We had a great meal and posh wine and his suite was right across from the Pearl Tower in Pudong, looking out at the city. It was stunning and a far cry from my bucket baths here on the island. It was very nice to talk to someone who knew my family and he was really nice to me.

Monday I watched some football for the first time in a month- The Patriots lost but it was nice to watch some football. It is pretty hard to go from TV all the time to quitting cold turkey. Especially when there isn't much else going on!

This week was my last week of classes... And I only had two! I ran lots of errands and have been busy cleaning and packing and getting rid of my things. I am leaving here with only a backpack so I have a LOT of stuff to get rid of. Most of the people I know here don't really want my things either, which is a shame, because I have some really good condition things that I am just throwing out. And all my foreign goodies are going to waste too because no one wants to eat it. I don't think that handmedowns are part of Chinese culture. No one wants your used things. Anyhow, mailed a lot of it home, but I have collected a lot of stuff.

Cleaning sucks. And I haven't had water all week so I have been using bottled water to wash dishes and mop. That sucks too.

School is done for me. Just getting myself together before I leave tomorrow morning. I have an amazing adventure planned for the next two months so I will keep you posted on that in a minute.

Hope all is well.