Mid-Autumn Festival

If you know anything about China this time of year, you know people are beginning to go crazy- getting plans finalized so they can get home in time for national day with their family (october 1), buying mooncakes to give to friends, and traveling! I heard on CCTV 9 just now that over 3 million people are traveling by plane for the holiday in China. I would imagine the number of train riders is a whole lot higher! Many of my CIEE program tongxuemen (classmates) are among them, going to Beijing, Kunming, Xian, Inner Mongolia, the Three Gorges...

And then there are those who are sticking around- ready to get out and about Shanghai. I for one will be riding my bike around a bit, ringing that little bell like crazy so as not to get killed from traffic that comes in from more directions than you would expect. And talk about riding on the back! Dude!

But I'll be doing more than riding- I'll be traveling around the area with friends, one of them being Lance Webel himself, the only one I know in China who shares a Pleasant Vineyard history...

I can't even say how much that excites me. Coming to China, I've tried hard not to have expectations too specifically, since plans seem to change 90% of the time (at least). But a good old friend. Oh, now that's one thing in China that I have expectations of for sure.

Until then, I'm going to try and beat this nasty sickness that has taken hold of me. In a way, I hope no one calls, because I'm not very good at turning down a chance to hang out or be in any way attached to friends...

:-)

Here's just a random list of the last week...
-went to a hip-hop rap event at an expat bar
-had first Chinese test
-visited Shanghai Art Museum's Biennale event
-rode on the back rack of a bike (it's very common here)
-had my parked bike moved two separate times in 2 hours
-ate more streetfood and love it (the fact that it's $.25 makes it taste great)
-visited the largest library in Asia
-tried out for a solo in a Christmas Cantata (sang 'Give you Everything', mom)
-getting familiar with the feeling of being crammed into the subway car
-bought first train ticket all alone and in Chinese :-)