Hello to all of my loyal readers. I can say that, frankly, because you probably are the only people who are still reading this. So thanks for your support.

So you might want to ask me, "How are things in Philly?" Well, I really can't tell you. That's because last Saturday I moved to eastern Connecticut, where I've taken a job as education reporter for a daily paper in Norwich. Norwich is known to some as "Connecticut's Chinatown", which is one of the reasons I probably got (and took) the job. After 9/11, many people in New York's Chinatown lost their jobs, so they moved to Norwich. There are two huge casinos in the area where a lot of immigrants work. My job is to find out how this influx of diversity is impacting the school district. It should be interesting. I'm even going to get to keep a blog!

But the best thing about this job is that it gives me the ability to, for the first time in my life, be completely financially independent. It feels great. But, considering I don't know anyone for at least a 70-mile radius, it will probably get pretty lonely sometimes. I bought one of those all-access cards from Blockbuster last night, and I probably will make good use of it.

I have loved sharing my stories with you all this year. But from now on, you're going to have to e-mail me if you want an update on my life. I'm not crazy about putting the details of my American life out there for the whole world to read. And compared to this past year, it's going to be quite boring. But I love writing e-mails. So stay in touch.

One more thing... if you ever find yourself even remotely near eastern Connecticut.... PLEASE VISIT!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070807/hl_nm/china_pollution_police_dc

I'd imagine part of this reduced life expectancy is also due to the multitude of Chinese drivers who treat two-lane roads like the Indy 500 race track...

After 25 hours of on-and-off plane rides, I arrived home yesterday. I found that a few things have changed -- my brother has been driving my car since fall break, my family put half my belongings into storage and my mother has stopped food shopping. Fortunately she made an exception on Wednesday, and I found a fridge stocked with my favorites when I walked in.

At least they didn't turn my room into a gym. (No, they did that to the family room -- it's actually the equipment of my brother's friend who has been living with us for the last few weeks.)

I couldn't have been happier to come home. I was smiling so hard when the plane landed that I got some rather strange looks from the other passengers. I even got a little teary-eyed when I saw the Philadelphia skyline from above the ground. It'll take me a few weeks to get back on track, but I intend to spend the time eating all the Western food I can find and catching up with the people I've missed for the last year. Oh, and at some point I'll have to find a job. But I'm going to take a few days to rest first.

Here's my schedule over the next few days (and the last few days):

Monday, China time: Nine-hour bus ride from Songpan to Chengdu following a rather intense horse trek that involved me getting thrown off a horse after the horse flew out of control and ran into an evergreen tree -- I'm fine, the guide telling me that I was the problem, not the horse, and the guide telling another person in our group "F*** you." Scenery was spectacular, though.

Yesterday, China time: Two-hour flight from Chengdu to Beijing

Tonight, China time: 12-hour flight from Beijing to LA

Late night, Wednesday, PST: Four-hour fight from LA to Cincinnati

Very, very early on Aug. 2, EST: 90-minute flight from Cincinnati to Philly (HOME!!!!!!)

On Thursday morning -- exactly one year after I left for China -- I will be home. For the last two weeks, traveling on my own, this thought has sustained me through every rough moment. During every sleepless night I got in a too-noisy hostel, the thought of sleeping in my own bed soon kept me going. Every time a vendor tried to rip me off, it's the thought of shopping in stores with FIXED PRICES that kept a (sort of) smile on my face.

Of course, I'm a little worried that when I go into a store and see a shirt I like for $50, I'll yell "Tai gui le!" and try to haggle it down to $30. (If you happen to be shopping with me, and I do this, feel free to pretend that you don't know me.) Or that I'll forget to tip a cab driver or a waiter at a restaurant, or that I'll stare with my mouth hanging open at every person who isn't Asian (in other words: at most people on the street.)

And as excited as I am to go back to America, see the people I love and eat the food I've craved for a year, I know I'll miss China like crazy. It won't happen right away, but come late August I'm sure I'll wish I were teaching at Er Zhong, eating MSG-laden cuisine and being stared at on the street.

I'm off to do some last-minute shopping before going to the airport -- my flight leaves at 8:30 p.m. tonight, early morning USA time. So if you live in the Philly area, I'll see you soon. And if you don't, visitors are always welcome (ahem).

I realize my updates have been sketchy at best. And they're not going to get any better. Tomorrow I'm leaving for northern Sichuan -- about eight hours from Chengdu -- where I'll go on a horse trek for four days. Our destination is Ice Mountain, which looks beautiful in the pictures that I've seen. I'm sure it will involve one last terrifying bus ride around mountains and gorges. If I've survived the rest of them, I'm sure I'll survive this one.

I'll give you all a nice detailed description of this trip when I get back to America in NINE DAYS!!!

I arrived in Chengdu safely this morning. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province, home of SPICY food and the panda. Tomorrow I'm going to try to see those furry creatures. I also hope that I can go to northern Sichuan to take a horse trek through some alpine forests.

And now my time on the Internet is up, so I have to stop here...

I've had a few (mostly) relaxing days here in Kashgar, and in about two hours I'll take an airplane to Urumqi. That's the capital of Xinjiang, and also the farthest city in the world from an ocean. I'll then go to Turpan (the hottest place in China -- it's gotten as hot as 49 degrees Celsius!)

I'll write more later. This post is mostly for those of you who care if I'm still alive.

I'm writing this post from my hostel in Kashgar, the westernmost-city in China. It's an oasis of desert, much of which I traveled by train or plane over the last two days. My hostel is in the former Russian Consulate building. It's only about 84 degrees, but the lack of cloud cover and pollution (thankfully) is letting the unchecked rays of sun crush my forehead like a just-emptied wok of noodles.

Xinjiang, the province throughtout which I will travel for the next week, is part of China for strategic rather than cultural reasons. The language here, Uyghur, is a Turkic language that is written in Arabic, and the people have large eyes -- some even blue or green -- and skin darkened by that heat.

My (relatively) big eyes and tanned skin lead some people in China to ask me "Ni shi xinjiangren ma?" (Are you a Xinjiang person?) in China. But here I receive just as many stares as I do in Hunan. A crowd of at least three forms when I buy food or other commodities. I do most of my bargaining in broken English now, as many Uyghurs don't speak Mandarin. Here, trying to bite someone's head off doesn't get you a good deal -- you have to be nice. A change for me, these days.

The Uyghurs are Muslim, and most of the women in Kashgar cover their heads. Dressing modestly -- an ankle-length skirt and long-sleeved blouse -- didn't stop people from noticing my waiguoren essence.

I'll be here until the 23rd, when I go to Sichuan province. I'm there for a week and then I will return to the States on Aug. 1!

Some brief notes on my family's two weeks in China:

-- We spent three days in Beijing, where we saw the Great Wall, Forbidden City, etc. We had a private tour guide, which was nice, but I didn't think my family was really capturing the essence of China by being shuttled around in a van.

-- Then we took an overnight train to Xi'an, and saw the Terracotta Warriors, Muslim Quarter, etc. Someone in my family asked to buy a copy of the Chinglish menu at our restaurant, and the waiter agreed to give it to us for about 60 kuai before the manager came over and broke up our discussion.

-- We then went to Chongqing and took a cruise down the Yangtze through the Three Gorges, but not before a fiasco occured that I don't really have the energy to write about. It involved all the other passengers and the Chongqing travel ministry.

-- The Yangtze resembles the chocolate river from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

-- Someone in my family actually copy-edited the Chinglish bar menu on the cruise. With a pen. And no, it wasn't me! (Although I've been tempted.)

-- Then we went to Zhengzhou, abour 6 hrs south of Beijing, where we saw the Shaolin Temple. At the bus station to the temple they tried to stop us from getting on the bus, and it involved a five-minute screaming match in English/Chinese and intervention from the station staff before we could get on.

Now that my family had finally seen a little bit of what I go through on a daily basis, I think they were a little relieved to get back to the States. Maybe if I have time, I'll write more about our fascinating travels. I don't thinkthat will be happening soon, however...

I'm in Beijing, writing this in an Internet cafe that charges 20 kuai per hour. So I'll keep this short but sweet:

-- My family is in Beijing safely, and they love China.
-- I had a wonderful last two days with my students.
-- One of my classes gave me a shirt that is simultaneously the cutest and ugliest thing I have seen in my life. 
-- Nevertheless, it is what I will be wearing when I get off the plane in Los Angeles.
-- I arrived at the airport in Changsha literally two seconds before the plane started boarding because Mr. Liu insisted on stopping for breakfast and the highway was blocked.
-- The plane ended up being delayed by two hours, which we didn't find out until we'd been sitting on the plane for an hour.
-- Yahoo! mail became unblocked a few hours after I wrote that last post. Clearly it was the international pressure started by this blog that forced the government to change their minds.
-- I frightened my brother with my bargaining skills today.
-- We climbed the Great Wall today as rain fell and thunder boomed around us. Fortunately there was no lightning. So now, according to Mao Zedong, we are all real men.

That's Chinese for "Why, China, why?"

The fine People's Republic of China went ahead yesterday and blocked the entire Yahoo! server. That means I cannot get into my e-mail account until either they unblock the server or Aug. 2, the day I return to the States. I'm actually not surprised. A week or two ago the government blocked Flickr, Yahoo!'s photo-sharing server.

Perhaps it's only a techical issue, and I'll be able to get into my e-mail in a few days. I do have a Gmail account set up for occasions like this, and if my e-mail's still blocked by the time I leave Xiangtan, I'll post that address up here.