"This morning I woke up feeling brand new..."

It's been awhile since I last updated the blog, but never fear - all is well in the People's Republic. I've been listening to "Get By" by Talib Kweli on repeat for 2 days now (thanks goes out to Ross for pushing this over the Great Firewall for me) and I've also spent a fair amount of time watching a video that Tao posted of Julian teaching us how to pop and lock at a frisbee tournament. It's well worth checking out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMqRGJGaIyE

Besides wasting time, I've also done a fair amount of work recently (classes are ramping up a little) and officially kicked off Shanghai Fall Ultimate Frisbee League! My days are pretty packed right now, but I actually think it's a good thing. This lack of "free time" is a sign that I'm adjusting to life in China and I'm back to taking care of business. When I first arrived, I felt like I had a lot of time to kill. I would wander around the city, watch DVDs, etc... Now, I've got more things to do than I actually have time for. I have basketball to play with Chinese teachers, lessons to work on my Mandarin, a newly formed "date night" which I'm excited about, a nightly Scrubs episode, etc...

In other news, we actually have our first vacation coming up shortly! We're going to be joining the throngs of traveling/vacationing Chinese at Huangshan (Yellow Mountain). Emma and Ryan have done a great job organizing everything and we're all set to leave on our first non-Suzhou, non-Shanghai adventure on Monday morning. I'm really looking forward to it! It's going to be great to hike around and check out some Chinese scenery :)

I just got some pictures from Milan from my birthday in Shanghai. There are too many to post, but here is a sequence of me being fed the long noodle and egg (in traditional birthday fashion):

Waitress feeding me the noodle

I will eat your children!

Chewing... (the waitress enjoyed this waaaaay too much)

Friends laughing and enjoying the show!

- Jon