After I think the worst (hottest, loudest, and bumpiest) plane trip to Shanghai, I met my friend Fiona at the airport.

	She helped me get to the hotel, check-in, and drop off my luggage, then we found the closest McDonalds (her choice!) for a late-night snack. Fiona had been my teammate JC’s student (of Tourism English) in Yangzhou, but now has a job in Shanghai. It was good to catch up with her! Right before I left in 2005, she had been “dunked” and became our Sister.
Shanghai at night

I ate in my favorite restaurant (Hua Bo) 6 times in 7 days. They make the best dish there called “Da zhu gan si.” It’s tofu strips in chicken broth with Spam, black mushrooms, and green vegetables. I was craving it so much that I ordered it every time I was there.

Basically hotpot is a pan of boiling broth in which customers cook their own raw ingredients. After the first time of sweating through this steamy meal (remember it’s June and no air conditioner can compensate for a roomful of continuously boiling pots) I couldn’t believe anyone would want to do it again. That’s when they told me how they like things “hot and noisy.”

A friend and I went to get $2.50 pedicures in the local underground market. While we were relaxing in the soft chairs, a girl about 3 feet away was screaming and crying as she was having several tattoos removed. Ouch!

According to one of my students who dabbles in traditional Chinese medicine, if you have played basketball in the hot sun for 3 hours and don’t feel hungry for a big supper, you should drink a healthy dose of brown Chinese vinegar and eat as many hot peppers as you can. This will “wake-up” your appetite.

One of my first teammates in China, Rob, came to Yangzhou to see me with his fiancée, Judy, a very good friend and the first Sister whom I knew in China. They will be married in July in OH and in Sept. in China.

One of my former students brought her 3-year-old daughter to a dinner with her classmates and me. I watched her (out of the corner of my eye) gnaw her way around 3 or 4 chicken feet – and that was all she wanted of our supper!

I had the chance to see the new homes (well, apartments) of 2 different newly wed couples, and to try one wife’s cooking. It was fun to watch my students and friends in a new part of their lives.

Later I went to Zhangjiagang to visit a student from the English department of our university who has become a great businessman in the 3 years since he graduated. I can finally say I know someone behind the “Made in China” labels. He has a contract to supply some line of infant wear to JC Penney.

My former teammate, JC (who’s from Carthage), came to Yangzhou and we arranged a final basketball grudge match between the International students’/teachers’ team and my graduate students from the P.E. department.
	Grudge Match!

Most of the team went out with me and some Chinese friends for one Last (Chinese) Supper. I had made it nearly 5 years without ever (knowingly) eating duck’s blood, but that night I realized that what I had thought were finely chopped mushrooms in the soup were really strips of congealed blood. MMMmmmmm!

While I was there, it seemed like I had never left. It was a great time of reconnecting with students, friends from the community, and teammates. I kept wondering why I didn’t plan to stay for a month or 2.   I did hear about a job possibility for this fall, though, which, as you now know, I accepted. So I will be heading back to China at the end of August to a city called Zhengzhou (JUHNG-joe), which is the capital of Henan (HUH-nahn) province. I will be working for a private English training center, teaching adults in evening classes. I just found out there will be 2 guys going with me to work for this same center (called Da Shan English Training Center), but they will be at different schools. There are several schools affiliated with this center, so one guy will teach elementary school kids, and the other will work with junior high or high schoolers.