Mini-break

It's been quiet on campus this week since students are taking exams, so my life has been quiet as well. On Tuesday Niall, Brian and I went to see Ang Lee's World War II drama Lust, Caution, with the most graphic sex scenes excised by the Chinese film board (or as Brian put it, "a little more caution, a little less lust"). I went downtown early so I could stop at the train station; while on the bus a student from my school sat down next to me and struck up a conversation, upon which every head turned to stare at us. He was recently on exchange in Virginia, where he studied at George Mason University and his host family dutifully took him to their church every week. He graduates high school this year and plans to take the SAT and TOEFL. This is the third student I've met who wants to attend New York University. 4,000 schools in the U.S. and everyone in China wants to go to the same one.

This weekend we're going to Qingdao, a Taoist town on the Yellow Sea (Olympic sailing will take place there). Unfortunately we got stuck with seats on the overnight train, so we leave tonight and arrive at 6:45 Saturday morning, but at least we'll be up bright and early! We're meeting up with some friends who teach in Zhengzhou.

YouTube is back, by the way.

China Fun Fact: China has 106 billionaires (the U.S. has 946).