So much to say!

Life here seems to be flying by. I can't believe that on Friday we're off to Shanghai, and that I will have spent three weeks here. It really gives me perspective on JUST how big the city is here when I think about how much I have seen, but how much is still left to be seen. On the one hand, that means I have a lot of reasons to come back, which gives me a huge incentive to learn some Chinese, because it's pretty difficult to navigate the city without it. I've been lucky to have the help of some native speakers and people who have studied Chinese extensively, but every time I get in a taxi by myself, I get a little apprehensive. Especially when the cab driver looks at my hotel map and just shakes his head to say, I have no idea where this is. Makes me a little nervous. Saturday I managed to get a cab driver who spoke English, and it was a completely different experience. I know quite a lot about the taxi industry in Beijing now. I kicked off the weekend with dinner at a Muslim restaurant that has been around since the Qing Dynasty. The food was amazing, and I met a lot of really cool people, all from New York and most at school at Columbia. We had a whole room to ourselves, so we were loud and laughing the whole time. We ate ourselves silly, with everything from fried fruit to stomach of an unidentified animal to lamb eye. I don't think anyone can claim that I have squeamish tendencies left over from much time as a vegetarian! We ended the night at another girl's apartment, and it was a lot of fun to just hang out with people, as opposed to going somewhere loud and smoking for once! Saturday we went to the Forbidden City. It, as expected, was beautiful. One of the students from Beida, Tania, was kind enough to show us around, and she told us about the symbolism of the difference animals and the stories of the people who had lived in the city. The dragons here are really cool; they are the royal animal (along with Phoenixes). One of my favorite sights was this huge rock sculpture that bordered the stairs to the Emperor's "office". It was covered with a dragon pattern and had been carved from a HUGE rock. In order to get it to Beijing from countryside where it was found, they had to wait until winter, sprinkle water on the road to make it icy, and then pull it along the ice! I guess it was flat or downhill! Only the Chinese could pull that off!! We spent the afternoon shopping. There's a lot of designer and fake designer stuff here. I am not a huge fan of bargaining--I find it sort of insulting to tell someone that I'm only willing to pay a 1/10 of what they offer it to me from--but I'm going to have to get over it when I go shopping for real tomorrow. But, there is a lot of good stuff to buy, I have to say! They have some beautiful paintings too; I wish I could bring them home without having to schlep them all over the country. I got invited to a guy's 21 birthday party on Saturday night (one of the Columbia boys). He had reserved two huge banquet tables at a restaurant that served whole roasted lamb and had a belly dancer show (in which some of the boys had the opportunity to participate in!). It was a lot of fun, and again we ate a TON of food. The restaurant specialized in food from the Northwestern part of China, so it was a very different cuisine than what I've been eating for most of the trip. Yesterday was pretty tame. Slept most of the day--the whole week had left me exhausted. My students are great, but they are very demanding. They work so hard and ask so many questions that I've learned that I need to be pretty prepared for class or I'm going to get blindsided. Last week we did a lot of pop culture; they learned some pick-up lines (If you were a pirate. . . .), all about American holidays, and even how to swing dance! Today we debated about whether we should put animals in zoos and whether high school students should be separated into social science and natural science classes, instead of taking all different kinds of classes, the way we do. We had some interesting conversations last week about gun control, the Supreme Court, and religion. They all seem pretty content that while in America, people may want/need a gun for self defense, having one in Beijing would be fairly pointless because it's so safe. We talked about the flag salute cases (Gobitis, 1940; W. VA v. Barnette, 1943) and about how the constitution is imprested, the ways in which social context matters, and the balance of power, which was actually quite appropriate since the next day Professor Roger Porter from Harvard, delivered a lecture via live videoconference. It was pretty interesting; he teaches a very popular class on the American Presidency and served as an advisor for three different presidents (including Nixon and Reagan). On religion, I was talking about how in France they did not allow students to wear religious paraphernalia to school, and one of my students raised her hand and said, I don't understand why religion is so important. And I asked, why my religion would be important to me (religious convictions) or why your religion would be important to me (tolerance). She answered, either. Since the vast majority of people here are atheist, the idea that religious ideals on morality would play such a large role in politics and society and even personal decisions is completely foreign. It was one of those moments of true cultural exchange as I fumbled to explain a phenomena that I found completely familiar. It was a similar experience to talk about media and bias when we discussed issues such as the War in Iraq and the situation of Taiwan. If my students get half as much out of this experience as I do, I think it's a resounding success! Off to find more Muslim food for dinner! Then maybe heading off to Propaganda bar. Good times!

It's almost like beijing in love!

So, there's so much going on here and so much to see, that I know that if I write this infrequently, I can't tell y'all all of the good stuff. This entry may be a little scattered, but I'm trying get as much in as possible.

We went to the Great Wall on Saturday. There is a place called Ba Da Ling not too far from the city where a lot of people go. It was a gorgeous day--blue skies are virtually unheard of in Beijing, but we had a series of clear days last week where we could see the mountains from our hotel. On one of these clear days we went to the Great Wall, and after climbing what was evidently Manhood Peak (Chairman Mao said that one was not a man until he'd climbed the Wall at Badaling), we were rewarded with breathtaking views of vividly green mountains in all directions. The wall still seems like a strange untaking, but in its final form, it is very awe-inspiring. Equally awe-inspiring was the sheer number of people there! I have never used my elbows and boxed out as much as I did in those couple hours; it was complete chaos. I realized pretty quickly that the most dangerous people to watch out for were those carrying umbrellas to block to sun, or to knock out the eyes of all who got near them! Somehow, some of the entrepreneurs had gotten a camel up to one of the towers as well for picture taking opportunities, but in my mind that really only increased the craziness elsewhere! A lot of people wanted their picture taken with me; I think in some ways being in China is kind of like how it feels to be a celebrity in Hollywood. Now that I've fixed my camera, I think I'm going to start taking pictures with people as well!!
We ended our Great Wall adventure at Starbucks Coffee. Yes, there is a Starbucks Coffee at the bottom of the Great Wall. No McDonalds though, surprisingly. I've got to tell you, a Frappuccino has NEVER tasted that good. I haven't had any milk since I got here--everything is soy milk, which is good in a different way--nor have I had any ice, which you grow to miss when it's constantly 80-90 degrees. So I think it was worth it.
We then moved on for lunch at a guy's house in the middle of nowhere, about 15 miles away from the great wall, in a "village" with maybe 10 houses and a one lane dirt road coming through it. There was one option on the menu, and we took that. The man's wife promptly went out back and came back with two catfish that she killed on the spot. That kind of ruined my appetite, I have to say. But it came back quickly when the other dishes with freshly grown vegetables and wonderful spices were placed in front of us.
Saturday night, a CSE program director took us out for dinner in a very swank area of town called Ho Hie (not sure about the spelling; it's pronounced Ho High). The restaurants there have American prices (in contrast, most of my dinners have been $2-3 here and leave me totally stuffed), but it is gorgeous. It's on a lake and complete with weeping willows, lantern-lit boats, lotuses (which by the way, taste really good :), and candles floating in the water on little wish boats. I sat right on the water and really enjoyed the experience. I'm starting to get the chopstick thing down. In fact, I was eating sticky rice last night at dinner and suddenly realized that I was holding my bowl at a tilt kind of shoveling the rice into my mouth--a very, very Chinese was of eating--so I think maybe I'm starting to fit in.
Sunday I went to the Temple of Heaven and ate dinner with the Harvard Club of Beijing. Both were wonderful, but fairly uneventful. We again got lucky with the weather, and also had the company of many of the BeiDa students who have been helping us, so it was a nice time to wander around the gardens and learn a lot about Chinese history, architecture, and current issues.
Monday really takes the cake for fun days, though. I have finally reached that point where I really, really need to do laundry, so I, along with my roommate, took literally all of our clothes minus those that we were wearing to the laundromat, and left them there for next-day pick-up. That afternoon, the weather looked pretty menacing, so we opted for the supermarket/mall that was indoors instead of the summer palace. We took a cab ride in the rain; it's only like 3km away, so it was pretty quick, and had a great time looking at all the CHEAP cds and dvds, incredible pastry and candy collection, and less appetizing (for me) seafood section, complete with live turtles, shrimp, and many kinds of fish. I had plans to meet a friend of a friend back at the hotel at 6:30, so around 6 we went outside to catch a cab. The rain had gotten much worse, and it was really pouring into the already flooded streets. Amazingly, we waited for about 10 minutes in a sheltered area for a taxi with no avail, and then moved to an area in the rain and had no better luck, so finally began the long walk home. Two of us (including me) had no umbrella, so we roughed it, but the real hard-core prize goes to the guy whose flip flop strap broke in the middle of the walk, and had to do it with one bare foot. Yick!!! It was phenomenally fun walk, despite the fact that we were soaking wet and being laughed at by locals on all sides. The best part was after we got back here, and I gave all of our folks sitting in the lobby who hadn't come with us great big WET hugs, my roommate and I got up to our room to realize, these are all the clothes we have!! Luckily, our generous c0-teachers helped us out for the night. I did, however, meet this friend of a friend, clothed in a towel and extremely discombobulated (I have no idea how that's spelled!). She was cool with the whole situation though, so I'm pretty sure that we're going to have a lot of fun together in the next two weeks.
So, I have to go get ready to teach now. I think that we're going to go over the Bill of Rights and the Supreme Court today. Tomorrow we're watching Shawshank Redemption; it will be interesting to see what the students think of it.

Beijing, Teacher

I love teaching here! My class is fairly small; five students, four of which just graduated from high school. Their vocabulary is very impressive, and we've been having a lot of fun getting to know each other and trying out the lesson plans that CSE provided us. Actually, we've had more fun deviating from them. They are all natural born actors, as I found out when I asked them to prepare short skits the other day. My favorites were:
1. Bad waiter--he confused an order of dumplings for donkey
2. A trip to Disneyland--best line, "No, we can't take Minnie Mouse home. Remember what happened last time when we took Donald Duck home?"
3. Bargaining in the market--those girls both drive a hard bargain!! I learned a lot!
4. Kid asking his mom for permission to go to a party--the acting of the worrying mother and the rebellious teen were priceless!

There are definitely a lot of cultural differences that I'm still uncovering (for example, they won't leave the classroom for lunch until after I do), but my FAVORITE one is how hard they work and how diligent they are in their studies. I told them yesterday that we were going to talk about pop culture today, and if they had a magazine or something lying around, they should bring it in, and one my of students came prepared with speakers, an mp3 player, and a medley of the current Chinese rock hits. I just sat in the back and took notes for once! It was great. They are making presentations on Monday about everything from Chinese Tea to Peking Opera to NBA basketball. I think I'm learning as much from them as they are from me!

Went out last night with some folks from New York. It was a lot of fun; they've all been here for a while and took me to some of their local haunts, INCLUDING a massage parlor where I got an hour long massage for all of 8USD. It was amazing--after he finished I just lied there in complete relaxation for a few minutes.

Having a great time! And it's finally the weekend! Time to start the party!

Hong Kong, Continued to Shenzhen

Hong Kong is just amazing. It was really unfortunate that our program took so much time because I really wished I had more time to explore. I went for this amazing run up the ridge of a mountain, and had these breathtaking views of the ocean, a huge cemetary, and the skyline down below.
I'll skip details about the program orientation, except to say that the story on the organization is that they've had this program in Hong Kong for the last three years, but this is the first year that they've expanded into mainland China. Because the program has grown from 12 students to over 600, there is a fair amount of work left to be done, and the curriculum they provided us reflects that. However, it's clear that they really value us and that it's a big deal that we're here. We got to eat dinner in the police station building that usually isn't open to the public, up on like the 25th floor overlooking the water. Dinner was AMAZING; it was at least seven courses and just such good food. I've been trying to eat vegetarian when possible, but the sweet and sour chicken here is just too tasty to pass up! After dinner we wandered around the Wanchai (spelling) area for a bit, and then headed over to the "night-life" area of town that was just buzzing. We hung out in the streets and danced in the bars until around 1:30, and fortuitously headed home right before a torrential downpour began (A girl from India said that monsoons had nothing on this rainstorm! Other members of our group who stayed out later said that they waited an hour trying to hail a cab to no avail, as they were worried about flooding). So, thinking we were safe, we headed inside, where we hung out for another hour or so. I headed up to my room to get a bit of sleep before we had to meet in the morning for our trip to Beijing, and was extremely surprised to for three girls frantically running around the hall in their bikinis carrying bowls and pots. I asked them what on earth was going on and they said, our room is flooding! To myself I though, glad I'm not them, until I walked into my room to find is similarly covered in water. Evidently our AC lets water in, and the top third of my roommate's and my beds were totally soaked, and most of the floor had about a half inch of water covering it. Sooooo, being the trooper I am, I grabbed my pillow and slept the opposite way on the bed, but it was probably not the best night of sleep I've ever had (Better than the hostel where I stayed in Paris, easily).
The next morning, we hopped on the bus to Shenzhen (china) where we would fly to Beijing.

Highlights of the road trip:
1. Having our driver sitting in the right side of the bus the whole way there, despite the fact that in mainland China people drive on the right side of the road.
2. Bus driver backing up on the highway
3. Bus leaking on us (It was raining pretty hard most of the way there)

We thought our troubles were over when we arrived at the airport. Ha! First, two people in our group didn't have seats on the plane. This was solved by a four hour non-stop yelling match. I guess it beats bureaucracy? Our plane was scheduled to leave at 2. At 3, it still hadn't left its previous destination. Also at 3, all of southern China was experiencing hurricane like conditions, so we weren't really looking forward to hopping on a plane. No worries, no one was coming or leaving the airport. By 5, we had spent five hours chilling at the airport McDonalds (free wireless)--we looked like a Disneyland refugee camp; about 65 people, 100 suitcases, all camped out in one space. At 7, arrivals began to trickle in. By 9:30, we were boarding. The moment I was on the plane, I fell asleep. I hadn't slept more than 5 hours a night since arriving in Asia, so I was in need of a good sleep. At around 12:30 I woke up, looked out the window, and saw the Shenzhen airport. Evidently we were scheduled to take off at 1 AM, but I had passed out before that announcement! I promptly fell back asleep and woke up during landing. The other scholars said I was lucky to be asleep during take off because the plane seemed to be teetering back and forth before it took off, and that we had the steepest descent they'd ever been on. Ahh well. All's well that ends well, yeah?

Hong Kong, July 14

I arrived in Hong Kong yesterday from Japan without a hitch. Serendipitiously, the airline I took, Cathay Pacific, was celebrating their 60th anniversay, and served us a multi course, traditional Hong-Kong meal, which was a great chance to try things that I most definitely would never order. Such as, jellyfish and chicken salad. I only ate the jellyfish :) It certainly does NOT taste like chicken!
I got out of customs around 1PM, and wasn't sure whether I should try to brave the subway/bus system (Hong Kong University is located somewhat outside the main city), or just wait until 4 when there was a shuttle provided by Crimson Summer Exchange (CSE; the program I'm here with). I sat down to weigh my options for a minute, and within seconds was curled up in a little ball, fast asleep, snuggled up against my backpack. What seemed like a split second later, I wake up, only to realize that it's about 10 until 4, so if I don't get moving asap, I'm going to miss that shuttle!!
It's always amazing what a small world it can be. One of the other CSE "scholars" here is a girl who knew one of my freshman roommates from summer camp, and had stayed with us on her prefrosh weekend. She also did gymnastics with one of my senior year roommates as a kid, and went to school with all the people I've been corresponding with in Beijing. Craziness. Everyone here seems really interesting; there are a lot of international students--I think we have India, England, Costa Rica, Brazil, and the US represented, at least--and pretty much everyone has either been traveling around before coming here, or is planning to at the end of the trip, so has a lot of interesting stories!
Hong Kong is another amazing city. Nestled in these super green mountains and right on the water, and home to so many amazing buildings, it's really a sight to behold. HKU is a bit higher than the central area, and from my dorm room on the 12th floor I have a view of the harbor and some of the downtown area!
We were going to try to climb Victoria peak yesterday, but the weather looked pretty menacing, so we headed downtown. Evidently there is a summer festival going on here (to celebrate some sort of anniversary) and one of the special events is a nightly light show. So basically, you sit on the avenue of stars, which is a esplanade right on the water, listen to techno meets Star Wars a la 80s style music, and watch different skyscrapers light up in rhythm with the song's beat. It was incredible as is, but to top it off, there was a crazy lightning storm (and a wonderful warm rain) going on at the same time! In retrospect, sitting on the metal railing by the water may have been a poor choice. . . . .
We then explored the Mon Kong (sp) area. Soooooo much shopping! So hard to resist! I keep trying to tell myself that things will be cheaper in China, but all these knock-offs are just so affordable (particularly since the rest of the city is relatively expensive). I bought a change purse, and that's it. It's nice that we begin and end here, because that way I don't feel like this is my only chance to get things here.
I think I found a soulmate, at least on a culinary level. One of the girls and I set out for food, and both saw a bakery at the same time, and gave each other this knowing look. "Let them eat cake" seemed a fitting ending to the day. We sat down on the entrance to a closed store, and split a slice of chocolate and a slice of mango (I'm telling you, we are totally in synch!), both of which were fantastic. My next adventure may be trying random fruits, nuts, and vegetables (I think I'll pass on the dried sardines!) that they have out in front of many of the stores, though it's a bit daunting when I have to choose from "Chinese dried mango", " Philliphine dried mango", "Luzan dried mango", "dried mango", and "preserved mango". The tyranny of choice really kills me!
The only evidence I see that I've gone from Eastern Standard time to EST+13 and now EST+12 is that I have been waking up absurdly early (and not compensating by moving up my bedtime!). Today I woke up around 5:30 and tried to go back to sleep with no avail. I was hoping that I'd be rewarded by a gorgeous sunrise, but I'm starting to think that perhaps sunrises are not a concept in urban areas of China (lots of smog). On that note, I may head out for a short run now. I know that in Beijing and Shanghai, it's not going to be an option, so I'm going to try and get one in while I can!

24 hours in Tokyo

It`s really hard to believe that I`ve only been here for 24 hours; I`ve seen and done and EATEN so much since I got here yesterday afternoon. I`m staying at a hostel near Asakusa, which is located about 15 minutes outside of downtown Tokyo (Ginza district). It is, however, located relatively close to the airport, which will be especially nice tomorrow morning!!
So, I got in yesterday, and decided to stretch my legs by exploring the neighborhood. As I got hungry, I began searching for restaurants that had picture menus; not bringing any sort of phrasebook or dictionary was a really, really stupid idea. But, as luck would have it, I found a place that not only had a picture menu, but pictured foods that looked appealing! I ate well; noodle and vegetable soup with a side of dumplings with some sort of meat in them (one problem with being a vegetarian for so long and then just eating beef is that I cannot distinguish very well between different kinds of meat. In any case, it taste like chicken!). The waitress was really nice (a theme I found here), though she giggled every time she looked at the way I held my chopsticks. After dinner, I had a hostel situation on my hands. For the second time (out of two), I could not find my hostel. Every map that they had given me lacked street names and also just straight up lacked streets!! So, I wandered for a while, and eventually honed in on the location (bit of bouncing ball theorem at work. Travis, you should get that.). I managed to stay awake until the late hour of 10 pm, at which point I settled into my bunk bed (six of us in a room. 30 of us sharing one bathroom. Yikes!), and slept until about 6AM this morning.
Which is perhaps why it feels like today has been an exceptionally long day! I was out and about at 7, and just got back to my hostel! The highlights of today were:
8AM: Finding a coffee shop that did not have a menu in English. I was so frustrated by all the starbucks and other clearly western places, that I almost didn:t give "Bless Coffee" a chance. But then, I thought about the name for a minute and thought, there:s no way that anyone whose native language is english would name a restaurant Bless Coffee. So I walked over, and sure enough, not one lick of English (or English characters, except for numbers) on the menu. So then, of course, I freak out about what it would be like to try to order given that I have not a clue of how to identify or say anything on the menu!! So I walk off, and then talk myself into coming back, and walk in and timidly order a cappucino. Luckily, that happens to be how you pronounce it in Japanese, so we understood each other perfectly! I sat in the cafe for about an hour watching people go to work and observing the interactions between the cafe:s employees and the customers. Everyone was just so friendly!!
10AM: I went to one of the big department stores in Ginza to watch the opening. It was pretty amazing how elaborately they unveil themselves and open, and also the crowd that gathers in anticipation of the opening. No full out sprinting in the store though, so I was a little disappointed. Other than that, I found that section of town pretty bland, in the sense that there was nothing innately japanese about it. Most of the stores were American and European, and even the advertisements were usually primarily in English. So, I hightailed out of there after watching the store opening.
11AM: Arrive at the Imperial Palace. I couldn:t really figure out how to get inside. Iwasn:t planning on going inside, but I thought it was pretty tricky that they made it so diffiuclt. I bet it fooled their enemies back in the day. The walk around the mote was really nice. Evidently it gets pretty hot here (ahhh yes, checking the weather before arriving would also have been a wise move), so it was nice to be in a green area and under the shade of many trees. Got a glance at the ministry of justice during my walk. Maybe if the US Supreme Court won:t have me, I can work there!!
1PM: Make it to Shinjuku and by a stroke of incredible luck, acquire a subway map! The Tokyo subway system is amazing, but it is vast, and there were not always maps that were accessible on the platforms or on the trains. Not to mention, my little map had pictures and directions to some common tourist sites, which alerted me to places that I should go! Shinjuku was on my list for a good reason and a bad reason. The good reason was that it was supposed to be an interesting section of town; the part I was specifically going to was called the skyscraper district (skyscrapers being my favorite form of art and architecture). The bad reason being that in my haste to find a restaurant that provided a skyline view, I had mistakenly copied down directions for the central hyatt (26 floors) rather than the peak hyatt (80-something floors), and was in totally the wrong place for the bar I was seeking. I sought solace in Shinjuku park, which is of course (because tokyo honestly does everything well) very beautiful, very green, and very clean. I sat in a bench under a tree, facing a couple stately skyscrapers and a fountain, at the bottom of which were cute little turtles sunbathing (they had black skin and a red stripe from their eyes down their necks; Stephen, can you identify that species?). My new crocs (shoes) are quite comfortable, but after wandering for over 6 hours at this point, my feet were in great appreciation of a breather. While there, I glanced over my scribbled notes, and realized that I had noted a possible altnerative restaurant with a skyline view. It truly was located in my district, and I located it with little difficulty. I dined on the 49th floor of the Sumitoko building, overlooking the city (albeit a somewhat smoggy city from that angle) in a place called mu-MU. Very nice people, great food, great price, but no English (or Kanji). So I picked at random, and ended up with more food than I could ever eat--miso soup, udon noodles, rice, crispy fried chicken and pork with some sort of filling (They told me that it was pickled plum, I am skeptical), salad, and some pickled vegetables. I was glad I had such a great view; I sat there eating (and then digesting!) for a while!
3PM: Arrive at Roppingi Hills, as suggested by my helpful little subway guide. Evidently the hills were actually a mall, but what an amazingly pretty mall it was! There were little gardens and statues outside, and it was surrounded by walkways that looked out over the city. Evidently the Hyatt I was seeking was in fact, there, but i decided that I:d had my fill of breathtaking views and food for one day.
4:30PM Get off the subway back at my home base, Asakusa, and head over to the temple that its famous for. It was pretty incredible, and the gardens that surround it were equally majestic. I had been impressed all day by the seeming lack of commericialism surrounding tourism here; for example, I had only seen once place to buy postcards, and there was no Burger King or McDonalds in the general proximity of the Imperial Palace, but at Asakusa, there was a HUGE "market" of tourist items waiting to be purchased for ridiculous prices. I was tempted by some wasabi peas, but managed to restrain myself.

Filled up my camera with pictures, and I will upload them when I have the chance. I tried to do it just now, but I keep gteting some message in Japanese that I can:t understand, and then it shuts down the window with my files. So, it may take a while!!

I:m off to find dinner. I:ve learned how to say udon noodles (udon) and miso soup (miso), so I may try to brave another restaurant that doesn:t have a picture menu. We:ll see.

PS Sorry for the misuse of punctuation. Some of the keys are in funny places here, and I try to remember, but get frustrated when it slows me down substantially.

Tomorrow, I go to Hong Kong! Tonight, I start studying Mandarin! After dinner that is. I:d hate to forget all my hard-learned Japanese. . . . . .

Sayonara, y`all!

Blog

So this is where those of you not in China can get a glimpse down the rabbit hole. I'll be traveling from July 10-Sept 8, and in that time see Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and hopefully some of the Yunnan Province. I haven't packed, but I have gotten all of my vaccinations and heard plenty of exciting (and strange) things from others who have been there or are there now. I'm really excited, and ready to get going. I hope those of you who tune into this and are legit (i.e. I know you and you aren't one of those people who reads the blogs of folks you don't know), will also write to me periodically because I'm sure that I'd really appreciate it, and time willing, I'll try to write you back de vez en cuando.

Party on, dude.