Chilling in de islands, mon

Contrary to original plans, Walker (a friend from NC) and I have spent the last few days in Hong Kong. He got in Monday evening, and miracuously we managed to find each other in the lobby of the VERY NICE hotel that we've been staying at ever since. We're right on the northern side of the bay, and have a gorgeous view of downtown framed by the green peaks behind it. Today I watched the sunrise from my window; I'm certainly not complaining.
I spent Monday afternoon pre-Walker wandering around "SoHo" (South Hollywood) and checking out some random markets over there. Two things that are quite popular here are dried seafood stores and herbal medicine stores, neither of which do I have any real interest in shopping in. But, they are kind of interesting--got a few shots of dried shark fins and what not that I thought might interest some of my cousins (!). Also managed to find the MALL. Wow! I've never enjoyed window shopping like I did that day! And I managed to find some great deals on shirts, which was amazing, because I was LITERALLY out of clean clothes and lacking in a game plan. Also in the Soho area is the Man Mo Temple. It's not too interesting to visit--very small, have taken up by shops, and very smoking from burning incense, but evidently it was behind the creation of the first school in Hong Kong as well as the first school for girls, so from a historical angle it was pretty interesting. I also read about some of the different community organizations that had been around for decades and what their role was in social change and advocacy. Many more signs here are in English, so I have a little more of a comprehensive idea of the symbolism of different attractions.
Tuesday we went to Lantau Island, and it was beautiful. It's actually larger than Hong Island, and only a half hour boat ride away. It's so green and undeveloped; mainly a site of fishing and Buddhist monasteries (two main ones). It's also the home of the largest Buddha statue in the world, which, incidently, has a beautiful view of the ocean. The Ngong Ping monestary (photo above) next door was also pretty interesting; on mainland China I had mainly seen only Confucius temples, so this was a good chance to see how they contrasted.
I also had a chance to check out the Chi Lin Nunnery, in North Eastern Hong Kong. It's a nice step away from the bustle of the city; its inner courtyard is well protected from the road, and the fountains of water pouring from dragons' mouths into ponds with lilies and lily pads are a soothing change of a scenery. They were also playing some amazing chants of some sort, which only richened the experience.
Today I explored Kowloon, a busy neighorhood in the central northern area of Hong Kong. There are market districts of sort, so I walked down Shanghai Street, which is supposed to give one a sense of old Hong Kong (it looked like every other street to me), then through the fruit market, into the jade market, and could have continued on to the floral market and goldfish market. Stopped by the Man Ming Temple, dedicated to the sea goddess and a frequent place of pilgrimage for sailors. No one really seemed to be there when I was there. I sort have wish I'd seen these temples at the beginning of my trip, because they are magnificent in their own right, but comparing a 100 year old temple to one that has withstood centuries and was the crowning masterpiece for an emporer is pretty difficult now. Also wandered through a park, made friends with a puppy that seemed to think I was the most likely person to play fetch (he may have been right). We get the paper delievered to our "doorstep" every morning, and I've been stealing the sudoku, so I sat in the park and worked on that for a bit. I love how there are always so many people hanging out outside; public spaces here seem much more used and loved than they do in many US cities.
Food here is very differently from Mainland cuisine, but it's growing on me. The other day I got a waffle with peanut butter and this sweet milk syrup; pretty amazing. The Portuguese influence is clear in their baked goods: little egg custards are quite popular, and many of desserts are much sweeter than the ones you find in Beijing or Shanghai. They also have this decadent drink called "shaved ice", but it's really shaved ice with condensed milk and fruit/whatever (I got red bean). Very sweet and very heavy.
I've also reached the point where if I'm offered chopsticks and a fork/knife, I'll take the chopsticks. Doesn't take long to become a Roman in this place.
Still working on our trip itinerary. I'll keep you posted about where we end up!

Standing at the beginning

So I am officially finished with my summer with CSE. Most of the teachers have departed for home or their next adventure. Walker gets in tonight and then tomorrow or Wednesday we will head back to mainland China to begin our trek around who knows where. CSE has been kind enough to allow me to leave about half of my stuff in their office here, so I'm really going to be able to travel light, which is really nice. I'm also, unfortunately, at that point where I really don't have a shred of clean clothing, but am not sure when I'll be in one place for 24 hours and can get my laundry done, so am not quite sure what I'm going to do. Considering spending the day shopping. . . .
This weekend was a lot of fun. We got into Hong Kong pretty late on Saturday night and pretty much conched out immediately. I awoke on Sunday morning and was surprised by a stunning view of the harbor and southern (?) mountains out my 22nd floor hotel window. Didn't have to go far to appreciate the beauty of this city! Nonetheless, my roommate and I had arisen early to make it to Victoria Peak before our closing ceremony. We were rewarded with a beautiful, sunny morning that was perfect for wandering around a mountain. We took this tram up to the top that must have been at like, 60-70 degrees from the horizontal. Pretty scary; I kept worrying that it was going to start going backwards and it was going to be like a rollercoaster!
Victoria peak is right next to Hong Kong University, which is where our closing ceremonies were located, so we actually managed to walk all the way around the mountain and then come down on the other side and get to the event right on time. Pretty impressive. It was great to be surrounded by so much tropical foliage after spending so much time in the city. It spelled like a jungle and had some pretty flowers and birds as well.
After the ceremony, about 20 of us went out on a boat in the harbor. It honestly could not have been a better day for a boat ride, and we just rode around, admiring the skyscrapers, then the green islands, then the open sea. We dropped the anchor near a beach and all went swimming for a bit too. Nicole and I tried to swim to the beach, but got closed to it and read a sign saying "Beware of shark net". We treaded carefully, and turned back around once we realized that there was definitely barbed wire or something in that net and we didn't want to mess with it. We also kind of wondered if the fact that they had erected a shark net should make us a bit concerned about swimming outside of it. . . . . .guess they weren't hungry yesterday!!
We went to dinner wet and salty, and despite the brutal air conditioning, heartily enjoyed the umlimited buffet of wonderful thai food. I had a fresh lime soda with my meal (tasted just like limonada) and even had MANGO for dessert. I was in heaven. A Thai specialty is sweet sticky rice, fresh mango, and coconut juice. I approve completely. Not quite chicken foot or duck blood, but pretty good all in all :)
Alright, well I'm off to enjoy my afternoon. See what Hong Kong is all about!

Leaving on a jet plane

Well, my time in Shanghai is slowly drawing to an end. In the last week, I've grown totally attached to the city, and am more than a little sad to leave it behind. I don't feel like I live here, but I do feel like I'm somewhat rooted here, the most rooted that I've been in the last 3 months say. Speaking of rooted, I now have an apartment in New York City as well, so the details of my life beyond China are slowly coming together.
This last week has been a lot of socializing and somewhat minimal on the sightseeing. A friend that some of the other teachers and I share came in on Tuesday and spent the week with us. We took him to the Old City and looked around at all the different things one can buy here. Pretty crazy. It would be fun to decorate an apartment here, but there's also so many things that I can't imagine anyone is ever going to buy. The bargaining is fun, particuarly when you have multiple people, because you really play with the shopkeepers. They know their game too, they tell you "You're very severe. You kill me. This is real jade/ivory/artifact/etc". Then you give them a price, they give you one higher, you say no, I won't pay that. You start to walk off, they lower it, and usually you can get it for what you offered them. We got thrown out of one place though; evidently the woman was insulted by our offer.
I ate dinner at the Schafer's house (Uncle Paul and Aunt Laura's friends) the other night. I was picked up at my dormitory in a Silver Benz and transported to an apartment with a gorgeous skyline view of the sun setting over Shanghai. Beautiful sight. Dinner was great; it was wonderful to eat home cooked food again, particuarly the vegetables and meat that Brenda had selected. We watched a little TV afterwards; funny how something as familiar as just sitting on a couch in front of a tv seemed so strange to me.
My Chinese is also coming along, just a little bit. I managed to communicate that I'd like my groceries double bagged the other day. I ordered a mango drink yesterday that was amazing (My new strategy is to walk up to the juice/tea places, ask if they have mango, and then if they say something besides "we don't have it" (which I understand), then I ask for a large). I can't say things like, "What is your name?", but I can ask for the room key, tell a cab driver "Stop here", say "Why", "Teacher", "Ice", "Heart", "Yes or no", "Want it or not?" "To be or not to be?", "Ok", "I love only you" (uhhhh, there is a back story to that: I've become obsessed with a couple of Chinese pop songs and have learned a few lyrics. Have not needed to use that phrase, though the word "only" is a useful one to know.)
I don't think I've bragged about my students enough recently. We had a series of debates on Monday that were just wonderful. I was blown away to the point where I was having a hard time containing myself from getting up and leaping around in excitement. The best was one about whether China should legalize prostitution. My students managed to articulate their ideas incredibly well, and they hit all the major points and philosophical arguments that both schools of thought usually use. The most amazing thing to me though, as someone who has had this debate and similar ones more than a few times, was how evident it was that guys here (at least my students) have a deep seated respect for women. Gender equality is much more apparent here than anywhere I've ever been. Though there is a conception of a woman's duties and a man's duties, and those obligations differ, there's no sense that one set of responsibilities is more important than the other, and the boundaries are generally more fluid than a lot of the ones present in American society. It's something I've gotten used to here and really like about this culture.
Also, to uphold my tradition of eating anything my students put on my plate, I ate chicken foot the other night. Yummmmm. You have to spit out the nails and everything. I really wish I could see your faces right now. . . . .
Last night, all the teachers went out as a group to celebrate the end of the program and start to say goodbye. I've made a lot of good friends here, and will definitely be keeping in touch with a few individuals in the coming years. Nicole and I made awards for everyone; they were pretty goofy, but I think it was a fitting way to end the trip.

We're getting on a plane in a few hours. Eating lunch with a girl from Yale who's interested in doing AIDS work in Africa. Should be a lively conversation! Hopefully I just don't get so carried away that I run out of time to come back and pack!

You are my superstar

After a somewhat long week, I had a fantastic weekend. A few people in our group were sick most of last week, so there was a lot of juggling of classes (I had 16 students for two days; that was tough!) and a lot of additional stress, not to mention our group felt small the times we did go out. I'm sort of reaching that point where I'm tired of sightseeing all the time. I'm happy to prowl the streets and peek into stores and alleyways, but actually going somewhere just to look at something is getting a little old after 6 weeks of it!
I met up with one of Uncle Paul and Aunt Laura's friends, Brenda, on Wednesday, and she took me to an antique market that was off the main tourist track. They had a lot of really interesting stuff, and they had a pretty relaxed attitude about bargaining, which was nice. I enjoyed the place so much that I went back yesterday with a friend from the group and bought some more stuff, including some pictures of Shanghai from like the 1930s that I really like. I've also been trying to find a necklace here--jade is really popular and I had my heart set on a dragon, which I hadn't been able to find--and in the Dong Tai Lu market, I found a jade necklace with a silver phoenix (Feng Wah, like the Chinatown bus!) that satisfied me completely.
Brenda and I also went to a really nice tea house, China Reading Room, that served as a library currently and for many years past. It sort of reminded me of Paradigm cafe, although it was a bit more formal. It had the same sort of big couches and little nooks where you could sit and talk for hours. Dinner was also great; we went to a restaurant next to the Ritz Carlton that served extremely fresh food, including an amazing salad. I can't believe I used to strongly dislike salad; I took two bites of this one and realized that I wasn't fooling anyone with all my valiant efforts to pretend I didn't miss American food! Conversation was also as satisfying as the food; interesting to hear the perspectives and observations of an ex-pat and compare them to what my students tell me. Also, now that I'm toying with the idea of living abroad in the future, interesting to hear about the international community and how one avoids loneliness in that situation.
Friday, we showed our students Shawshank Redemption. A few of them had seen it before and were really excited about seeing it again. I'm interested to hear what they think it reflects about American culture and our criminal justice system; personally, I am not too keen on the movie, but it's certainly one that may inspire a pretty interesting conversation in my class. The other highlight of the day was that they convinced me to try duck blood soup: I ate stomach, intestines and congealed blood without so much as a grimace. Not sure it's a food I intend to make a habit of!
Friday night, I went back to Cloud Nine, the bar on the top of the Hilton, with my group. We got there in time for sunset, but the afternoon had become rather cloudly and we ended up with what looked like a view of Gotham City right out of Batman. It was great to sit and watch the city slowly light up. The downtown area is so condensed that it's easy to forget that 17 million people live here and it spans a long, long way. We ended the night with dinner at an Italian place (no offense to the Chinese, but the only food that I've found that they consistently do well is chinese food), and then watched Fast and the Furious 2: Tokyo Drift, which was immensely satisfying.
Saturday, Nicole and I headed to some of the towns on the outskirts of Shanghai. We took a bus out to Jiading, where there is a beautiful and well-kept Confucius temple with 72 lions and a large collection (72) of golden statues of Confucius' favorite students. There's also a beautiful lake next to the temple, along with some good restaurants. I spent a lot of time looking at the old calligraphy on stone tables in the temple; I find the pictures at once beautiful and so mysterious.
After exploring Jiading, we headed south to Nanxiang, which is where the restaurant that invented Xiao Long Bau (dumpling with soup and meat inside) is situated. We heartily enjoyed a big plate of those, along with some very interesting rosemary tea. Every one was extremely friendly and good-natured; it was definitely time for a breather from the city at this point! At one point, Nicole said, wow it's soooo quiet here, and I agreed, and then we realized that half a block away from us a guy was using a jackhammer. After 2 weeks in Shanghai though, that was nothing!
Sunday, I headed back to Dong Tai Lu in the morning, and then got lunch at the Nanxiang Steamed Bun restuarant in old town Shanghai. They have great wonton soup and xiao long bau. The place is extremely crowded, and you have to stake out a table and then stare down the people eating there. We ended up with two other families, who were mildly impressed with our chopstick skills (and mainly didn't see us dropping our xiao long bau into our soup!!).
Sunday afternoon and evening was definitely the highlight of my time here. Nicole and I went karaoke singing with a bunch of my students, and it was SOOOOO fun. They are all incredible singers with no inhibitions about getting up and singing, so we had a great time. Their knowledge of English songs is pretty different than ours (Have y'all ever heard of a boy band called West Life? Or Blue?), but we managed to find some backstreet boys, michael jackson, britney spears, and spice girls that we can all relate to. Nicole and I have also become totally obsessed with this pop song called "Superstar" by a Taiwanese girl group called S.H.E. Singing in Chinese is kind of like singing acapella for me; it's all about memorizing nonsensical syllables. Singing karaoke however sets up a very strong incentive to learn characters, so I think I may have to do it more often because it really teaches me a lot!
After karaoke, my students steered us to a japanese restaurant where we had a fully satiating meal of noodles, chicken, squid, and octopus. They really don't go easy on me!

Hard to believe I have to leave in a week. I think that there might be tears shed at the final ceremony on Friday!

Approaching the final stretch

New York may be the city that never sleeps, but Shanghai is the city where Maria never sleeps! This place is bustling with so much energy; I can't imagine trying to stay here permanently!
Life as a tourist/laoshi (teacher) here is great though. My walk to school takes me down a fairly busy street, but with lots of vendors and small alleyways off to the side where I can get incredible breakfasts for 3-4 yuan (around $0.50), cooked to order. Today I got a crepe-like concoction that had egg, scallions, cilantro, chilis, something crispy, and special sauce. It was quite tasty. Soy milk has become a staple in my mornings, and what's even more surprising to me is that I've become totally hooked on bubble tea and have it at least once a day! I have to say, they make it a lot better here than they do in Boston.
My students are wonderful but they are really demanding. They are all very well informed and interested in the world, so they enjoy debating and asking me hard questions, while needing me to pay close attention to what they're trying to express so that I can provide the vocabulary they need to articulate their ideas. I love it, but by 3PM I'm really drained and have to take an hour or so to recharge before heading back out in the world. My students here also take me to lunch every day to make sure that I try all kinds of Chinese food. There's a special food here called something like xiao long bau, which means little wrapped dragon, and it's basically a dumpling with soup and meat on the inside. If you order a large one, it comes with a straw. Wonton soup is also very popular here, and it's become another staple of my diet. There's much more noodle food here than rice, as far as I can tell, which is different from Beijing. My students are impressed generally with my chopstick skills, but have also been advising me on which foods I'm actually supposed to eat with a spoon. Also, one of my students is looking for a unique english name (She currently goes by Vivian but wants something less common), so if you all have any suggestions, please let me know.
This weekend was great. One of my friends from Beijing came up for the weekend, and we kicked off Friday night by heading across the river to Pu Dong, where the highest bar in the world is located (Cloud Nine), above the Shanghai Hilton. We got drinks up there and enjoyed the spectacular view (if I had a complaint, it would be taht we were TOO high, which is an incredible feeling!). I had a capirinha, which tasted amazing. Funny how certain things taste even better when they pull you out of a world that you've become totally immersed in. We then walked around the area for a bit and heade back across the river to grab a late dinner in a little restaurant near my door. Saturday, I went to the Shanghai Museum and spent a long time in their calligraphy section, which was really cool. Looking at the evolution of characters over the last 1000 years is amazing. I was also fortunate enough to be there with someone who could read a decent amount of the texts, so had an ever richer experience. The jade collection was also pretty incredible. All that looking around made me hungry, so I went out with some friends for Dim Sum, which was quite tasty.
Saturday night I went to a hiphop show, the national DJ competition. It was a lot of fun; the music was really good, there were even a few rap battles (east side west side is Beijing v. Shanghai here), and I got to meet a few of the artists and DJs, which was also pretty amazing.
Sunday I was pretty tired, as the day before had been quite energy intensive. Most of my group decided to go to City Diner, which advertises itself as a 24-hour American diner. The food was pretty good--we ate A LOT--everything from milkshakes, burgers, and fries, to pancakes, biscuits and gravy, nutella and banana sandwiches, and potato latkes. Not something I want to do every day here, but pretty awesome that one time. I have to remember how to use a fork and a knife; I become more accustomed to chopsticks only every day.
Hard to believe my teaching here is almost half way finished. The days are just flying by. Today my students are giving presentations on Chinese pop culture, then we're going over some slang words and they'll be incorporating them into skits, we'll talk about current events for a bit, and then I anticipate us talking about the symbolism and meanings to different colors and animals in Chinese culture. I'm still convinced that I'm learning more than my students are, but I think an opportunity like this that gets them up in front of a group so much is such a great experience. I know teaching here has really helped my comfort level in front of a group.

Speaking of which, class starts in 10 minutes, so I should go prepare. Hope all is well with you all!

10 minute update

Hello! I didn't actually fall off of the planet; rather, I just arrived in Shanghai and have been so overwhelmed by how much there is to do here that I haven't had the chance to sit down and write about it!
We arrived here on Saturday. We are staying in Middle School drums located just West of the Bund, so a 10 minute walk from the Old City, 15 minute walk to the VERY NICE school where we're teaching (pretty much an Asian Cary Academy) and a 5 minute walk to the river, complete with a gorgeous view of the Shanghai skyline (pearl tower, etc.). I somehow managed to get the Principal's suite, along with two other girls, and I have the living room to myself, which means that I basically have a yoga studio in the mornings. However, my bed is lacking a mattress, so I'm sleeping on a thinly covered board (that somehow still squeaks like a bed). My back feels great; my hips and ribs, on the other hand, are slightly bruised. Also, my room is the de facto common space for the whole group (everyone else has a 1-room double), so there are always people in my room, especially since the only place we can pick up any wireless signal is right up against my window. Luckily, I've managed to just curl up in bed and go to sleep when I want to, and so far no one has pulled any pranks on me while I'm asleep (I say so far, because I've been pranking other people and I have a feeling I have something coming my way soon).
Teaching is great. I have 8 students this time, ranging from ages 16-18, most of whom are 18 and heading off to college next year. Their English is comparable to my group in Beijing, but they are much more familiar with American culture and politically minded, so they definitely keep me on my toes the way my last group didn't. Today we're talking about gun control in the United States; all my students so far have been under the impression that in the US, no one dares to leave their house without a gun, so I figure this might be one area that I could tackle. I'm borrowing the lecture slides (powerpoint) from a class I took in the spring; pretty cool to teach using the slides of a Harvard professor.
The city is beautiful. It's much more cosmopolitan than Beijing, and in that sense, it seems much more familiar than Beijing. Most of the group prefers it here, but I think that I felt like Beijing was singularly Chinese, whereas here, you really see the French, British, and American influences, so it's less unique. But, the skyscrapers are amazing. The highest bar in the world, Cloud Nine, is a 10 minute walk from my dorm, so I think I'm going to try to make it there this weekend and watch a sunset. Yesterday we walked around the French concession and eventually ate dinner at an Indian restaurant. They only gave us forks and knives, and I realized how accustomed I've become to chopsticks; I literally had forgotten how to hold a fork! Also, when we finished the meal and walked out, Nicole and I looked at each other and said, I'm full. As in, I will not be ready to eat again in 30 minutes (that's what we normally do). Very strange.
Hope you are all doing well!

Ling Rhui Xin

That's my Chinese name. I haven't gotten a complete explanation for what it means, but everyone agrees that it is a good name and very complementary. My students chose it for me the other day, and they say that it has something to do with power, wisdom, and sunshine (since they somehow have this idea that I'm a morning person!). It's a good thing that they chose one, because in the closing ceremony today we all were given jade seals with our names engraved in them. Mine has a dragon on top; it's pretty cool. Evidently one of the kids wanted to name me ''Ma Fi A'', since our classes always played mafia together. I think I like this one a bit more. I didn't expect to get sentimental at our closing ceremonies today, but I realized that I've gotten pretty attached to my students and Beijing. The people here that I've had the opportunity to meet really show you their hearts; there is not the same concept of hiding 'the real you' until two people become good friends. They answer your questions with complete sincerity, in a way that is at once charming and completely disarming. So, despite the fact that I've only known my students for three weeks, I feel like we've learned each other pretty well. Part of the final ceremony was an original drama. My class worked with another class and developed a comedic public service announcement that was meant to be anti-suicide and anti-gambling. It featured Kono, who after having a falling out with his girlfriend Maria (me) who only spoke Spanish, was kicked out of his house, and decides to exact revenge on me by gambling, getting lots of money, and then living in a better house with many beautiful women. Unfortunately for him, he is a sitting duck and everyone playing cards with him steals his chips. Left with, as he puts it, ''No money, and no honey'', he decides to commit suicide by jumping from a tall building. On the way down, he sees the lives of the other people he played cards with, and realizes that his life is not as bad as he thought it was. He also manages to hit on women (which makes him reconsider suicide) and see one of his male friends in the shower (which made him want to fall faster), in the process. The story ends with the narrator informing us that although Kono regretted jumping, he had died. And then saying, jusssst kidding. The other teacher (who in the play only speaks French) and I are now dating and driving around in a garbage truck of which Kono lands in the back. We have a little scene, and then after we leave, the narrator comes out (to the tune of ''It's raining men'') and says that Kono must be an angel sent to her from heaven since he just fell out of the sky, and they live happily ever after. Pretty creative and hilarious for 24 hours of time to work on it. This week has also been a lot of fun. On Wednesday Nicole and I tried to go to the Lama Temple, which is the oldest Buddhist temple in Beijing, and old enough that most things are written in Sanskrit, I believe, instead of Mandarin. It closed minutes before we got there, but I did happen upon one of Colin's good friends from school, which was totally unexpected and still blows my mind. So, Nicole and I improvised by wandering around that part of the city and looked into a few hutongs, which are the traditional dwelling areas and courtyards that Beijing citizens used to inhabit, though most are being destroyed now in renovations, while trying all sorts of dried flowers and fruits (most of which we cannot identify, but we really like!). We eventually ended up at Xiangshan Park, which is right north of the Forbidden City. Because it was a wonderfully clear day, and we happened to be there right around sunset, our climb to the top of the hill (evidently a place where an emperor from the Ming Dynasty had chosen to commit suicide, though we didn't know that) was rewarded with a stunning view of the city and the mountains in some amazing lighting. Because part of the park was closed for construction, it was also relatively empty, so we really had the place mainly to ourselves. Definitely one of the most beautiful things I have seen in a long time. Yesterday, as soon as class ended Nicole and I hopped a cab to Lama temple and had a chance to actually go inside and take a look. It was beautiful; golden buddhas and beautifully decorated temples abounded. Many people had lit incense, so the place also had a very nice smell. The different languages were really cool, and it was interesting to see a place of worship that seemed to be free of western influence; a point of comparison, per se. We finished our little adventure with some more of those fruits/flowers. Yummmm. I had the opportunity to eat dinner last night with a girl, Sherry, that Walker became close with during his time here. She invited her mother and her two thai roommates, and we all went out for Hunan food, which EVIDENTLY is very spicy! I was crying during parts of the meal, but it tasted really good. I was worried that my brain might just explode from all the different languages that it was attempting to decipher. Sherry's English, however, is amazing, and she really has a heart of gold, so it was a lot of fun. Her mother kept forcing food upon me though in a way that made it difficult to refuse (though I did learn how to say ''I'm full!!''), and I even ate a huge piece of cantaloupe! We played cards after dinner--I taught them all how to play rummy--and promptly got badly beat. Guess that says good things about my teaching skills? Got to run. We leave for Shanghai tomorrow morning, so I want to make the most of my last hours here!