China Highlights

Sorry for the delay in getting this posting out to you. So after two days of being anchored the fog lifted enough that we finally made it into Shanghai. We lost two days of our seven in port but I was ok with that since I was just there a month before. This time around it was cold, cold, cold! They were in a deep freeze and it even snowed one evening (a rarity in Shanghai). I have to say – I really could have passed on having any winter weather at all this year. It made going outside to go anywhere feel like a chore. It really reconfirmed to me, yet again, how much I dislike the cold weather. I guess I shouldn’t complain because essentially I only had to live through two whole weeks of winter this entire year. I know – tough life.

The one thing that did disappoint me about coming into port two days late was that I couldn’t have a coat made. At the end of our stay in Shanghai last semester I had made the decision that I was going to treat myself and have a coat made when I returned. With two less days in port I just couldn’t bring myself to go looking into getting a coat without having visions of 6 year old kids staying up all night to sew my coat. It was a bummer – especially when I was in the Fabric Market area and saw the perfect style coat. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

All in all my second week in China was pretty good. I think my favorite part of both visits were all the massages. I got a massage pretty much every other day – foot massage, Chinese massage, health meridian massage (that was the best!!!), Thai massage, massage done by blind people. Yup I spoiled myself. Here is the best part -- all those massages ranged from $10-$25 for 90 minutes! I wish massages weren’t so expensive at home because I really do believe there are a lot of health benefits. Often times I came out of these massages feeling relaxed, re-energized, better able to breath and just overall feeling great.

Lest you think my entire life has become massages and indulgence let me tell you that we have jumped right back into a crazy pace on the ship since we left China. I’ve been working an average of 10-12 hours everyday. With only 6 days until Thailand we are scrambling to get the staff and students ready for their next round of field programs. And to top it all off we’ve hit some really rocky water. Everything is sliding, shaking, creaking and sometimes flying. My gigantic nightstand console crashed to the floor at midnight last night and while I was trying to put everything back in the drawers in my shocked, sleepy state another wave came and the nightstand crashed over again – this time onto my head. Have no fear I am no worse for the wear other than a large, sore knot on the top of my head.

I know that I still owe a posting about how this second semester has kicked off. Maybe tomorrow I will work on that – I’m losing steam right now. Hope you’re all staying warm!