I want to remember China and pass on to others, the great unexpected experience I had there. Tuvia, now that he’s home, feels he had an inauthentic experience in that we were in 5 cities which might be very unrepresentative of mainstream China. I don’t agree. He might be correct if you see this 2-week trip as the end all. For me it was a taste, a lovely taste. A taste I can see building on as the country changes. I would wait for more dust to settle to see how the majority of the population moves with the speed of change in the country. I loved our 5 star hotels. Who is feeling the success of China’s more open policies now?

China, what a surprise!

 It’s 3:30 AM and Tuvia is washing the kitchen floor.  It’s been harder for this time around to get his sleeping routine back.  I’m up with him only for support.  I have been sleeping a lot.  But it’s great timing to have this long Memorial weekend ahead of us to get back to reality, not that I want to forget where we’ve been but we were visitors in fancy hotels and now we are back in our lives and that’s even better.  How wonderful to be away , exloping and then come home to the familiar. And because I am already one with my China photos, it was easier to pick and choose photos for Flirk and like magic, some already have shown up on this blog below and now I am labeling the rest with a click of the spacebar to the site of 100 more photos of the trip.

I spent a good part of last night getting back to the stuff of the SI07 and it was good that I waited until after an afternoon nap with the ac of Tuvia’s place.  Nice. Today I will be ready for a movie and work on my DS syllabus, I hope and of course, my DS ABC movie, and time for arranging life in my apartment and just getting back to the world that I left.

I really missed my blog and staying connected to most of my bloglines, ie Kevin, our DS work etc I was able to keep up my word count journal and that’s a place I can bring here, but it will be cool to just let the dust settle and write about China when I’m totally home.  At the moment I am writing from the VIP lounge in Munich as we wait for our last leg of the trip.  This is Tuvia’s first stop on German soil.  I wonder what he’s thinking…

I am overwhelmed with my need to step back into reality.  I’m sure it will be smoother than I suspect.

So traveling first class makes it more comfortable, that’s for sure.  We were routed after security to the Lufthansa lounge.  It has probably seen better days but it sure beat Chillis.  You know something’s wrong when they don’t have any chilli.  I wonder if I will have to pay a price for even tasting an  odd soup I got.  The lounge was self-serve and I filled my glass a few times…. off to our plane…

See you..

I’m not packed.  That’s right, I’m not packed!  But we don’t leave for the airport until 7PM and it’s just turning 7 AM.  So I  have time for more shopping.  I NEVER shop these days.  No, I never shop for clothes.  I always shop for new tech toys.  But since I don’t need something cool for each day of the week for show off to students, I am out of the habit.  I’m sure I will, as I always do, pack way too much for the two weeks, but that’s me.  I still have time to hit the Gap and the Loft before I need to be at Tuiva’s.

We are still not jumping for joy for China, although it did help when I got a nice email from someone my brother works with at IBM, the head IBM lawyer for China, who happens to live in Beijing.  He offered to pick us up at the airport.  We have that all set, but just the offer was really cool, a nice way to begin the journey.

I have say that I am sure this trip will not be like our experience in Buenos Aries.  We set the tour plans way in advance and it should be great.  We have lowered our expectations and that’s the way to go.

I am just about ready to finish up.  First a call to plan our SI’07 group, Betsy is coming to accept some money and take home her serving plates.  That will officially finish my recital and I’m sad that it’s officially over now.

Off to China???