China

Made it to China. Yes - Shanghai is big and busy. The funniest part was that my two Chinese coworkers who picked me up from the airport (Jerry and Kelvin - no, not their real names) could barely drive in the traffic. it was pretty bad. Not sure what tomorrow will hold for me. I am on my own (and actually like it that way) but I must admit it is nice to have someone show me how the public transportation system works before I give it a go myself. No opportunity this time. I hope the subway has good English instructions. I must say that I am a bit stressed out by the language situation. When I have no knowledge of Chinese (or Korean, or Japanese) beyond, "Excuse me", Hello", and "Thank you" it's pretty tough. Singapore was the only place that I got a break - almost everyone has a pretty good grasp of English. I was spoiled. Here I can't even ask "Do you have any chocolate for dessert? Chocolate? To eat?" I know it sounds like I've gotten a lot of chocolate while I've been here. In the four weeks it's just been a few buffets and the wicked chocolate tart in Sinapore. Asians don't seem as big on chocolate. I actually brought a lot with me to give away as gifts - and haven't touched them... yet. Off to bed.