The lack of posts has been due for a while to laziness,
since I did do some nice things at the end of spring, including a trip to the
mountains in the "country of the clouds" in Anhui province, and 3
very pleasant days in Shanghai just before I left, which included finding out
the amazing story of how Japan-occupied Shanghai opened its arms to Jews, and
spending a ton of money in the French concession.
Then I was back on the home turf. For 2 months. Where I can
take white privilege for granted, make myself understood and get used to things
not being (too) loud and messy. It's not a long time, but bound to lead to at
least a little readjustment. Travelling to Ginseng was a bit of an adventure:
my connection from Amsterdam was late (I think I'm going start boycotting KLM,
because it's the second time something similar happened). When I got to
Shanghai and schlepped my way to the station (1 hour and a half by subway) I
was informed that there were no more trains to Gin Tonic, except one that
arrived really late at night and left from another station. I subsequently
learned that it's because it's Mid-Autumn festival on Monday, hence a lot of
people moving around a lot. So I phone the hotel I stay in usually, which
luckily had a room. Thus I was stranded 2 days in Shanghai (well, if you can
get "stranded" in such a city, I took the opportunity to run a
burocratic errand and have a meal at the famous Fairmont Peace Hotel, a
gorgeous historical hotel).
Then, finally, I made it home. Or home away from home. Barring
the corpse of one cockroach and a mysterious mini-flood in the balcony, the
flat was in perfect condition (as perfect as it get from me). The university is
still very ghostly, and it's hooooot (yes, there's always a reason to complain
about weather in China). It looks like courses will start later than I
expected, which means a slow and gentler transition.
So it's my first real "back to school" in China
since I arrived mid-year and it will be my first fall. Let's see what it holds
(hopefully more regular posts).
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