As in that famous anthem, this morning the East Is Red! After months of meetings, bureaucracy, and finally invitations from 3 universities --- Pat will be going to China to teach. It may sound like sending coals to Newcastle but she will be teaching business subjects to Chinese! It's all happening quickly and she will be flying 2 weeks from today. (It looks like the visas won't even be ready until the 18th, and she leaves on the 20th.) I say "visas" plural because I'll be joining her about a week later. I'll need the time to close down the house and vehicles, she needs the time to concentrate on the job there.
This working-adventure will be 2 weeks each in Beijing, Zhanghzhou, and Shanghai. That takes us to early December and right now the plan is to continue roaming in southeast Asia. It's a month earlier than usual for us to leave home, but opportunity is knocking. (Fortunately, Brandy seems healthy these days and will be staying home with Pat's sister.)
ASIDE: Yesterday I noticed a ripe APPLE in a tree here --- it turned out to be a MAC! Coincidence or cosmic? As I write this, tributes are pouring in for Steve Jobs, the adopted teen delinquent who went on to become a computer titan. We have no Apple products, but it's clear he changed the world by combining the mass appeal of Henry Ford with the inventiveness of Thomas Edison and the imagination of Walt Disney. He WAS the app for that!
But back to China ---I have been there twice before the massive upheaval of the last two decades. And Pat had taught in Shanghai in 2005. A lot has changed, and she'll be in other cities too. But China is enormous and fascinating and we'll try to take in all we can. Let the learning begin!
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