PackLite Travelin'

At last.  My passport is in hand, visa securely glued onto its pages (side note:  the new passports with pictures and quotes remind me of a patriotically-themed day planner). The baggage is packed.  Room at the Beijing Downtown Backpacker’s Association Hostel is reserved.  I’m just about on my way.

I’ve been working on course preparation (“prep” in the trade), but I figure I’ll be doing a lot of improvising as I adapt to the teaching environment.  As long as I have the Internet and PowerPoint… oh what the heck, even if I don’t I’ll be in CHINA!  At HENAN UNIVERSITY! 
People around my age will remember cartoons with the stock joke of someone digging a deep hole and popping out of the ground in China.  A surprised peasant wearing one of those crazy Asian sombreros was always part of the scene.  China seemed so far away, so exotic & mysterious—the epitome of foreign. 

No shovel for me, I go over the polar ice cap Newark to Beijing.  Allowing always for the Great Weird, I should walk into the Beijing haze on Sunday and make my next post from the other side of the world.

If you’re thinking about a trip to China (and a visit to Kaifeng), Continental is running a special introductory fare—much less than what I paid. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/business-11/1233826236167920.xml&coll=2

 Take a look at Henan University and Kaifeng from the Google earth satellite at

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=il