Read my latest story, "A Tale of Two Birthdays", at 52|250.

I finally made it back to my little apartment on the campus of Shengda College late enough last night for it to be early morning. The flight on which I had been rebooked in San Francisco boarded on time and in a fairly orderly fashion, only to be stuck on the tarmac for two hours while crews checked the plane for an unspecified problem. This time wasn’t too unpleasant, as the flight attendants gave everyone drinks and little bags of Fritos, but of course any added time in that cramped space is unpleasant and the possibility of a mechanical problem with the plane made every bit of turbulence that much more worrisome for the duration of the flight into Beijing.

By the time I landed in the capital, I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to get on a flight for Zhengzhou that night. In fact, had it taken as long to get through passport control as it did the first time I traveled through Beijing, I probably would not have been able to. This time, however, there was no wait, and my suitcase was one of the first to appear on the belt.

I got a ticket on the 9:55 PM flight, checked in, and headed straight for the gate where I was fortunate enough to run into two other teachers from Shengda College. This was especially fortunate as they had pre-hired a taxi, so I was able to split the fare with them rather than flagging down my own cab and haggling over the price while terribly exhausted.

I’ll be finding out my course schedule at a meeting tomorrow, which gives me until Monday to come up with lesson plans. I’ve already noticed changes that have taken place in Longhu since January: a large arch has gone up over one of the roads beside campus with signs pointing the way to locations selling plane and train tickets, which will certainly be an added convenience.

I’ve also been warned that tonight is the Lantern Festival, which means I’ll have to be careful to avoid getting burned by, or losing a hand to, fireworks.

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