Shenzhen Zen

We finally got the departure dates figured out. Julian will be working for only 3 weeks which gets him back on native soil on Aug. 3. I may do 5 and be back on Aug. 17. Can't believe a week from now we'll both be in the PRC. We're leaving July 10 and I've got assurance from a former coke-addict-turned-evangelical Christian minister-ex-brother-in-law/convicted felon (Korean) that we can crash for awhile with him and one of Julian's Korean aunts in LA while we wile away the time between arriving at LAX and departing the same evening. Spent most of the day at a friend of mine who is a budding paralegal as she rewrote our contracts using proper English/American legalize and a copy of Law for Dummies, and I changed all the too-high light bulbs and fixed a bad cabinet door hinge in her place in exchange. The ol' barter system. Works every time. She is also a pack rat who has an incredible collection of low-grade swag that Julian and I can use as gifts for the students while we're there. A lot of laser-printed "Colorado" themed fridge magnets - with animals we don't see here regularly, like wolves, bears, mountain lions and bald eagles plus a ton of old Burger King and McDonald's children's meals gimmes all made in - you guessed it! - China. Should be interesting to see how those go over.