Night before Hong Kong

(A note on origin. I wrote this last night thinking I would be able to post it right away, but no such luck.)

This is just a quick blog before China. Due to our heading the past few days we've had almost non-existent internet. It's been very frustrating, especially since the students haven't had classes the past two days. They're a little bored and they're driving me a little nuts. This afternoon a guy walked around the ship in loops with some sort of stereo blaring annoying songs. He was followed by two or three other guys giggling and punching each other in the arm. It's been rainy and cloudy so they can't even get outside. I took half an ativan at lunch and the other half five minutes ago.

Because we weren't able to land in Quindao our Beijing trips have been seriously altered. Instead of two and a half days we're down to more or less one. With 5 or 6 hour plan rides on either end. We leave Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon and get to the hotel in Beijing after midnight. The next morning, breakfast at the hotel and then The Great Wall for two hours, Forbidden City for two hours, Peiking Duck for dinner. Then we see Tienamen Square on the way to the airport the next morning. Not ideal. I seriously considered staying in Hong Kong, but here's what I figure 1) I've already payed for Beijing, and while they did refund half the price it's still a lot of money. 2) Hong Kong is suppose to be more or less a big city, and not that different in feel from Japan, I'm afraid I'd just spend the whole time shopping and eating. Most of the students that are staying are going to Disneyland. 3)I'm still going to get a day and a half in Hong Kong. and 4) If someone walked up to me and handed me an already payed for trip to the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tienamen Square, I wouldn't say, "No, thanks, I don't want to spend that long on a plane." I'd say "Heck yes!" I think ISE lost a load of money rebooking more than 400 trips to Beijing and Xian, and refunding us half our fare besides.

The rumor on the ship is that this won't be our last major schedule change, that they won't be sending us to Turkey or Egypt, either. I, of course, want to be safe and wouldn't want to be put into any kind of dubious situation. But I sure hope we get to go to Turkey and Egypt.

I've spent most of the last four days working on rebarcoding the collection. It's tedious and exhausting, but we're making some progress. There's a lot of things we found that weren't in the catalog at all. Though, most people on the ship look at us like we've lost our minds, it's a good project. And I am so grateful to Mary for going along with the somewhat preposterous endeavor.

When I haven't been working I've been napping and reading. I miss TV a little, I have to confess. But one of my students brought season one of "Grey's Anatomy" with her, and I've got the first disc. Tonight after preport I'm coming back to my room and drinking my last Coke Zero and watching an episode. I'm SO excited.

Finding mindless and private ways to relax is a challenge.

If you want to check my position I'm at Lat: 21 degrees 51.0N Long: 117 degrees 48.8E We're traveling at 18.2 knots with a heading of 277 degrees. It's 7:30PM, 12 hours ahead of EDT.

I won't be writing again until after Beijing, likely. Unless I squeeze one in tomorrow morning.


Here's some random pictures to look at:




Grave near a Buddha statue in Kobe





Interesting Statue













Japanese kitty