Good morning!

All I've managed to do so far is eat and sleep, and I have been wonderful at that. Ms. Xia (a research associate in our collaborating lab) brought me to lab yesterday morning to get started on the preparations for the field work. That didn't take very long, so she took me to an outdoor recreation store (like REI) and then to a tourist souvenir market. I quickly decided that I needed lunch and sleep, so after trying to choke down a bacon, egg, and pickle (!) sandwich, she took me back to the hotel for a "nap". Said "nap" turned into a 5 hour sleep. I woke up in time to catch dinner, read a bit of my book, and go back to sleep for a full night. I think I've shown that jetlag what's for though. I will have to say that Shaoyuan knows good food. With the exception of that questionable sandwich (for which he wasn't present, and I should have known better since the menu was in english), all of our meals have been fantastic. I had a really fantastic pork and tofu dish last night, and brunch today was a bowl of spicy chow mein noodles with mushrooms and chicken. I may still lose a little weight on this trip, but it won't be for lack of trying to keep myself full at all times. I've also learned from every country I've visited that it's better to go to places with no english menus and point if you have to. If you're willing to risk eating calf intestine, you're likely to get a fantastic meal.

I feel like my english is a bit strained from speaking so slowly and simply to everyone. Our collaborators do speak pretty good english, but I'm trying to simplify my vocabulary to get my point across. It seems like that's carrying over a bit to writing here and in my emails to people. Ha!