Alive and well in Shanghai

It's been longer than I'd hoped since I last wrote, but a whole heck of a lot has been going on. A whole lot of difficulty. Monday last week, the professor in charge of international cooperation came out to the field station with a couple of colleagues to host lunch with us. I knew they were coming, but I didn't know that they had called ahead to arrange a dumpling-making party for us. So while we waited for their arrival, the cook had prepared all of the fillings and bought the wrappers, and all of the students working at the field station came to join us in making our own dinner. Great fun! After the bigwigs arrived, plates and plates and plates of food hit the table, and the three of us Americans decided that we should eat family style at one big table rather than dispersed among the 5 tables around the room. So we moved furniture around to join up three of the long tables into one big long feast table. The cool thing about that is that as far as I know those tables are still arranged in that manner. The atmosphere at meal times went from groups of students working together sitting together and not interacting much to one big happy family laughing and chatting throughout dinner. And I noticed they all started playing pool more and even moved the pingpong table down to where it could be used. I like to think we had a little something to do with that.

The rest of that day was difficult. Unfortunately I have developed the reputation for being able to handle the strong alcohol they drink, so the main purpose of hosting that lunch was to down two bottles of baijiu. I'll spare the details, but it didn't end well for all of us. No long term damage done, and everyone is recovered, but I think my phone landed in a stream that was doubling as a toilet at the fish restaurant we ended up at when someone decided I should meet some random dude who works for fisheries.

This whole experience set us back a couple of days recovery, and we had to work hard to make up for lost time and get all of Talia's data recorded. The last night at the field station we had great plans to get out to the desert early, get cameras set up, get the last of her data, and get back to bed. But other things were in store for us that I didn't know about. I was told that some people had a special dinner planned that we should be there for. Okay, fine, let's say our well wishes, eat quickly, and go. Time ticked by, and Talia and I started to get a little anxious that we would be getting back later and later. Finally, we walked into the kitchen to see a fabulous spread of dishes. Our dear cook had been busy all afternoon preparing a joint birthday party for me and Talia (her birthday was in mid April, mine coming up in late May), and Sarah had gone into Fukang to get us each a cake. So we donned our obligate paper crowns and blew out the candles on the crazy spinning candle thing that shoots fireworks and sings "Happy Birthday" until you beat it to death with a rock. Dinner included big plates of shrimp. I'm not sure where he got shrimp in that little town. It's not far from the geographic center of the Eurasian landmass - in other words we were almost as far away from the sea as humanly possible, and I ate shrimp in the desert. No harm no foul. Or is it no foul no harm?

So we made it back to Urumqi, survived yet another banquet, said our goodbyes and the requisite thank yous and "I'm sorry for being so much trouble" and boarded a 46 hour train to Shanghai. The Hangover Express. It was wonderful to be on a train for two days with no one to be held accountable to and no one trying to pour 50% or greater alcohol down our throats to show our happiness! Talia and I slept and slept and slept and read two books each and watched the Chinese countryside whiz past. Our cabin companions were friendly. One was a man who designs jade jewelry and has a fondness for good tea. He shared some tea with us and showed us photos of his work. Talia showed him some of her high speed video of the jerboas which he seemed to find pretty cool. I'm just glad we made it with all of our belongings and the box of embryos was still cool on arrival to the lab in Shanghai. That was the purpose of the two day train - to get the embryos from Xinjiang to Shanghai. Since 2009, it is difficult to do much out there. Shipping or flying with anything remotely questionable is nearly impossible. But at the train station I think they hardly looked at the X-ray machine. 

Two days in Shanghai and then I'm on my way home. I can't wait to be back. I'm looking forward to a big fat cheeseburger and onion rings. And I'm going to start running again and get to the gym more often. This place takes a little something out of me every time I come. In many ways. But I learn so much from the experience, and I guess that counts for a lot.