I wrote too much last time. I see it got cut off. Sorry.

We went to Fudan University last night to dine with the professors and deans who invited Ridley to lecture. It was an hour long journey using the subway and then a taxi. In Chinese tradition, the meal was an absolute feast. Course after course arrived with the most beautiful presentations . There was nothing out of our comfort level of eating. The interior of bamboo in a vegetable dish, beef that melted in our mouths, smoked fish that was sweet and crispy, pickled vegetables that were spicy and utterly delicious. The cold dishes came out first and sat there while we had a cup of tea. A big lazy susan in the middle of the table kept everything rotating. When it got too full, the waiter transferred what was left onto a smaller dish to make room for more. We all had watermelon juice which was pure watermelon blended. Incredibly refreshing. A whole fish was brought to the table, and then our hosts had the waiter divide it up for us. Sweet and delicious. The girls loved trying everything as well. There was a spicy pork mixture that accompanied buns to make our own pork buns - sar chao bao (sp?). Soup with glutinous rice balls, sweet. Several vegetable dishes. There are several dishes I am missing. We ended with cold watermelon slices. The men were incredibly gracious and Ridley will soon make his teaching schedule for the year. They are very flexible and accomodating to Ridley's travel and work schedule.

Friends from the US Consulate gave us a tour of one of the eight consulate locations where they work. It was formerly an estate that has beautiful gardens, kwai (sp?) pond, cats roaming and orchards of fruit trees - the clementines are suppposed to be the best around. The US government will be consolidating all these locations in a couple of years over to Pudong, the east side of Huangpu River. Great to see this extraordinary location before they move. They then took us to a delicious western lunch where we had french fries, an unexpected treat for the girls, salad, an unexpected treat for the adults since we thought we had to stay away from lettuce, and soup and sandwiches on baguettes.

Yesterday we went to a cyber market and bought a printer so we can print google maps of the city - among many other work related things to be printed. It is hard to find a good map with the English street names. The girls and I went to have our hair done for the dinner: an hour and a half of washing, massaging and drying for $3 a piece. Storey was so happy to have "flat" hair for once.

Paige remarked that everyone has more than one job here. Our lane guard also sweeps the lane, makes brooms from branches and patrols the neighborhood. Our neighbor babysits, cleans, picks up recycling around the neighborhood.

The girls and I will start adventuring out to see some things before school starts. It just takes a little more determination when it is this hot and humid out. Everyone is really looking forward to the start of the Olympics tomorrow night. It sounds like many people will stop life for a few weeks and watch. So many businesses have been closed by the government, including all the subway shops here in Shanghai for security reasons. It is curious how people can survive when their livelihood gets shut down. I guess they will have the time to cheer on their country!