Back to China

Hello from Shanghai! After 33 hours on Continental and Emirates airplanes and time spent in the Houston and Dubai airports, and a week that did not include Friday, I have finally landed in China. Even though it was overcast and kind of smoggy, that first breath of *fresh* air was still worth it...I had spent over a day breathing recirculated air, ugh. As happy as I was to be breathing anything but airplane air, there is another major reason why this trip is already off to a great start - Facebook and Blogger are NOT BLOCKED in China right now. This is great news because I was afraid I might not have access to this blog during the entire trip - I do not leave the comfortable surroundings of China until March 23rd. So, everyone in the United States, keep your fingers crossed that nothing happens over the next two weeks to prevent these websites from being accessed here in China and you will know exactly what I am up to as I traverse the People's Republic of China.

I am posting this on my the morning of my first full day in Shanghai, so no great tales or pictures of cool places yet. All we have today are introductory meetings and then the first U.S. University Fair this afternoon (Sunday) at 2:00pm. I am on a tour-coordinated recruitment trip, so I am one of 29 college and university representatives along for the ride as we visit high schools and host major college fairs in four Chinese cities: Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Beijing. Most have you have heard of Shanghai and Beijing, but Chengdu and Chongqing may be unheard of until now. Chengdu is in southwest China and is home to 11 million people (that's all), and Chongqing is home to 5 million people and just east of the Sichuan province (where Chengdu is located), so both cities are in close proximity to where the 8.0 earthquake occurred in 2008. I am really looking forward to seeing these inland cities and hopefully I'll have some great pictures to post of the skylines and street scenes.

It is an extremely overcast day today in Shanghai, and pouring rain, but here is the view I have from the 19th floor of the Hilton:



Once the weather improves I'll try to post some pics from a clear day. Look forward to some more posts, as time allows, from China over the next two weeks.