* Cough, Cough *

Erika was so kind as to share this photo at our team meeting today, knowing full well of my breathing issues:


Gee, my lungs can't wait. =P

January Plans

The nature of my very sucky 90-day single-entry visa requires that I plan my China exit strategy now, instead of playing it by ear. So far, here's what it's looking like:

Dec. 28 Leave Beijing --> 2-3 days in HK --> 2-3 days in Singapore --> 5-6 days rent a car and drive to Melaka, then on to Kuala Lumpur, then possibly Penang and Johor Bahru --> back to HK for 4-5 days, with a day-trip to Macau --> back to the States.

This excludes the possibility of Korea and Japan, which really makes me sad. For someone who travels internationally as seldom as I do, it's hard to suppress the urge to go everywhere: India, Phillippines, Indonesia, Thailand, western Australia, even Brunei and Mongolia (FYI - according to the travel nurse at Kaiser Permanente, Mongolia has one of the the highest rates of rabies in the world).

I am already dreaming of delicious SE Asian food and buying batik cloth by the armload. If your travels brings you anywhere near these areas, please let me know and I'd love to meet up.

10 Days to Go.

I should be busy with quality reviews and peer reviews , but why do things I HAVE to do when I can waste time on a blog that shouldn't even be active yet? =P As my cubemate will attest to, it took me forever just to settle on a name. Other candidates included eatingeggrolls.blogspot.com and slimdoesbeijing.blogspot.com (seemed a bit inappropriate).

I hate to admit I'm a rabid blogger when I put my mind to it, so I hope I'll be able to keep this pretty frequently updated. These last couple of weeks have been crazy with end-of-quarter business and buying things like Advil and jeans (believe it or not, I have only had one working pair for the last year or so). Things I'm excited about:

• Corporate apartments in Beijing
• Energetic office in Beijing
• Mind-numbingly good food
• Meeting interesting people
• Seeing interesting things
• KARAOKE-ing
  

Things I'm worried about:

• My terrible language skills
• Doing a good job
• The pollution (I'm asthmatic)
• Harsh Beijing winter - though if it's anything like Boston, I guess I'm prepared.
  
• Forgetting to take something important

That's that. More later.