Starting up (for real, maybe)

So it's a good thing that I didn't get too much going on the other website (robertswriting.wordpress.com), because I guess the real "you know when you're in China when..." is "...the Great Firewall blocks you for the first time."  I like that one better, so if I somehow get access to it at some point I may resume over there, but for now this seems to work.

Woohoooo I'm in China!!!!! As of almost 12 hours ago, I have officially entered 中国。So far it's amazing.  I'm staying with a friend from Swat who lives in Shanghai, which is an incredible city.  Thoughts at this point:

--Getting off the plane in China was sort of surreal--"wait, that's all it took?"  You just sit down for a while and suddenly you're on the complete other side of the world, np.  It kind of reminded me of last summer when Katie and I got in the car at home and four days later pulled up at the edge of the Pacific.  It's weird how mobile you can be once you start moving.

--Immigration/customs were way easier than the US... no lines or questions or anything.  Sigh.. this is a police state and they're more chill about these things than we are...

--Shanghai 上海 (hah!  it's so much fun using my Chinese typer :-) is pretty impressive.  It's HUGE and full of high rises. Supposedly twice as many skyscrapers as New York at this point.  I got into the new Pudong airport, which is gigantic, and then we drove basically this perfectly straight 8-lane highway back to the city.  Then went to dinner at one of Yimei's favorite restaurants, which was in the "first food mall," 3 stories of nothing but restaurants, snack shops, and grocers.  Cool idea, but what was amazing was how crowded and energetic it was.  Absolutely full of people, all of whom were chatting and shouting and bursting with energy. VIBRANT.  You (Yimei and I, at least) couldn't help grinning and laughing.  Awesome.