So here I am in the middle of China. OK.
(stop to process)
In China?
(thinking...thinking)
Yeah. And people here are living just the same as people everywhere else?
(um...)
Pretty much.

This is an abbreviated version of what one track of my brain goes through every time I step out of doors. The other lines of thought are focused on not walking into a puddle of yuck; trying to understand the converstations chopping briskly through the air; taking in the amazing and beautiful and ordinary and, usually, surprised brown eyes of people as I pass by; not losing track of whoever I'm walking with in the crowd...most often the rest of team Blue Sky; and somewhere towards the back is a shining kernal that reminds me why I'm here. If it were embodied, it might be a luminous blue raindrop. Streams of living water, maybe?

I am in Nanchang now, on the fifth floor of the foreign teacher apartment building. The four apartments that team Blue Sky occupies are stacked on top of each other so that Dan, being our distinguished leader, is on the third floor, Emily and Mikayla are on the fouth, Alli and I are on the fifth, and Adam and Steven are on the sixth. The heat and humidity has turned my hair curly overnight, but our apartments, thankfully, are air conditioned. I start teaching on the 11th--four freshman sections of conversational English. Your thoughts on my behalf are most appreciated!

Here are a few more pictures for your edification and delight.

Me at the Great Wall!!!

And again, at the Forbidden City.

Pictures of Nanchang to follow!
If you'd like to check out Nanchang, try a program called Google Earth! It's quite amazing.

Random fact of the day: We have eaten for less than a dollar at nearly every meal since landing in China.