It has certainly been awhile since I have posted a normal prose based entry, so I thought I would do this before going to bed.
Winter has arrived, so my mood has changed slightly. Winter here is close to the same temperature that we have in Seattle, except there are virtually no clouds and just a little rain over the last couple of days. The mountain out the back of my house is beckoning to me--I have been up about 1/4 of the way the other day and had to turn back because the day was quickly becoming the night.
We are nearing the end of my first term of instruction-- the term will offically end on the 15th of January, but the intruction will end at the end of the year according to our calender. This will be nice, but I wanted to be out of school in the middle of February, when the weather would be just a little warmer. I will more than likely head off to Hainan and the south end for the first couple of weeks and then go up to beiijing if I feel like it--well see. I might begin my big trip near Mongolia and head to Xi'an and then over to Beijing and then south down to Shanghai and head down the coast of China to check it out.. I'll have to see.
Things are good, all in all. The book about China is actually taking its shape now and I am excited to be writing more than I ever have before. It is a nice feeling to finally feel like I am in the groove of writing. It is coming so easily these days, mostly because of the time that I have available to get all my busy work done and I still manage to have some energy left. A nice feeling overall.

I am going to miss thanksgiving.