We have received our Hep A shots and tetanus boosters, and started our typhoid pill regimine, which must be taken every other day the week before departure. Yes, we leave in less than one week! Bought new carry-on sized Osprey backpacks that seem to be perfect for carrying all the inocuous materials, so we can each check our larger bags filled with gift books, toiletries and shoes!
Excited from getting our visas last Thursday, we went out and bought even more gifts for people we have yet to meet! We will be arriving the weekend of the Qing Ming Jie festival, and expect to see some willow branches on people's gates, and perhaps even kites flying in the shapes of animals. It is a holiday with many layers, the main one being cleaning of tombs and honoring of ancestors. It coincides with the coming of Spring, and much planting begins, though it also coincides with the events of Tiananmen Square and the death of Chiang Kai-shek. It also happens to be an important marker in the green tea harvest, as the tender tea leaves picked before this date carry a premium! So there will be lots of activity when we arrive Friday in Shanghai and are driven to Hangzhou to settle in near the China Academy of Art.
Luckily Rob doesn't start teaching until Tuesday afternoon -- and then he's in it full time! Making work for an exhibition of his own, and teaching students about abstract sculpture making.
