Have a zhoumo kuaile

What will you be up to you this weekend as we battle a typhoon here in Shanghai? Yes, really. Although it sounds way worse than it is. It's really just high winds and maybe rain... but it sounds cool, right?   

I was hoping to break in my new bike this weekend. That's right, I said BIKE. For as much as I've complained about the traffic here in Shanghai, I'll now be confronting it on two wheels. This was really all Mike's idea: a few weeks ago, we went to this shop and designed our bikes, picking out everything from the handlebars to the color of the hubs (copper for him; bright red for me). Because cooler-looking bikes take a longer time to assemble (!), Mike's bike was ready before mine and he's already taken a couple of rides with Factory Five, another local bike shop that organizes weekly bike rides. In fact, check out who is front-and-center on their lastest blog post (scroll down, photo on the left). Much more to come on our new vélos... (In the meantime, wish me luck. The last time I rode a bike was about 10 years ago when I was studying abroad in a small city in France.)   

Besides the bikes, we'll be busy running errands this weekend as the idea of heading home in five weeks is now reality; travel has been booked. If you want anything from China, now's the time to tell me!