Zhoumo kuaile!

Hope you're all having a good weekend! It's warming up nicely here and the stifling heat is at bay, for now.  We'll be enjoying the weather on Sunday while watching fancy, Formula 1 cars race by at the Chinese Grand Prix. More to come on that; I'll report back.  

Funny to think that, at about this time last weekend, we were coming back from Hangzhou -- along with several thousand others. It was a crazy scene at the train station. We had arrived early enough to stand by the barricades that blocked the ticket machines allowing passengers onto the train. But that didn't mean much when departure time approached. By then, we became part of a caged herd of wild animals. The tension was mounting; the herd began stirring and preparing for escape. At that point I grabbed my mom's arm and told her to get ready for what was to come -- pushing, shoving, and elbowing.  One of the train guards saw us -- a strange group indeed, a Chinese man, a Middle Eastern woman, and a white, older lady -- and took pity. She directed my mom to the front and allowed her to cross the barricades first. "Save yourself!" I told her.  When the gates came down, I moved (aggressively) with the herd and, thankfully, reunited with my husband and mother on the train platform. We were part of the great Chinese migration that occurs every holiday -- a crazy experience that is marked by aggression, dismay, and a little laughter.

Now, off to the races!