Catcha Later, Midwest:
The Rest of the Year's Itinerary
Chicago to Shanghai to San Diego

Although I wanted to update the ABAAK and write a longer post about serendipitous travel-related events, I'm leaving from O'Hare in a couple hours. My time in the Empire is almost up. As usual, necessities like getting my visa, making sure I'm packed, and spending as much time as I can with family and friends in Chicago has been a bigger priority than blogging. An audience you can't always see is both refreshing and easy to put at the bottom of the to-do list.

But since I keep getting questions about what I'm doing, I'm going to forego the long blog post (plenty of time to write it when I'm at 3pm my time/3am Shanghai time) and give you a basic itinerary.

***May 17-August 17: Shanghai, Anhui Province. Jane Goodall Foundation. Doing curriculum coordination, networking with Chinese NGOs, learning about the Chinese grassroots environmental movement, playing guqin, exporting Chinese art/crafts, concluding (hopefully) my research on the roots of the modern Chinese gay movement, etc. Will stay with my Dad, who's in Shanghai on business, for the first week, and then with two friends for the remaining time. Well, there's also the two weeks I'll be sleeping on a classroom floor in Anhui Province.

***August 17-Winter Holiday: San Diego, California. University of California, San Diego. Begin my first quarter and a half of studies in the school of International Relations and Pacific Studies at UCSD, focusing on non-profit management, sustainable development, and China. Language classes, history, poli sci, econ, quantitative methods, accounting, etc. All the things I need to know to change the world. (Or at least more effectively do the kind of work I want).