Today I got two vacinnation shots, one on each arm. They're both sore now. It feels like I worked out, but I didn't.

On the way home, I stopped by the guotie (Pot Sticker) place to get lunch, and then went by the "DVD store" to see if I could get a copy of Farenheight 9-11. Turns out all three "DVD store"s on Hankou West Road were closed. Hmmm, peculiar. Said I to the owner of the store next door:
"Why is the "DVD store" closed?"
"They're resting"
"So, they'll be back after lunch??", incredulously
"No, they're resting all day"
"Ahhh, the police, huh?" now understanding
"Yes"
"So, when will they be back?"
"Tomorrow"
"Cool, see you tomorrow then"

And that, my friends, is the state of intellectual property enforcement in China today.

I've been running every other day, for that past week and a half. I'm really enjoying it. It's become a way for me to explore this city, whose time with me is now very short. The thing is, Nanjing is actually two cities. One is the big modern streets lined with "highrises", and other things that will make the mayor have lots of face and get promoted. The other, is all the streets and buildings between the big streets, where real people live. And that's where I like to run. It's nice that I'm chinese-american, and also that people in China today are much more individualistic (at least in urban areas), and would go and do random stuff like jog. Those two facts together mean that I am able to jog around without getting too many stares, thus not disrupting the street life that is happening. In any case, it's been so enjoyable, in fact, that I've hardly noticed the jogging part, I'm so absorbed with the observation part. In fact, yesterday, I ended up jogging for about an hour and a half without noticing how tired and worn out I was by the end. I feel it today, though. Yesterday, I went down to Xinjie Kou to buy calligraphy stuff with Josh, and I ran back. I ended up going all the way down this small alley, that alternated between food streets (food stall after food stall), fruit streets, and residential streets. I also had a near run-in with a bus, too. I tell people here that "I almost got run over by a bus," but that may be a bit of an exaggeration. What happened was that I was jogging across an intersection when other people were crossing (there are no real traffic rules in Nanjing, so it would probably actually be dangerous to follow traffic/pedestrian lights), but suddenly they stopped halfway, and I almost didn't stop in time, for a bus had just turned into the street, crossing over three lanes going the wrong way, right into the path that I thankfully stopped in time not to go through. I jumped back in surprise, the driver of the bus screeched, and then cussed me out, and then I continued jogging. The funny thing is, the bus driver, for all his recklessness was not doing anything out of the ordinary for Nanjing. They're all lunatics on the road here. My lesson though, was to be super-extra careful when I'm jogging across an intersection.


Anyways, besides getting shots and running, it's been continuous work here. I'm a bit sad the program's ending. I'll miss the people and the community.

I'm missing Amy too. We got in a tiff on the phone the other night. Perhaps she'll read this and give me a call...