Cultural Communication Continues

Here is another photo from the festivities yesterday as I have no pictures to share from today. Our Independence Day celebrations took place, of course, in the pagoda where our expedition first landed, if you will remember to the first entry, on the shores of the LiWa River in a small pagoda, perhaps the only traditional architectural remnant of traditional China within five miles of the university.

The weather continues to humidify, and one can hardly walk to class without feeling like his clothes have been shrink-wrapped around him. The other, more likely, explanation is that my appetite continues unabated as I fit in less and less exercise.

My day is ending as it usually does. I am unsuccessfully trying to remember interesting highlights of the day while sitting at my small desk in our dorm-room sized "hotel" room. I am relatively tired and not looking forward to getting up early to finish the homework I should have done during the day. Ryan is doing strange leg exercises while lying prone on his bed and reviewing his Chinese. The metalic hum of our ventilator drowns out the small noises.