What better gift from China than a pack of smokes with the double happiness character on them. The double happiness is the character at all the weddings. It is a major symbol in China. A lot of men smoke in China and why not, you can smoke any where you want here. Ok, not in the hospital but just about every where else. Double happiness; I know cigarettes will kill you and I assume these will taste bad, so when I give them to people that I know who smoke, I will be twice as happy. I am just kidding, John. I did go all out and I got ten packs of smokes for the people that do smoke. I am out around 15 dollars, so really do hope you all enjoy them. It will give me something to share at the American Welding Society meeting if I get to speak. I and watch Mark Kerley light one up and enjoy. Actually the smokes are not bad here and probably have less stuff put in them than back in the USA. You may not want to drink the milk here but the important stuff, like cigarettes is pretty safe.
As for me, this is what I like about China. I get to be around the students. It is fun to teach here. This was last nights English Corner, where Chinese students get a chance to practice their English skills with real western speaking people. It is almost the end of the semester and I have finally figured out ways to make students talk. Tell them it is a test. Everything here is all about the exams. It is difficult to get people to come to class but if it is a test everyone is there. It has been a very interesting four months. I can't honestly say that I have loved every minute of it. Tim Murphy was in the hospital, I sat on a hard seat for twelve hours on the train to WuWei, I struggled through some classes where no one did their home work, and you never know if the internet will work or if it will work long enough to let you post what ever you are writing. For the must part, my time in China has been a wonderful adventure. I have met a lot of wonderful and interesting people. I have seen many things that as a child in Pike County I only dreamed about seeing. I have eaten new foods, delicious new foods. I will soon be back to my regular life. Which means I will soon be back with my sweet wife the women that I love so much. She was so nice to allow me to spend my time here because she knows this was something that I had wanted to do for fifty years. I do hope that I will be able to come back. I would like nothing more than to see what life is like for some of my students in a couple of years or to be able to teach them again. There are still things I would like to see and do here. Friday I do plan to go to the calligraphy museum and then maybe have lunch at the KFC. The KFC is different here, so I have been told. I don't think you actually order a bucket of chicken here. I only have 12 days to find out and the clock is ticking.
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