Replying to Kat Laughing and Margo: China is great. We wake up every day to the school P.A. system playing " The MArch of the Mighty Red Army", followed by (sometimes) an instrumental version of "Sexual Healing" or sometimes ( I am not making this up) " Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" and always a gospel version of "Heart of Gold" ( ...and I'm gettin' old" indeed) plus exortations in Chinese to "do well and study hard today." The air is polluted beyond belief, the school food varies from mediocre to awful, and the goods and services that I had come to expect in the U.S. just ain't happenin' here: WE love it. We've been here two years. We are thinking about going back to the states for a year( so my daughter can finish high school in the U.S. and then coming back. We get free meals, housing, internet plus about $600 U.S. each month, which is just a huge amount of money here. So I haven't paid a bill, driven a car, or had to suck up to someone I hate for the whole time I've been here. It's quite liberating to be away from the U.S. for a while. I realy miss libraries, thrift stores, and locally owned music stores, also the northwest skies, and the sound of boats and train whistles. I've always lived around communities of boat people, and that is far away from this part of China. Biggest hit smasheroo song? " Do you wanna Dance?" Nineteen English words! When I quit my job in the U.S, my dear friend Donna gave me her Lyle banjo on the condition that I learn to play it in a month, I got the red Pete Seeger book, found the matching record in the local Sally Ann, and the rest of the story just fell right in line. Best to you from the middle of the middle kingdom! Seth