So, how was China?

On my last day in Beijing, I took the subway to meet friends for dinner.  It had just rained but was otherwise a beautiful night: the Air Quality Index was low, and the sky was clear and dark.  On the way to the subway, I was hyperaware of my surroundings:  there was the little old man with the equally tiny (unleashed) dog, the young girls (women?) strolling together in meticulously chosen outfits, the grandparents playing with their grinning grandchild.  I dipped into the Wu-Mart (the Fred Meyer of Beijing) to see if they had ribbon, but was disappointed; I bypassed the McDonalds and hopped lightly out of the way of the car driving on the sidewalk.  

It all felt so wonderfully normal, and I thought of myself at the beginning of my time here: out in the suburbs, too scared to take public transportation, with nary a Chinese word to my name.  Things have changed.

Limits

Last week, I went on a three-day sea kayaking trip for school.  The day before we left, the kids and I piled into a basement classroom to get prepared for kayaking on the ocean, and in doing so we watched a video put forth by the New Zealand Wilderness Somebody-or-other that gave us five rules to follow for a safe outdoorsy trip.  The rules were as follows:

1.  Plan your trip.
2.  Check the weather.
3.  Tell somebody.
4.  Know your limits.
5.  Take sufficient supplies.

Hm, I thought.  Know your limits, huh?