I have about 10 million things to say, and am sorry to say I can't get to most of them.  I feel like the last two weeks were some sort of wild drug-induced fantasy.  They can't be real.  I'm back in China, sitting at my desk looking out on the rain soaked athletic field.  I'm going to teach a class in 2 hours.  It's like I never left.

If your familiar with Scav Hunt at the U of C, you have some idea as to my experience.  I feel like I just went through 3 Scav Hunt simultaneously.  I was basically constantly moving from the time my plan touched down in Minnesota, trying to see everyone again.  In Minnesota I spent time with my parents and my brother and his family.  I met my niece Zoe for the first time.  Bailey and Sidney were very happy to see me, and cried when I had to go.  Great kids.  I didn't get to see my high school friend Eric (scheduling problem) but I did hang out with Scuzz.  He's been in Argentina for the past 9 months, so we had a lot to talk about.  It was really wonderful, like he understood some of what had been happening to me.  And it was really interesting to hear his experiences as well.  He seems to be having trouble coming to terms with being American.  I think he really helped me get out of 'china mode'.

Then I went on an 8 hours car trek to Chicago.  I stopped in Madison to say hey to Sam Friedman, a good college friend who's now getting a PhD in Astrophysics something or other.  Finally I reach Chicago.  I can't go over everything so I'll give you a feel of the chaos of my average  day there.  I wake up at 8 AM after having stayed up to 4 AM playing Mega Man 3 with the other judges, we rush over the Rockefeller Chapel to hear one of the teams play the Beach Boys on the church carillon (bell tower).  I then go to the quads to get a free manicure and massage (another Scav hunt item) only to then rush off to meet a friend for lunch, another for afternoon coffee, and then back to Scav to judge some more items.  That's how the whole week went, running everywhere to try to fit 30 hours of activity into each day.  Check out the Scav Hunt list at http://scavhunt1.uchicago.edu.  The list has 15 pages, 286 items, and 9 languages.  I cannot emphasis how incredible the Hunt is.

On the non-Scav front, I saw a great number of friends.  Everybody was surprised, and I revealed in it.  Some screamed, some lost ability to think for a minute, some got angry, and some (my casual friends) thought it was totally normal that I would come back for Scav.  I really enjoyed hanging in the Pit with Hashem, Loud Music and Drinking Night at Hitchcock, watching "Funky Monkey" with the Judges, getting to know some first years better than most, being analyzed by Mary Fee, and sneaking out Friday night. (you see Megan, you get two!)

Both going to America and coming back to China have been so bizarre in that they seem so normal.  When I left the Changsha airport some cabbie tries to offer me a ride to town for 100 RMB.  What do I look like a rube!  You can take the shuttle for 16 RMB.  Then when I get to town another cabbie tries to offer a ride to the train station for 20 RMB, when its a 4 RMB ride, tops!  Do I have an idiot sign on my back?  I guess it was the luggage.  But I'm already annoyed at people yelling "Hello" to me at the top of their lungs.  Not a good sign.

I want to thank Hashem, Courtney, Ruth, Mary Fee, and Christian for being the best friends ever and helping me pull off this truly zany scheme.  I should be sad right now but I'm really, really happy.  Emails from certain people will do that to you.  That and I just just had a cup of coffee and am pumped up on caffeine. 

Two months.

-The Wandering Norseman-