Where's Elvina?

I was doing so well at the blogging and updates! But now, I’m back in China. This is an intermediary update on why there have been so few updates to the blog, Flickr, or Facebook. The internet has been incredibly slow, far slower than I remember. One night, I started loading a web site, went to take a shower, came back and it was still not complete yet.

Taking the information local-side-streets is only part of the problem. The other reason for my lack of updates is the… how shall we say? Road blocks and dead ends? That’s right, the Great Firewall of China is at work again. While I was in the US, friends and family in China told me about all the sites added to the blocked list. I got a little spoiled with the fast and uncensored wireless access back home. Now I’m frustratingly annoyed with the need for a proxy server. (Which doesn’t always work, anyway.)

A mini-update for now… perhaps I will be able to elaborate on any part of it later.

July 28 Returned to China with parents, met with my aunt and cousin in Shanghai.

July 29 Saw Glen for one day when he got to Shanghai.

July 30 Returned to Suzhou with family. Sightseeing for a few days, including dinner with Ryan and Maggie.

August 2 Began traveling in China with family to Xian, Taiyuan, Pingyao.

August 8 Met Glen in Chengdu. Ate spicy food and saw pandas. Continued on to Leshan, Emei Shan, Chongqing.

August 16 Returned to Suzhou. Flight was delayed so got home at 10:30pm.

August 17 Went back to work! Set up classroom and had meetings all week.

August 22 Went to work to meet families (Saturday morning, mind you.) Went out with friends at night for my birthday.

August 24 Birthday! And first day of school.