Two Years and Counting...

Clink-clink-clink! Your attention, please, everyone: I'd like to propose a toast to myself and all of my China 11 colleagues--today, July 4, 2007, is our two year anniversary in China. We arrived on a similarly hot and humid day two years ago, generally with no idea what we'd just gotten ourselves in to. Most of us are still here to see this day, and for our sheer ability to stick it out and even thrive in this challenging and oft-bewildering place, I raise my glass of cold Xue Hua beer. Here's to us.

(OK, so this photo of me and pal Clayton from TX, lately of Gansu Province, was from months ago, but the sentiment remains.)