Counting down -- six days to go to departure

The days just before we leave for China are always a bit poignant. The best of Michigan summer is in full bloom and I'm going to say good-bye. When I reach the other side of the Pacific the loss will not seem like much but right now, I relish the last few days.

This morning was cold -- too cold to eat on the patio out back. Sad, because there are not many mornings left for coffee on the patio. But why would I complain about it being cold when it could be stinking hot with sweat pouring off my brow.

One of the final preps is deciding what to take for gifts. The Chinese are great gift-givers, and we always take things for the principal administrators at the university. Last year I asked a Chinese friend who is also a professor what is appropriate. This year I am bringing his list.

Up on the floor of the staging room is a pile of catalogs, viewbooks, and magazines from American universities. It's a random collection but the idea is to just give them a taste of academia in another part of the world. Today I hit the local Meijer (great groceries) store and loaded up on some interesting, very American, food items: bags of various trail mixes and boxes of herbal tea. China has enough tea to float an armada, but there's just NO herbal tea. Ah, one more thing to tick off the list.

Just ran downstairs to try to find the Santa hat for the day we celebrate Christmas. No dice. It's disappeared. We've borrowed a full costume, but there's no hat. Have to check some other spots in the house. I tucked the "bridal veil" into the bag today. One of last year's team fashioned it from the wicker inside of a straw hat and a mosquito net we found in the local market. It looks perfect when you put a pretty young woman inside it! That's for the courtship and marriage day when we'll stage a mock wedding.

All the little details add up. But the end result will be worth the effort. In just a few days we'll be talking to Chinese professors and students who will deeply appreciate the fact that we came. And that's what it's all about, isn't it?