evans update #3

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Shanghai

Dear Ones,

We had hoped to get away from the university area this morning and do some sight seeing, but we both felt we needed to accomplish some significant tasks before we could go and play. Steve had been writing the outlines for his lectures on Thursday and Friday in his head all night. He’s been preparing a hand out for each class that has the basic outlines of what he will say. I needed to work on my lecture which I will give tomorrow. We had gotten a request from our host for the full papers to be copied ahead of time for the students and those in attendance. I had an electronic copy of mine but Steve didn’t of his. We did have to think for a moment if what our host wanted was just to see what we were going to say to make sure it was politically correct.

In any case, after a breakfast in our room with the good Cheerios from Walmart and oj from the local equivalent of 7-11, we were ready to work. At about 11 we went out for our first and maybe only run of our time here. Last evening, when we were struggling with the crowds, I couldn’t imagine trying to run here. We did find a track, so this morning we made a bee-line for the track and it was quite pleasant since no almost no one was there.

We ventured into the food court again for lunch and found a bakery that had savory sandwiches and good pastries. That was all we needed. Steve taught his class which has proved to be wonderful and challenging. The students are bold with their questions, and they have a good time going around the issues.

We determined that we would get out of the area for dinner. It was a little bit of a leap since last night we were overcome with the huge hordes of people who didn’t move very quickly f or anything. But we made a reservation for 8 at a restaurant we had visited before in 2006. It has spectacular views over the river and is in the formerly colonial area. The lights are dazzling and we had a table that could take in the buildings as well as the activity on the river. It wasn’t cheap, but it was exactly what we needed at this juncture in our trip. I’m so grateful.

Tomorrow at 10 I lecture. I will appreciate all your prayers for the day ahead. I have no idea how many people may show up. My session is scheduled for 1.5 hours. I have about 45 minutes of material, so that should work out find.

I hope you are well. We miss you all!

Love, Jan