The path to fame

I once heard a proverb that really struck me as highly insightful. And by "heard" I mean "made up". It goes something like "The path to fame is paved with Blogger and ClustrMaps." It may have lost something in translation. I noticed on my ClustrMap (the map with the dots over on the side of my blog) that I've had a nice round 1600 visitors to my blog. At this rate, I'll have the most popular weblog around the year 235623. I did the math in my head, so the exact year may be a little off. It's an exciting prospect, though I imagine that my eventual death may impede the process. Or speed it up. Some people become more famous AFTER they're gone. We'll just have to see. I will say that the 1 millionth person to visit my blog gets a free t-shirt and a gift certificate to Build a Bear. You have to build a panda bear, though.

Now that the silliness is out of the way, I have some good news. Last night we got a new Sister! Things are really taking off across town at Shiyan University the last few weeks. It seems like the students there are being pretty receptive. Exciting times are upon us. We just have to open our eyes to see it.

Tomorrow we'll be getting a visitor in from Hong Kong. Harmony, a girl who taught at the Medical School my first year, is coming up for a visit. She's been teaching at a school in Hong Kong the last two years and is coming up to see old friends. I think I'm the only foreigner she knows here, but there are still some Chinese around who knew her. Derek is leaving tonight to go to Jingzhou for the weekend, so he's bummed that he can't meet her. BUT she'll be here for 5 days or so, and he'll only be gone for three. There's still a chance for love to blossom, Derek. Except that I'm pretty sure Harmony is already taken. But things can change.

Today should be a fun day. It's sunny, slightly cool/chilly, I invited some students to lunch and I'm waiting to hear back from them, I'm going to check out this fancy gym with Jeremy at 4:30, and it's free night at Family Pizza for foreigners. I don't know why we get free pizza, but we do. One night only. I'm not asking questions. We may get ambushed by people who want us to teach them English, but at least there will be a lot of us and we'll be able to stick together and raid the buffet. I know I promised pictures about two weeks ago, but I keep forgetting to get them. They're on Yvonne's camera. I'll try to do that soon. I'm off to study Chinese, so everyone have a great day. And someone call me!