Got a little bug called Giardia lamblia. Don't look it up its gross. So in my final week got a few objectives here in the bizarre city of Shanghai. Monday morning, my tomorrow, your day after tomorrow, going to an Expat Coffee with my mother. I guess its where a group of not-Chinese women sit around and discuss being not-chinese and drink coffee. I am told the perimeter of the room will be full of booths where chinese try to sell us stuff. This is a weird place. Kind of like a bad dream. Then I am going to the fabric market. This is my own guilty pleasure in China. I am having a bunch of clothing made, jackets and pants etc...If I lived here, I would be a clothing designer/tailor. A large wharehouse is full of little stalls, each stall is full of every type of cloth you can imagine. If you are savy like me you find magazine clippings of the article you want, and find a similar fabric. Then you barter the price, throw in the magic phrase (Wah Zoo Zts-eye Shang hai) "I live in shanghai" show them your business card that backs you up, and not get charged like an American idiot. We are getting pretty good at it, each time we either make "friends' or enemies. Then they measure you, and tailor they garment, and you come back to pick it up in a week or so. So Monday I am picking up a couple of neat jackets and a sweater. Tuesday and Wednesday are kind of up in the air. My mom wants us to go get pedicures. I don't do shit like that. Got some b/w film left, really like one of the Buddhist temples in town but I probably got enough of that in Tibet, antique street might have a couple of good shots...Shanghai Museum is by far my favorite museum. Lots of cool stuff to see there but I've seen it a few times. Oh Wednesday I have been coerced into going to a talk about Saving Snow Leopards, it s my mom's new thing. She has never really cared about anything environmental before so it is required of me as an environmentalist to back her up. My mom also wants me to make good friends with her friend Carol the head of this foundation or something. Carol was the reason we went to Tibet, her birthday. I had a real bad cold and was wheezing the whole trip, so I didn't make a good impression. Carol has done a bit of social/environmental work all over SE Asia (yes including the Philippines) with artisanal fishers etc...my kind of stuff, so it would be in my best interests to go. Perhaps a letter of recommendation for the Fulbright? We will see. Thursday, back to the fabric market to pick up the last of my items. My friend Justin and his boyfriend are coming to Shanghai Wednesday so I will try to catch up with them somewhere. And Friday-Saturday I come home.