Alex is leaving tomorrow morning, and I will follow in another ten days. His last stop at my house, Pippa-cat was in a wompus mood and hissed at him instead of bidding a fond farewell. Today, though, she’s been following me around and coming to talk frequently. Little does she know that we’re both abandoning her for months!

On my part, the imminence of Alex’s departure is making mine more clear. Not that I haven’t lived abroad before, but this is a new situation, going with Alex to face our first experiment in cohabitation longer than a ten-day vacation. I fully expect it to work out, but all the same it is a momentous thing to be doing. Plus the whole ‘oh, crap, I’m leaving the country in ten days – how many things am I forgetting to do?’ thought train, follow closely by ‘what the hell am I going to do in Beijing?’

I’m sure I will have my own stories actually from China soon enough, but in the meantime, I found a fun list of things not to say in China…