Off and Running Again . . .

Barely 48 hours after I got off the plane from Amsterdam, signaling the end of my NEH Holocaust Seminar, I am getting on another plane to Shanghai connecting to Urumqi, China to begin my studies on the Silk Road. Whew! I am so dreading my plane ride because I was in transit back to NYC on Wednesday for 24 miserable hours and the plane is not my favorite place to be right now, my bed would be heavenly. I am a little rested now and am not really suffering from jet lag, but I am really tired. My brain is not at 100% capacity, but I am going to try to make it work :) I will be traveling the northern Silk Road, working my way from west to east (Urumqi, Turpan, Dunhuang, Lanzhou, Xian), and ending in Shanghai - one of my most favorite cities in the world, so beautiful and full of life! The purpose of this trip is to study the effects of the Silk Road on the development of Chinese civilization - I know it sounds pretty daunting. But I will only be gone for 2 1/2 weeks as opposed to 5 weeks, and I am not rushing around on a tight schedule. It will be more of a leisurely stroll, much better for my body to handle because I am running out of steam. Hopefully, I will have lots to share with everyone when I get back. Wish me luck!