(Back) In session

Back in Shanghai, back at Fudan, it's like I never left. That's partly, I suppose, because the academic year just kept chugging along all the while I was away - Christmas and January 1 aren't holidays here. (One visiting professor gave lectures December 24th and 26th.) Relatedly, academic terms have a momentum all their own, and this is still the same one as in November, though it's finally winding up. But it feels like I hardly left (certainly not for five long weeks!) partly because I stepped right back into my life here: just fifteen minutes after arriving at my apartment here I was out the door again, showered and changed, to help put out a fire (a visitor was having trouble accessing his email; best to have a fellow American help him install VPN)! It's good to be home. (Notice how I mentioned two visitors but forgot I'm one myself?!)