Getting Ready to Leave

It's Sunday night in Beijing and I leave Tuesday in the early afternoon. So my month or so in China is winding down. It's somehow hard to believe. I've spent much of the evening trying to think about mentally shifting from SFI/Summer School mode back to Maine and then back to COA. It's time to start thinking, even if only a little, about classes and other fall term stuff. I don't have a lot of preparation to do, per se. I've taught the classes before and am pretty much ready to go. But it takes me a while sometimes to get mentally psyched and ready for a new term, especially in a fall after a summer with good and different adventures.

The CSSS crowd has pretty much cleared out. My two closest SFI colleagues are gone, as are almost all the students. It feels oddly quiet and a little lonely. Tomorrow I'll have a bunch of packing to do and emails to send and a few loose ends to tie up. Today, Doreen and I went to a big flea market sort of place south east of Tienanmen. We didn't get much, but it was a fun trip. It was tiring, however. The air today was terrible, and even though it wasn't that hot, the day took a lot out of me. I had hoped to get some work done this evening, but I haven't really had the energy to focus. So I've spent the time reading blogs and then writing this not very interesting post.

It seems like at least half of the bloggers that I read are moving this month. Perhaps this is why I'm feeling a little unsettled -- I've just spent around an hour reading lots of unsettled blog entries. In academia, I suppose that August is the big moving month. Looking back, I realize that since I graduated college in June of 1991, I've moved in August of 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. Moving can be hard; it's tiring and costly and potentially stressful. It's hard to believe that it's been over five years since my last move; the memories of moving are still quite vivid.