Calm This Morning, 100% Chance of Freaking...Is That a Submarine?

The knowledge that a trip to China is only days away has done wonders for how we feel about life in general.  It has not, however, been good for our psyche.  We can be calm one moment and then some stray thought wanders by and we go into freak mode and one of us gets worried about not speaking Chinese, or "why don't I know the Chinese character for BATHROOM!!?"  Or gets worried about some facet of the trip.  "Why don't we have RMB right NOW?"  Fortunately, as a couple that has been together for many, many years, we tend to freak in turn.  Which is handy, since the non-freaking person can calm and allay the fears of the freaker.

I think I have been freaking at a somewhat steady rate.  Usually about three or four times a day.  I think of some facet of the trip where my decisions or directions get us lost, run over by a hundred bicycles, or arrested for my innate curiosity concerning military equipment.  "What?  You think I just told the driver to take us to Vietnam?"  "What are you worried about? They yield to pedestrians!"  Or "Look, a submarine!!  I'm gonna get a picture!" Or, "Can you tell me where the Nuclear Vessels are?"  (For that last one, the answer is, "across the Bay, in Alameda."  Thank you Star Trek)

I take pictures of submarines whenever I see them.  It can't be helped.

It's a sickness, what can I say?

To help me feel better, Cora consented to let me go to the book store.  (I felt better the moment she said "yes.") We purchased a couple simple phrase books.  I'm thinking about putting the most useful ones on my forearm, in permanent ink.  I think we are set for everyday things like toilet and bus, and coffee, but I don't know where to find this one, though:  "Please let me go, I just wanted a picture of a submarine, I am a FRIEND of the People's Republic of China."

This is the last day of a very long week.  Unbelievably, I have managed to land a job every day of this week.  I had to let one go because we were at the vet with Sully, but that's probably a good thing, since I am not sure how I would have handled a call from the vet concerning his passing in front of a room full of kids.  "Ummm, Mr. H is crying..."  That's not so good for my macho image.  

We will be seeing several sights in Beijing first thing off...assuming we survive the airport and finding a ride to our hotel.  Then we will go to another city for Chloe, then on to Guangzhuo for our final lot of papers.  We will be flying out of Hong Kong.  Incidentally, there are probably some submarines in the Guangzhuo area.  It's a good thing that kids make it hard to scale fences or look inconspicuous.  Besides, I imagine I'll be photographing a new model instead of some dumb old submarine!