Summer Ends

Well, its technically Labor Day weekend in the US right now. I say technically because that does not really affect me here at all. However, it is symbolic in marking the ending of summer. The weather in Beijing is an indication that summer is over; its been cold and rainy all weekend. This is good for my marathon training (6 more weeks!) and its been an overall relief to the hot and humid August weather here. Thinking about summer makes me think about how I've spent the last 3 full summers in China, plus 2 weeks in China 4 summers ago.

This is kind of amazing to me, especially because I like to think of summers as time to go camping and spend time outdoors. China is not quite conducive to these activities. I have to admit when I think about it, I'm a little bitter at how long I have spent here, giving up the activities that I like to do this research project. But as I look at how I have spent the past several summers in China, I can see progress in my research and it is rewarding.

2006. I came to Beijing for 2 weeks to visit a friend who lives in the countryside outside of Beijing and to work with her family on their farm. It was a good way to introduce me to country life in China and to start to think about what types of projects I could do.

2007. I stayed in Beijing for 2 months doing preliminary research on rice production at China Agricultural University. I did get to take a few trips outside of Beijing to see the countryside, but I spent the entire summer thinking about future summers I could spend actually being in the countryside for an extended period of time.

2008. I was in Harbin taking language classes. I got to spend some time in the countryside, but not that much. I was feeling quite productive, however, because I was in a classroom learning about rice production and building the necessary vocabulary to do my project.

2009. This was the summer I finally got to spend in the countryside where some of the best rice in China is produced. I spent a lot of time traveling back and forth to Harbin (about 1n hour and a half away) so it wasn't quite the ideal living and working on the countryside that I had anticipated, but I got to learn a lot. And I learned this summer that summers in Harbin are very nice and might even balance out the cold winters.