It's Saturday evening here in Harbin, and I've got a sort of mini-break today. This morning three undergraduate students took us to the Museum of Japanese Atrocities; in 1933 the Japanese set up germ warfare facilities here in Harbin, and experimented on the local population, and, eventually, on WWII prisoners of war. Not as grisly as I'd feared; I'm not really up for atrocities in any culture, so I was a bit worried. But these three young women took the time to organize a van for us, as well as arranging our admission, and I thought I should repay their efforts. It was a good time, overall - and they took us to a wonderful restaurant for lunch.

This afternoon, when I got back to the room after lunch, I keeled over. (All of us did. Somehow, we decided, "fell asleep" doesn't really convey the sense of it. Try: "Lost consciousness." "Passed out." Chris said he fell asleep on the couch, one leg on the floor and the other foot on the sofa seat, knee up . . . sort of in that awkward way that two-year-olds fall asleep.) It has been another unbelievably intense week, and of course, I wouldn't trade a minute of it.

The highlight for me was yesterday afternoon. On Friday afternoons we meet with only one group, and we go out on the town. I asked this week's group to take me to HIT's research campus, and to show me their labs, if possible. (One guy's lab was classified, so we couldn't go there.) The students' faces just lit up when I asked, and the people who came along were very excited. I think they were surprised that I took an interest . . . and even more surprised when I dusted off my Chemistry knowledge and could ask somewhat reasonable questions about gas chromatography and battery development and medicinal chemistry. It was just wonderful to see them in situ; these people are high-level (albeit junior) researchers at one of the most prestigious universities in the country, and it was terrific to have them share their work with me.

The research campus is beautiful, too. It's set in the grounds of what used to be the city zoo. (The zoo was moved to an outlying area some years ago.) We walked all around it, and I saw more greenery - more natural greenery - than I've seen since we came here;

That little building on the left is an old zoo building; when we got there we could see that a woman was inside, exercising. I asked her for a picture and she graciously agreed:

Probably the best part of the day was when we got to see the solar eclipse. One of our party got a phone call, and we all rushed over to his fourth-floor lab to take a look. We looked through a red filter used to filter out infrared rays under a microscope, and darned if you couldn't see the thing as plain as day. I tried to take a photo, but of course the silly camera tried to correct for the light:

You can't really see it there, but that sun is not as round as it should be - the right side is kind of squished-looking. The moon was taking about 30% out of the side at that point.

After our walk, we went to dinner at the campus restaurant, and had the best meal I've had in China. Not sure why; it was sort of the same style food that we've been having, but every dish was delicious, and one of them - a savory egg custard topped with a mixture of carrots, peas, kidney beans, and corn - is one I'll remember and miss when I return home.

After dinner we walked around campus again because, as is their wont, people came out in the evening to get together with friends and relax. There was singing:

. . . led by the gentleman in black, who was teaching everyone a new song.

There was dancing.

That was kind of a slow-moving aerobics class that apparently takes place free of charge on the campus grounds every evening, all summer . . . the kind of thing people in the States pay big bucks to attend. (Sometimes it just kills me to see capitalism and web 2.0 coming to this country. We speculated that in ten years, everyone will be home dancing with their Wii . . . ) The Chinese have a proverb that says if you walk 100 steps after dinner, you will live for 100 years, and apparently they take that very seriously. (Darned good advice, too.)

At the end of our walk, we saw some more formal dancers. Apparently yesterday was their equivalent of Memorial Day, more or less, and they were gearing up for a state dignitary who was coming to HIT today because HIT is instrumental in the nation's aeronautics and space programs.

The building in front of which they're dancing is just stunning.

I'm told (I think, if their English and my comprehension serve me right) that the egg-shaped room there is a facsimile of a space station. There was also a rocket out in front of the building. (Peter, I really wanted to get a picture for you but the light was waning - but I'm sure I'll be back, since the campus is a short walk from our dorm.) I think that next Wednesday we'll actually get to go inside that building, and I can't wait.

After all of that, we went for tea at the apartment belonging to a couple who are both enrolled in the English program this summer. She's already been abroad to live in England (Leeds!!) and the Netherlands, but he probably won't get to go, as he has risen too rapidly in his field (some sort of aerospace something) and has lots of work responsibilities. It was fun to see their apartment, too. (As an energy-saving measure, the lights in the stairwell leading up to the 4th-floor flat were out when we went home, and to turn them on, guess what you do? You clap. How cool is that? I asked what you do if your hands are full, and apparently you can also stamp your feet . . . )

I got home from this outing at about 10 pm. And that's why I titled this entry "Watershed"; these people had a commitment to me from 2:00-5:00, but we just kept walking and talking and talking and talking . . . this week has been very special in the program. Somehow, I'm not sure how, we seem to have achieved a level of trust and friendship that allows them to open up a bit. (Maybe it's because I had them write down questions for me, and I answered all of them as honestly as possible - even the ones like, "Will Americans elect a mixed-race man to be President?" or "Are men and women equal in America? Who makes the decisions in your family?" or - and this is trickier - "What do Americans who have never been to China think about the Chinese?") This week during class presentations I had one guy state that when he got on the internet, he learned that much of what was written in his textbooks (especially political ones) were "mistakes." Another guy explained all about software piracy in China. We finally got to the point where I could ask them how many generations it would take for writing in Chinese characters to die out, now that they have keyboards and cell phones for text messages. The conversations are getting deeper, and there's more cultural exchange. The students generally seem very happy with all of us, and with the program, and they really hope we come back next year.

The language, too, suddenly seems more accessible. Not that I'm on the verge of either understanding or speaking it - but I can now hear some of the 6546543453 sounds they actually make between what we represent as SH and CH. And I can mimic the tones. Several times, people have complimented me on my pronunciation this week (which, I confess, makes me feel like an idiot savant or a parrot or something . . . I can't remember any of it and I can't say it again to save my life). The characters are no longer a uniform blur, and if I were to be here longer, I feel certain I'd start to be able to read things. If I were a baby, I'd start to babble in Chinese about now.

I knew that I was going to be happy that I made this trip, but now, about 60% through, I can say that I had no idea HOW happy I would be. This experience is definitely on the order of my year in Australia. I hope we are invited back next year, but even if we aren't, I will never regret having done this, and I will never think about China in the same way as before I came. And I will be constantly trying to finagle a way to get back here . . .

Off to bed. Tomorrow we're taking the train to Changchun (partly just to ride the train). Gonna be a long day, and then there's another full week ahead . . .