Moral support and encouragement comes in all forms. In early September, it was the Chinese traffic warden who watched me cross the road, calling out "yi (one) - er (two) - yi - er" in time with my running steps, mimicking me jogging on the spot.
There's a simple reason for the general upward trend of prices in Beijing and, surprisingly, it has nothing to do with all that economic jargon floating around about productivity gains, wage costs and so on.
"So, what will you do for Thanksgiving?", asked one of my students. My mind whirred, as I tried to come up with an answer to something I've never even thought about.
One of my three secrets for Living Happily in China (my newly published book) is to take the public bus. It's incredible what I've learned by using public transportation in 20 years.
My legs are amazing. They may not be much to look at - far too short, rather muscular and prone to a most undesirable smattering of cellulite. But they are obedient. When I decided to take on the challenge of running the 2010 Berlin Marathon in September, my legs were on board with equal enthusiasm and they diligently supported me through the endless hours of pounding the pavement, rain hail or shine, through the steaming summer of Shanghai.