How come you're going to China?

Yes I did leave some suspense from the last entry but honestly I wasn't even sure what I was going to be doing on the other side of the world. My long time friend and fellow mechanical engineer Conor has worked for a company ANCO engineers since graduation doing earthquake simulators and shake tables. One of their techs couldn't make the trip and I just happen to have 3 weeks to kill. Ok so it's not that random, I interned for them for a summer in college so I'm not totally jumping in before testing the water, but it's more like a cannonball into the water... after seeing a picture of it... a small thumbnail... like 5 years ago... and it was a little blurry. But nonetheless I'm off to do some training at Jiao Tong University near Shanghai for a week with Conor, then to Guizhou for an installation of a table. 2 days solo in Guizhou while Conor helps out with another project, then I'll meet up with him to finish the installation then back to the farm! It should be a crazy trip but I'm excited to learn more about earthquakes and simulators, more excited to travel to a country where I've never been, and incredibly excited to be going with Conor. We've had practice with building Legos and road trips to Aspen, we're just going farther and building bigger. Unfortunately China blocks blogs (and facebook and youtube) so I won't be able to update till I get back but I promise pictures and at least one good story. But for now, zài jiàn！