It’s 8:20, Marie and I are going to the airport in an hour and a half to fly to Bangkok. Absurdly, we’re feeling mellow. Probably because our work and social lives have not afforded us much sleep this past week. It’s also been cloudy and raining in Chengdu for three full days, so my backpack is full of dirty clothes that I haven’t been able to wash, or, wouldn’t have been able to dry. I think it’s ok, they will dry so much faster on the beach (!!)

I found Cedric dead on the tiles upstairs this morning. He had been sneezing and losing weight for the last three weeks, not cleaning himself as often as he should, and looking a bit dazed in general. By no means was this loss a surprise, but we’re all a bit upset.

I realize I haven’t written in this blog for some time, and haven’t shared that in February I moved out of my room with the Wang family and into an apartment nearby the Sichuan University campus. I now live with Nick, Tenaka, and Marie, who are American, Japanese and Swedish respectively, inside the “Institute of Biogas of the Ministry of Agriculture” on the 6th floor of the first faculty building. It’s part of a traditional concrete block-building neighborhood, but is surprisingly green, with trees, potted plants, and roof gardens flowing over nearly every ledge. We’re the only foreigners in the complex, and I think our neighbors think we’re a riot.

Cedric, hoppy and snuggly, as we will remember him, was one of the three bunnies we bought upon moving in to live in our roof garden. As with all pets in China however, we bought them when they were very tiny, and have since lost two of them to an illness that we think can be attributed to having been taken from their mother too young. Anyone who has roamed the stalls of a Chinese pet market can attest to the infancy of many of the animals, and the tight quarters in which they are kept, and their often sickly conditions. Thankfully we still have Buddy, who was the only rabbit of the three growing, and has more than doubled in size since we got him. We also have about a dozen fish in our roof pool, 2 roaming lizards, a few mice, and a giant cage that our landlords used to raise geese…