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Going home

So yesterday morning I met up with the 4 American special effects crew on this new movie and got in a van with them to go to Yi Xian, which is where they will be shooting. I explained to them up front that I had not signed on for the whole shoot, and was actually hoping to meet them first and see what I was getting into before I decided. Anyway, we passed through the town of Yi Xian, which was a complete dump, and then continued on to the middle of nowhere, which is where the shooting locations and housing are. The housing they had arranged for the foreign crew was this miserable little tourist resort, which was the best you could get in the area, and which was not even as good as my hotel in Kashgar. When the special effects guys expressed their dissatisfaction, the location manager suggested we take a look at the accommodation for the Chinese crew, in order to gain a greater appreciation of their high class treatment.

Then we drove around more dirt roads to look at 3 shooting locations, and while we were in the van to the second location, the head of the special effects crew asked me what I was thinking. I told him I was thinking of going home and fixing bikes for a while.

Long story short, they found another translator to replace me immediately, and I got back to Beijing that night and went to the wrap party for Kite Runner. Today I collected my pay for my one day of work, and bought a plane ticket home. I will be flying into New York on the 18th, where I will be staying with Seb and Jenny? Then I will come home for some Hannukah/Christmas fun. I'm thinking maybe of going to the DC area around New Years and visiting more people around there, and then maybe ending up in Virginia for MAGFest on the 4th? Jared?

In the meantime I am going to party all week and try and figure out what I'm doing with all of the things sitting around in my apartment.

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