My nostrils was closing up, it felt. It was some insane single-degree temperature out here (in Fahrenheit, of course). The wind wasn't even blowing, but the air was insuperable. I waited for the free shuttle that would take me down this long road, through downtown, and nearly in front of the giant box called my office building.
A Chinese woman stood in front of me, craning her neck so she could see if the shuttle was coming. The huge road in front of us shot straight through the flat landscape of this little university town. So from this vantage point we could actually see if the bus was turning into it.
Still nothing. My feet were losing their feelings. I wasn't sure if I still had my ears; they seemed to have disappeared like the leaves of autumn, a distant memory. And in the meantime I was standing here, behind this Chines woman who still prefers to take the shuttle than the bus.
