THURSDAY, 4/2/15

Today is weird. I’m going to school, and Judy isn’t. That hasn’t happened too much this year. I hope she stays out of my kitchen.

Early classes today, so I arrived at school around 7:15 with plenty of time to set-up and hook-up everything. Classes go well. Afterwards, I organized my notes and materials for tomorrow’s classes. At lunch, I visited with everyone, had some Starbucks, and talked to Steve and Josie, the teachers I’m accompanying on the trip to Tibet. I spent the rest of the afternoon making sure I had everything ready for the Orchestra Club. Turned out to be a waste of time. There was a cooking competition after school everyone attended, so no orchestra club today. Maybe next week.

Back at the apartment, Judy had been to get a haircut, and was back sorting out a few things in the apartment. We ate dinner, made plans for Friday, and I did my usual nighttime routine of reading the digital Star-Telegram and the AP News App for anything I might have missed in the newspaper.

This is the train platform at Yonghegong as the subway pulls in.

FRIDAY, 4/3/15

Back to school for me, but not so early. Judy is still enjoying Spring Break. I had another good day of classes. We’re beginning to hear where some of the 12^th grade students will be attending university next year. There are a couple of students going to Cornell, a Berkley, a Duke, Boston College and Case/Western. We’ll be hearing about a lot more in the next few weeks.

After lunch I headed back to the apartment. I have two chores for the afternoon. First job is to meet our Chinese travel agent at the apartment and pay for the airfare to Barcelona for our cruise this summer. After she leaves, I go down and jump on the bike for the ride to the police station. Whenever we leave China on a trip, we have to register when we return. They have to see our passports, our previous registration form, and the lease agreement for our apartment. I think the clerk is beginning to recognize me.

Judy took a few pictures as she walked over to Capita Mall this afternoon. The ayi came in and Judy went to Starbucks to give her some room. Some of the sidewalks are nice with lots of tile and brick, but lots of them are in rough shape.

Judy and a small group head over to Lily nails for some relaxing. Dom and I met them afterwards for Mexican food at Q-Mex. It was pretty good. We finished up the evening making Dom and Shannon watch drumline and drum corp videos. They don’t have a similar activity in Australia, so we have fun showing them some of our favorite groups.

After our crazy rickshaw ride yesterday, the hotel was a nice quiet retreat. We’re at breakfast early today because we have to go the airport for our flight home. While standing in line for omelets, a well-dressed women walked up, asking Judy about the omelet cook, and if he could cook two a once. He was cooking both of ours in the same pan, at the same time, so the answer was yes. When we sat down, Judy said she thought the woman looked like Nancy Pelosi (minority leader of the US House of Representatives). I didn’t get a good look at her, so I didn’t have much of an opinion. Judy pulled out the phone, checked Nancy Pelosi’s twitter account and, sure enough, she had tweeted about some meetings in Cambodia and then Hanoi. Crazy!

We met our guide and driver at 7:00 am, and headed out to the airport. We didn’t have any collisions, so it was almost boring. The airport was brand new, and some of their systems were a little slow. When we arrived in Beijing, the weather was cooler, but not cold. It was nice to get home, and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening unpacking and relaxing. I have school tomorrow, and spent time making sure my materials were packed and ready to go for my early Thursday morning departure.

We had a restful sleep, and I woke up early (time zone change). It was a beautiful morning

HALONG BAY VIDEO CLIP:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1chm9yxi492pubx/15.3.31.Halong%20Bay.MOV?dl=0

First thing on the schedule today is a short stop at an island with some elevated observation areas. I made the climb, and the view was beautiful. There are lots of boats on the water today. After the island stop, we began to head back to the pier for our drive back to Hanoi. While we cruised back, they served a great breakfast. We ate really well on this cruise.

This was the view halfway up. This is as far as I chose to climb

The cruiser in the background was ours.

Back on land, our guide and driver were waiting, and we started the drive back to Hanoi. Traffic is lighter today and the back is quicker. There were still some of those hair-raising moments when drivers were passing each other in both directions on narrow roads. As we got back to Hanoi, our driver had to make a sudden stop when a car in front decided he had to move into a turning lane (and there wasn’t a hole). A scooter smacked into the back of our car. I’ve been in Asia for almost two years, and haven’t been involved in any wrecks. In less than twenty-four hours, we’ve had two collisions. Beijing will seem peaceful.

This guy had a kite he was trying to carry on the back of the scooter.

Citizens pay homeowners tax based on the width of the home. Lots of tall skinny homes. A wider home bumped them up into the next tax bracket

I was intrigued with how the wires were “carefully” organized on the utility poles. I posted a couple of crazy infrastructure examples.

Back at the hotel, our guide arranged a rickshaw ride through the “Old Quarter”. I thought we’d seen crazy traffic, but this little excursion was eye-opening. This is a crazy town. Check out the two videos below:

Old Quarter rickshaw ride videos: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tkcr0gudisnky77/15.3.31.Hanoi%20Rickshaw.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8gl32pws1hqlce5/15.3.31.Hanoi%20Rickshaw%202.MOV?dl=0

We enjoyed another great breakfast before meeting our guide for the drive to Halong Bay. As we exit the hotel there are several armed guards escorting conference delegates (not sure what conference) to their cars.

The drive to Halong Bay is interesting. The city section is busy with way too many motorbikes weaving in and out everywhere. A bus squeezed our car out at an intersection, resulting in a broken rear-view mirror for us, and a long scratch for the bus. Both vehicles pull over and discuss their options. The bus is going to Halong Bay also, so they’ll solve it when we arrive. The drive is slow. It’s a 2-lane highway with lots of trucks and buses, as well as cars and motorbikes. We arrived at noon after 4 hours on the road. The arrival pier is comfortable and we load the transport boat for the 15-minute ride out into to our cruiser.

The boat is nice. There are 10 guests, including us. Our cabin is nice, with big windows and a private balcony. After we unpack our bags, we enjoy lunch while the boat begins the trip through the bay. The beauty of all the limestone islands is striking. We’re told nearly 2000 islands are scattered through the area.

Our first stop is a small cave where we disembark and take a short tour. Next stop is a fishing village. Most of the local fishermen on the bay live on baots or floating “cabins” in this cove. A local woman paddles us around the area, giving us a close look at the lifestyle. After our tours, we load back on the cruiser and travel to the spot on the bay where we’ll be “parked” for the evening. Our boat guide explains there are 600 licensed “cruise” boats on the bay. 200 of them are night cruisers like ours.

Dinner is very good. The evening is calm and the bay is beautiful. I can’t imagine a more relaxing setting.

We were up early. The Hanoi time zone is one hour behind Beijing, so Hanoi 6:00 am, is what our bodies thinks is 7:00 am. Breakfast is nice.

We meet our guide and driver at 9:00 and head for the Tomb of Ho Chi Min. The streets of Hanoi are so interesting with all the motorbikes. Our guide told us that the Hanoi population is close to 7 million, and there are more than 4 million motorbikes. I believe it! Many of the intersections (including large ones) don’t have traffic lights. I don’t know how so many vehicles get through with so few scratches.

The queue to go inside the tomb is LONG. We never planned on going inside. It’s an impressive area, with gardens and the home where Ho Chi Min lived from 1954 till his death in 1969.

The Presidential Palace.  Ho Chi Min never lived in it.  Too opulent

After the tomb visit, we got back in the car and drove to the Temple of Literature, the first university in Vietnam. It’s an important site for students to visit, and we saw many school groups and individuals getting their pictures taken. There was also a temple honoring Confucius on the property.

We had a nice lunch with several Vietnamese dishes. One of the things we’ve enjoyed about this travel company (we used them in Malaysia and Bali), are the nice meals they arrange during the tours.

It was a 9-course meal!

After lunch, we visited the Hanoi Hilton (nickname), the prison site where American pilots were held that were shot down over North Vietnam during the war. I didn’t realize the building had a long history as a prison, dating back to the 1800’s. It was a landmark building for 100 years during the colonial French times, with a brutal reputation.

The “Hanoi Hilton” entrance

After the Hanoi Hilton tour, we had a chance to walk through some of the Hanoi Old Quarter. We had coffee and tea in a well-known shop, hidden at the end of long and narrow alley. We were supposed to take a rickshaw ride around the Old Quarter, but decided to move the tour to our return to Hanoi on Tuesday. We were dropped off back at the hotel and enjoyed a chance to relax around the pool and the room.

At the end of this alley was the coffee shop

They haven’t quite figure out how to “hide the wiring”

It’s BISS Spring Break for the next week, and time for us to go to Vietnam. Our flight doesn’t leave until 3:30 pm, so we have lots of time to sleep late and leisurely pack. We leave around 12:45 pm, arriving at the airport at 1:30. We can’t remember when we flew out of this terminal (#2). We usually fly out of Terminal 3, so the check-in procedure is a different. We have to go through a minor security check, just to get to the check-in desk.  The line isn’t long to get our boarding passes, and the main security line isn’t too bad. It gets slow because the guards are really thorough when they “wand” the people going through.

The Vietnam Airlines flight leaves close to the scheduled departure. There’s a different “vibe” on this plane. We’ve flown lots of different carriers, and these attendants are less friendly than some of the others. They’re efficient, but fewer smiles. The flight is 3 ½ hours long. Arrival in Hanoi is easy and when we get through the short immigration line, our luggage is already out. As we go out to the arrival hall, our guide for Vietnam meets us quickly. He’s friendly and it isn’t long until we’re in our car and headed into Hanoi. The airport is brand new, as is the wide highway going into town.

2 Video links to our drive into Hanoi.  Lots and lots of motorbikes.  Did I say a lot of motorbikes?  You can hear our guide talking in the background.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/69dfn70s2eoetcq/15.3.28.Hanoi%20arrival%201.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zl3gl2yqm3g20sh/15.3.28.Hanoi%20arrival%202.MOV?dl=0

It’s Saturday night! Really lively!

When we get into the older part of Hanoi where our hotel (Sofitel Metropole) is located, the roads narrow, and motorbikes are swarming everywhere. It’s a fun ride. The hotel is really nice. It was built over 100 years ago, but the renovations they’ve done are great. As we drive up, there are 3-4 heavily armed guards outside, as well as body and luggage scanners as we walk in. There is a big conference in town, and some of the diplomats are staying here.

It’s kinda fancy for complimentary water, isn’t it?

Today is the BISS Elementary Talent Show. It’s a huge hit, and the student performers did a nice job. Judy is really glad it’s over. This is probably the last “Talent Show” she’ll have to organize, and it’s not necessarily a sad moment.

My classes are good. I spend some time working with Josie on visas and the deposit for my upcoming trip to Tibet at the end of April. Tibet was on my “list” when we came to China and I had reconciled myself to the realization that it might not happen. Josie and Steve had been checking into it, and decided to go. I was lucky they included me. It takes a special travel permit to enter Tibet, so there’s paperwork to be submitted, and it needs to go in now. Judy isn’t really interested in Tibet, so she’s opted out on this trip.

Back at UHN after school, we met Dom and left to meet Shannon (she had meetings after school) at Homeplate BBQ. We couldn’t get a taxi and ended up walking. It’s not that far (slightly over a mile), but I wasn’t wearing my walking shoes. I was glad when we finally got to the restaurant. We had fun talking about the talent show and all the cute acts. It was a nice way to wind down the day, and kick of BISS Spring Break!

I get to school around 7:15 and start getting the room set-up and my materials plugged in and turned on.  Classes go well. It’s interesting to me how two classes can be so different, when I’m giving them the same material.  One group is attentive and quick to volunteer, ask questions, and respond.  The other group sits quietly, and don’t seem too inclined to take an active participatory role.

After the classes leave, I organize materials for tomorrow’s class.  The school wants us to develop questioning skills in the students.  My attempt is to have them write three questions about the class lesson, and turn them in to me as they go out the door at the end of class.  Their questions give good feedback on what I need to reinforce in our next class, before I move on to a new subject.  There is a wide discrepancy in their ability to put together good sentences and questions.  It’s also interesting the vocabulary I assume they have as I’m breezing through our discussions.  I find myself going back and explaining some of what I considered very basic items.  Several of the students seem to have solid understanding of our subjects, but I too often assume that everyone is “caught up”.

My afternoon plan is to write a piano part for our new orchestra club arrangement.  I have a program, “Photoscore” that can take a pdf copy of a piano part, and convert it into a file “Finale” can read.  I open the program, import the pdf., and make some adjustments (there are always a few things that don’t read correctly).  Next step is to export it as an xml file that Finale can import.  After it opens in Finale, I make more adjustments to clean up the part.  There are always a few problems that take me forever to solve (I don’t do this often enough, and forget how to do it).  Today’s problem is transposition.  I should be able to “select all”, and transpose the part to the key I need.  I could move it down a M3, but I couldn’t get the key signature to change accordingly.  It took me two hours to eventually find the “quick” way to do it (3 clicks).  I print a copy, then take all the parts to the copy machine and get parts and extras for everyone.  I’m ready for orchestra.

Unfortunately, Orchestra Club didn’t meet.  The students had a surprise meeting after school.  Oh well, I’ll have the music ready to go for next week.

As I came home, I noticed that “Spring had sprung”.

Judy had a dress rehearsal after school with her elementary students participating in the talent show.  Naturally there were the last minute “Mommy” changes, (music swapped out).  Judy had carefully timed out all the music to be used and put it in a playlist.  Now it has to be edited to usable lengths (no 6 minute dance pieces, etc.), and placed in the proper spot in the iTunes playlist for the show.  Fun, Fun, Fun!

TUESDAY, 3/24/15

The first half of the day is nothing out of the ordinary for either of us.  Judy heads to work.  There’s lots of preparation for the BISS Elementary Talent Show on Friday.  After school, there’s a “girls night out” at Taco Bar.  We ate there a few weeks back after the musical, and enjoyed it.  Tonight’s group is a combination of current and former BISS teachers who still leave and teach in Beijing.

I work on class planning around the apartment and then do a swim session. I leave around 2:00 to travel to BHSFIC.  I’m judging the Karaoke Contest this afternoon.  I arrived around 3:30, thinking it wasn’t starting at 4:15 to 4:30, but I’m told it won’t start until 5:30, so I “chill”.  The first round consisted of 12 groups, split into 6 competition groups.  Our job was to select one winner from each of the 6 groups.  Then, those that “failed”, competed again in a consolation round.  The winner of the consolation rounds also competes in the finals, which are held next week.  The students did okay with a few bright spots.  I’m sure they’ll be more polished by next week’s “Finals”.  I got home about 8:00 pm.  Judy makes it in around 8:30.

WEDNESDAY, 3/25/15

My day starts early since our Ayi comes in at 7:45 am on Wednesdays.  I decided to head out around 8:30 am to the wet market for fresh fruits and vegetables.  It’s a 5-minute walk, and the weather is really nice.  I’ve become a familiar face to them and they start guiding me quickly to the things they’re sure I need.  I usually get apples, eggs, green beans, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, and lately the strawberries have been really nice.

These pictures are of my walk from the apartment to the wet market.

Here are some pictures of the wet market.  It’s in a basement type area, underneath a massage parlor/internet cafe.

The walk home!

This is the neighborhood UPS center. Vans bring the packages here, where they’re sorted among the drivers of the motorized carts and then delivered.

It’s a shoe store?

I drop the stuff at the apartment when I finish, grab the rolling cart, and take off for Metro.  After my Metro stop, it’s time to swim.  When I get back to the apartment after the swim, the Ayi is gone.  I eat some lunch, and begin finishing an arrangement for the orchestra club.  They’ve requested some new material

Josie, from BHSFIC, and Dr. Prettyman had invited me to eat dinner at a new Indian restaurant tonight.  I meet them at a train station near the restaurant, and we walk 6 or 7 blocks till we stumble on it.  It’s actually close to Tim’s Texas BBQ.  The food is good and we have a great time trading teaching stories from our past.  Josie lived in El Paso, and taught at Santa Teresa HS in New Mexico, so we have some commonality.  I get home around 8:30, and finish getting everything together for my early morning departure tomorrow.

The first thing we checked this morning was our hot water status. It’s not good news. Judy adjusts her morning routine to reduce the amount of time she has to spend in a cold shower. Ugh! The one “positive” out of this is that she’s away early, and doesn’t have any taxi issues.

I plan my morning around the UHN management office opening so I can get our hot water account paid up. As I’m leaving the building, heading to the office, I decided to check the bulletin board in the downstairs lobby for any notice that might indicate a hot water issue. I found a notice with times and dates corresponding with our lack of hot water, and deduce our problem is “building-wide”, and not just our apartment and our account. If I’ve figured out the note, the hot water should be back on tonight around 8:00 pm. I go back in and recheck our meters. I think I’ve figured out we still have quite a bit of money on them. The pool is also out of hot water, and since I can’t shower at home today, I opted out of swimming (it doesn’t take much to discourage me from exercise).

The “hot water notification” bulletin

Our ayi shows up around 12:30, and I take off for the table tennis park around 1:00. It’s a beautiful day, with little wind. Someone posed me for a picture last week at the park. I didn’t know what was happening, but played along. When I arrive today, the park superintendent hurried away and came back with a printed copy of the photo that was taken, giving me a copy. It gave me a chance to take my picture with him.

My “posed” picture. I guess the poster in the background was to help prove where I was?

This is the guy who helps me out at the table tennis park. He’s constantly finding someone to play with me. He’s been a huge help!

The remainder of my time at the park was spent getting pounded by 5 different people. I hadn’t played any of these players before. No matter how much I think I’m improving, I still haven’t played anyone I felt sure I could beat. There are so many styles and spins coming at me, at least my speed of adjustment and spin recognition is faster.

When I get home at 4:30, I put together the soup for the evening. Judy gets home at 5:30, well before dinner is ready. I was not expecting her quite so early. Sure enough, around 8:00 pm, we checked, and had hot water (or at least warm). Tomorrow morning should be much better.