Early day for me, and I’m out the door around 6:30. My knees are kinda creaky today, so I go out the front gate, and get a cab. This early, the trip takes about a half-hour, so I arrive with plenty of time to set-up my room and get materials in place. Some uses my classroom over the weekend for a large elementary choir (not from BHSFIC) so it’s always a tumbled mess with chairs and trash scattered everywhere.

Class goes well, and as usual, Orchestra Club is cancelled for this afternoon. Grade 12 students have mid-terms tomorrow, and the 10^th and 11 graders have some kind of after school meeting. I kill time on campus, finishing up some paperwork, eating lunch, and visiting with folks. I get back to the apartment around 2:30. I spend the rest of the afternoon making sure I have a good plan to the end of the semester. I’ll miss three classes to come home for Xmas, so I have to leave plans for someone to cover (unless like last year, they decide to let the students do self-study).

It’s been a couple of weeks since I played table tennis. The weather is gorgeous and I don’t know how many more of these days we’ll have. I noticed last night, delivering food to Anna and Javi, the bike area seemed to be cleared out? Since our bikes were chained together in that area, I’m a little concerned about where they might be. Lilly calls the UHN Management office and finds out that many of the bikes were moved into a basement area. If someone isn’t regularly riding them, and they aren’t picked up in the next couple of months, they’ll be trashed eventually. We wander through the maze of the dimly lit basement area and find our bikes, still chained together. After unchaining them, she helps me take them back up top where I can get to them easier. Looking around the walls of the area, there is a sign describing what they were going to do, but I couldn’t read it.

I change into my cool weather bike riding/table tennis gear and head over to the table tennis club. There aren’t many players, but eventually, a couple of guys decide to try me out. They both started off slow, and then gradually added spin and speed to their game. About the time I begin to think I could “hang” with these guys, everything speeds up and spins more. There are so many styles and spins, and each player is different. I’m getting better, but there’s no substitute for years of playing like most of the people around here.

After a couple of hours, I’m exhausted. I make the ride home, and fall into my chair, ready for a short nap. After dozing off, I wake up, do some planning for classes tomorrow, and wait for Judy to get home from the dentist. She lost a crown yesterday (chomping on a caramel). She had a 5:00 pm dentist today, but arrived early at 4:30. They took her back immediately, after explaining to her that she was early. The dentist took a look, decided it could be easily put back on, and did it. She paid 210 RMB (about $38) for the procedure, and was home by 5:15! Unbelievable!

MONDAY, 11/17/14

Judy heads out to school feeling good. We’ve hit that time of the year when it’s cold in the morning, right around freezing, and then it warms up to the middle 50’s. There’s no wind, so it’s really comfortable out walking around.

I’ve got two jobs on my list today. One is to book our travel to Harbin, China in January. Harbin is the home of the ice sculptors who do the work at the Gaylord Texan hotel in Grapevine for the big ice display. There are several areas in Harbin where amazing ice sculptures are on display, including a “night area” with elaborate lighting. We’ve been waiting for the management team at BISS to make a decision on a Saturday rehearsal for the musical. The decision came this morning, so I get to start booking the airfare, hotel, and tours. It took about 3 hours to finalize the details but I finally got everything in place and confirmed.

After Lilly arrives and begins cleaning, I travel over to Metro for groceries. Metro is ready for Christmas. One section of the store is totally decorated and stocked with trees and holiday decorations. Even in Beijing, the stores gear up for the Xmas holidays really early.

Xmas items at Metro in Beijing.

TUESDAY, 11/18/14

Now that we have a permanent address in Ft. Worth, we can begin shifting our mail to our new address. It’s a time-consuming process, struggling with the various websites and all the usernames and passwords. I’ve decided to set a goal of at least two changes each day until I’m finished.

We’re also trying to follow up and make sure the condo is clean and ready for us when we arrive, and the movers are scheduled. Everything seems to be progressing and in place. I’m curious if it will all work out as it’s supposed to.

Today is a cooking day for me. I start late in the afternoon, putting the ingredients together we worked on Sunday. I get the cheesy potato soup ready about 30 minutes before we’re ready to deliver it to Anna and Javi. Now all I need is Judy.

There have been some bad traffic days for Judy here in Beijing, but today sets a record. It took over an hour for her to get home. The main road was blocked and when the driver took an alternate route, it was no better. We finally go the food to it’s destination, 30 minutes late. It was still hot, but they were probably beginning to wonder what was going on. Most nights, we’re not facing a timetable, but tonight, of all nights, the worst traffic ever.

SATURDAY, 11/15/14

Judy is eager for a weekend to recover from her bout with nausea on Wednesday & Thursday.  I get the chance to travel back across town to my school for Parent/Teacher conferences.  When there is a government holiday, the government many times also declares official make-up days.  This goes for schools as well as business, etc.  Today is an official makeup day for one of the 4 days we missed due to the APEC conference.

The decision at our school was to use today for 11^th grade parent meetings, and 12^th grade classes.  Tomorrow is 10^th grade parent meetings (I don’t teach any 10^th or 12 graders).  This morning is “drop in” conferences for parents and students.  I’m pretty sure I won’t have any parents come by, and sure enough, no visitors.  I arrived, set-up in my room, and began working on several different projects.  I worked undisturbed until lunch, ate lunch in the faculty lunchroom, went back to my classroom and finished up my projects, heading home around 1:00 pm.  The afternoon was set aside for “scheduled” conferences.  With nothing scheduled, I was free to clear out.

Back at the apartment, Judy managed to make it to nearby Capita Mall to buy a baby gift.  One of her best friends here in Beijing (Anna, New Zealand) had her baby while we were gone to Shanghai.  Judy and several of the other close friends go by later in the afternoon (Anna lives in UHN, also) to visit the new mom and cuddle the baby.  They have a great visit!

Alex

Anna on the left, Lara (kindergarten, Australia) on the right.

Shannon getting in on the fun.

SUNDAY, 11/16/14

Our focus for today is to figure out what to cook to take over to Anna’s on Tuesday.  One of the BISS faculty put together a schedule for meal delivery for everyone living in UHN.  We cook some around here, but never for anyone else.  Anna is vegetarian, but her husband (Javi, Spain) isn’t, so we’re trying to figure out what to cook that will work for both.  Judy finds a recipe for a “cheesy potato soup.”  We’ll set aside bacon bits in a separate dish for Javi.

We spend the afternoon chasing the ingredients at the grocery store, and the local “wet market”.  Back at the apartment, we clean all the vegetables and start putting together the ingredients.  The best part of this project is that we’re going to test it.  We, of course, need to make sure it’s eatable.  I’ll also have to cook it myself on Tuesday, while Judy’s at school, so I need the practice.  It’s a success, and we stuff ourselves!    

THURSDAY, 11/13/14

Today marks a first for Judy in Beijing. She had to miss a school day. She makes the necessary calls, and posts her lesson plans, and gets back in the bed. She’s not running any temperature, so we’re figuring it’s food poisoning, related to some yogurt. She ate it, and I didn’t.

I leave for school prepared for a long day, with Orchestra Club after school.  The classes go well, but as I’m talking to the students, I realize that several of them have a meeting after school and won’t be attending the club. With the prospect of a greatly reduced attendance at the rehearsal, and Judy home sick. I decided to call off the rehearsal, and head back to the apartment to help Judy if I can.

When I get home, Judy is sleeping. The nausea hasn’t returned, but she’s really weak. We try to get some more crackers and sprite into her, and they stay down. We’ll see how school works out when she wakes up tomorrow.

FRIDAY, 11/14/14

Judy heads out to BISS, feeling much better. Because it’s a short week, there’s no assembly, so no choir performance today. There is still a full day of classes, though. When she finishes the day, she’s beat!

My classes go well. I hang around for lunch, and then visited with some of the teachers about their holiday travels. Two of the teachers went to Hong Kong. A couple of the others went to Bangkok. It’s always fun hearing about their adventures.

Back at the apartment, Lilly is buried with all our laundry from Shanghai. She eventually finishes, but it’s after 6:00 pm before she leaves. We’re so spoiled, having her clean everything, do the laundry, and then finish off ironing everything. We’ll definitely miss this luxury next year.

TUESDAY, 11/11/14

We’re headed back to Beijing today. We catch a taxi back out to the train station. There’s traffic, and it takes about 45 minutes. Once we’re in the station, it doesn’t take us long to get our bearings. The security is less involved than Beijing.

One last shot of our hotel as we leave Shanghai. The saucer looking building is the Grand Opera Hall.

Our seats on the train.

Our seats are in the first cabin just in front of the door.

The train ride is smooth and comfortable, and we have great seats at the front of the very first car. We even have our own area divided off with a door. There are two “business class” seats (electronic leg rests, etc.) and three 1^st class seats. The return trip to Beijing is slightly under 5 hours. The taxi line is huge, but moves quickly. There are tons of cabs and helpers, so there’s no cutting in line. With the APEC holiday still in place, we don’t have any traffic issues heading home and we walk in the front door, less than an hour after we arrived at the train station.

WEDNESDAY, 11/12/14

The APEC holiday is still in place today. Our day has a lazy start, but gets interesting as it proceeds. I really don’t have much to deal with except some emails and a little paperwork. Judy has a haircut scheduled, but is feeling a little “dicey” as she goes out the door. Sure enough, when she gets home, she’s had a serious bout of nausea at the stylist’s. She hits the bed immediately, weak, and not able to eat or drink anything. She sleeps as much as she can, but wakes every few hours to deal with the nausea.

The worst part for me is that I can’t do anything to help. All I can do is keep the crackers and sprite near the bed and then stay out of the way. She does not like being sick! She hates me hovering even worse.

Today’s tour involves a two-hour drive to Suzhou. The city is over 2500 years old. It is one of the best places to view the Grand Canal, built from Hangzhou to Beijing (over 1700 kilometers), and finished in the 5^th century. That’s really old! We arrive, and begin the tour with a short visit to a famous garden. After the garden visit, we went to view the Grand Canal. It’s an engineering masterpiece, considering when it was built.

We had lunch in a local noodle shop (our request), and then went to the Suzhou Silk Factory Exhibition. It was a large series of buildings with various stations demonstrating the process of making silk. We saw the silkworms, the cocoons, and ultimately how the cocoons were converted to thread and fabric. It was interesting. After the tour, we were, of course, walked through a large store with every type of silk product available for purchase. I’m sure the guide gets a percentage if any sales that are made. The big push is for silk duvets, but clothes, scarves, and ties are also readily available.

Sorting silk cocoons for quality

Cocoons are soaked, then the end of the thread is found and threaded into machine where it begins to unravel the cocoon.

Judy and Courtney (FaceTime) shopping for pillowcases.

After the silk tour, we make an hour drive to Zhouzhang and the “Water Village”. It’s a picturesque area with canals, boats, and small shops. When we finish at the water village, we make the drive back to Shanghai, arriving around 5:30. It’s been a long, but interesting day. We’re tired of driving, but it was worth it. As with any tours like these, we only scratched the surface of seeing the area. A person would have to live in the area to really see it all, but it’s nice to get a taste for what’s here.

After breakfast, it’s down to the ground floor to meet Jimmy, our guide for the day. He’s taking us around Shanghai. Our first stop is People’s Square, the center of the Shanghai government. Shanghai has a population of around 23 million, the largest city in China, although a few other cities are close (Beijing, Chongching). Next stop is the Oriental Pearl television tower. It’s an odd shaped tower with two large bulb looking structures. It’s over 1000 feet at it’s highest point, and one of the buildings in Shanghai that provides the signature look from the Bund, across the river. We had some great views of the city today.

View from our room before we head out.

Looking back up at our hotel from Shanghai People’s Square.

Oriental Pearl TV Tower

This guy is outside, about 850 feet up

Next, we went to a Buddhist temple. We’ve seen plenty of temples in China, but it is interesting to hear each guide’s individual take on religion in China. We had a lunch in a very “touristy” restaurant with Chinese dancers and singers in costumes. We’ve lived in China too long for an appreciation for this type of food and entertainment. After lunch we visited a very famous home/garden built 350 years ago, with many of the features that make these type of homes so unique. Surrounding the garden was an interesting area known as “Old Downtown”. There were lots of restored buildings filled with restaurants and shops, and the crowds were very large today.

Wandering around “Old Downtown”

Our next stop was the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Shopping Street. It stretched for many blocks and had lots of exclusive stores and name brand shops. We finished up our tour with a stop at the Bund. It’s an area developed by the British in the 1800’s that been turned into a pedestrian area. The view across the river ranks up there with view of Hong Kong Harbor. Lots of great buildings and construction is still booming. It seems every large city in China is competing for the tallest structure. I think Shanghai’s new financial building will be the leader when it opens in 2015. It’s over 1500 feet tall.

British Architecture on The Bund

Looking across the river

Night view from our room, back toward the Bund.

I couldn’t believe my luck when I realized our trip to Shanghai would coincide with the HSBC World Golf Championships, held at the Sheshan International Golf Club. I had the concierge at the hotel help get my ticket yesterday when we arrived. I worked out the subway route with the Shanghai Metro App, and headed to the train station at 6:40 am. I wanted to be sure and watch the first group tee off at 8:45. It was Keegan Bradley, Ryan Moore, and a player unknown to me from South Africa.

“Red” is the dominant (really dominant) color for this tourney

This is the “English” side of the sign

and the “Chinese” side

When I arrived at the Sheshan train station, it took some time to figure out there was a free shuttle to the course. The signage is very unclear, but it’s not a surprise. The website for the tournament didn’t get current until Monday. Before that, all the website information was about last year’s tournament? At the gate, I exchanged the ticket for a badge and walked in. Again, the signs weren’t clear, and it took time to figure out how to get to the course. I arrived just in time to watch the group announced and tee off. The announcer is the same one used for the British Open. He has a very recognizable manner of introduction and it was a treat for me to see and hear him in person.

The 8th Hole teebox. Golfers had to hit it over the bunker on the left to have any chance to make it to green in two.

Adam Scott walking off the 8th green.

Lee Westwood, leaving the 8th green.

I had wondered what kind of crowd to expect, but was surprised at how small the crowd was. There was a light drizzle falling intermittently, but no wind, and it wasn’t that cold. I followed my group, along with 3 other “gallery” for eight holes. One seemed to be the wife/girlfriend of the South African, and the other two were friends of Ryan Moore. I decided Hole #8 would offer some great opportunities for disaster for the golfers and fun to watch, so it became my camp-out hole. It was a long par-5, dogleg left, water in front of the uphill green. It would take two massive shots to reach the green in two. I only saw 5 players try it in two. Bubba Watson almost holed his for a double eagle (albatross), and then missed the 4 ft. downhill eagle putt coming back. He was 3^rd when it happened and made up two strokes on the leader, Graeme McDowell who three putted for bogey (missed a 3 footer for par).

Sergio Garcia teeing off on #4.

The 18th green! Bubba Watson won the tournament the next day with chip-in out of this bunker.

I purposely found a seat next to the player exit for the hole so I could get some good looks at the players. 41 of the top 50 golfers were here. I saw Lee Westwood, Ricky Fowler, Sergio Garcia, Jordan Spieth, and many other top names. The largest crowd, about 300 people, was following the lead group of Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell, and Ian Poulter. At Colonial, there would have been several thousand scrambling to walk the course with a group like that.

The clubhouse leaderboard

Sergio Garcia, just finishing his Saturday round.

After the lead group came through my area, I began to work my way off the course and eventually back to the city. The subway took about an hour, and I was beat when I got back. Judy had been enjoying the views from our hotel room and the food in the Executive Lounge. I took advantage of the whirlpool tub in our room for a long time. It was a great way to end Day 1 in Shanghai.

I have early classes today, and they go well. Afterward, I finished up some work and prepared for next week’s lessons, killing time till lunch. After lunch, I took the bus over to Tiananmen Square to check out the decorations for APEC. The Chinese really know how to put on a big display! The skies are so clear, due to the city government planning to shut everything down and get everyone out of town to reduce pollution. It’s working. They are calling the skies “APEC blue”.

This building always intrigues me, and the skies were so blue!

Judy has her Grade 1 class performing at the assembly today. They did a great job. She was really impressed at how organized the assembly was. “One of the best”! The Grade 1 teachers had it figured out! There were many costume and stage changes and transitions, and the pace flowed seamlessly. That’s not easy with 1^st graders.

Judy’s group of Grade 1 students performing their bell piece.

Grade 1’s performing one of their Chinese dances, taught by the Chinese dept. at BISS

Another of the Grade 1 dances.