SUNDAY, 2/16/14
Today, Judy gets a chance to relax a little, and prepare for a very busy two weeks. “Annie” is two weeks away. She manages to find several projects around the apartment that I didn’t realize needed doing, but that’s not unusual. I spend most of my day working on arrangements for the BHSFIC orchestra/band. It’s such an odd instrumentation, I have trouble figuring out how to sort out the parts. Combine that with my lack of familiarity working with the software programs I’m using, and it adds up to a lot of time.
MONDAY, 2/17/14
BULLETIN! Judy called from school to tell me that a media producer was visiting the school. He was looking for students to participate in a “Promote Beijing” commercial with Jackie Chan. The producer is a friend of the family that owns and administrates BISS. The commercial is supposed to be filmed tomorrow (Tuesday), so they’re scrambling to select a group of about 35 students to be involved in the project. The producer and the “Head of School” walk from class to class, hand picking students that best suit their needs. They casually walk into Judy’s room and ask if any of the 1st or 2nd graders can sing. Naturally, the kids that could sing are not the ones originally selected to participate, but they get added to the list.
The really fun part of an operation like this is the logistics. The selected students have to take a letter home with instructions for attire, schedule, and permission. Then they have to show up the tomorrow, dressed correctly, with properly signed permission letters. There will be tons of questions as soon as those letters get to the parents. Everyone is excited to see Jackie Chan. I hope it all comes together.
I spend the afternoon getting a haircut. I always enjoy walking by the McLaren car dealership that’s near the hair stylist. I flirted with the idea of buying a McLaren hat, but hurriedly left when I realized they were the equivalent of $100 USD. I walked down the street past the US Embassy, enroute to the Marriott for my swimming session. It’s about ½ mile. I had seen signs advertising “Lady Street”, very near the Flower Market. As it turns out, it’s a huge market underneath the Flower Market specializing in women’s clothing and jewelry. It’s always a surprise to me how these huge market areas are hidden at the end of a dingy alleyway, or in the middle of what looks like an impoverished area.