Today is a full day for me. I have a regular school day finishing with Orchestra Club around 5:30. The faculty has a social activity planned at a Spanish restaurant in Sanlitun Village at 7:00 pm. Since I don’t see them very often, I decide to participate. It requires a little different train route coming from BHSFIC, and coming out of the new station, I’m amazed at the sites. It seems that every train station is in a world of it’s own with huge shopping malls and other interesting buildings. I grab one of the motorized rickshaws after negotiating the fare, for the trip down the street to Sanlitun. The driver is crazy. He’ll take on trucks or any other vehicle as he makes his way down the street, honking, swerving, and yelling as he goes.
Arriving early at the restaurant, I get seated and order appetizers for the table. It’s half-price night, on everything. A small group is attending this evening. None of the Chinese teachers are coming because they have early classes. The teachers from the US I visit with the most are busy picking up people from the airport, and never arrive. Our group ends up with five total. Louise organized the activity. Dr. Prettyman (from Utah) is the academic prinicipal, but mostly in charge of accreditation. “Big Frank”, as the kids call him, is in charge of activities. The final member of the group is David, the theater teacher. I haven’t seen him since school started. He teaches on Tuesday, and I teach on Thursday and Friday.
David taught one year at Amarillo College. Says he enjoyed Amarillo and the Panhandle. He taught 20 years at Milton Academy, a prestigious prep school in Boston. He’s been in Beijing since 2007 and has a Chinese wife. He is involved in numerous theater productions in the city. He is also beginning to make inroads into the film industry as an actor. One of his films is due out in April. He told us tonight he’s scheduled to start shooting a movie with Jackie Chan in a few weeks. I’m anxious to see his movie when it hits the theaters in China next month.