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.