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 12th 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.