An update on yesterday’s dust storm.  Today’s news report talk about it being the worst dust storm in 13 years in Beijing.  Guess they’ve never experienced some of that stuff that happens in Eastern New Mexico and the Lubbock area.

I’m up and gone early for my Thursday classes, as usual. I took a taxi, and ended up arriving at school around 7:00 am. That’s a little early, even for me. I get the room set-up and plug everything in, and dabble with some presentation ideas. The classes kick off on schedule.

The students look dead when they arrive. They are studying maniacs right now. They have, essentially, their final exams Monday thru Wednesday next week. Regular classes are non-existent after those tests until after the SAT on June 6. There are three weeks of school still on the calendar after that, but I’m not sure what kind of class schedule they’ll have. Right now, I think I’m supposed to teach regular schedule June 11 & 12, and then I’m officially finished. That’s 8 weeks from now. Between now and then, the students are in double and triple blocked tutoring sessions for the AP tests, and after the AP’s, they’ll shift to an SAT Test focus.

After class, I make some adjustments for the presentation material for tomorrow, and then practice my rap for the video-taping session for the senior graduation video. I’m not gonna set the Hip-Hop world on it’s ear or anything, but it’s fun.

I always enjoy lunch because it gives me a chance to visit with everyone. I don’t have many lunches left with these guys. After lunch, I meet the students in charge of the video session. It takes less than 20 minutes to complete, including set-up (thanks to my practice before-hand). The rest of the afternoon is spent getting some Starbucks and clearing out the cabinet where I’ve been keeping all the orchestra club music/parts/warm-ups, etc.

After school, a couple of orchestra club students wandered in. We’re too close to final tests for most of them to have the free time available. I set up the “Loopy” app on the iPad. We laid down some looping tracks, and then played along with it. We had fun figuring out how to use it, and “jamming”. After class, we said our goodbyes, I packed up the music I was keeping and my clarinet, and headed to the train.

A few pictures Judy took around BISS of the trees and shrubs.

Back at the apartment, Judy had been having “one of those days”. She dropped and broke a container of make-up remover in the bathroom, then dislodged a crown eating dinner. She hurriedly got an appointment for the dentist for tomorrow afternoon. That’s one of the nice things about Beijing. I’m not sure she could have scheduled an appointment that fast in DFW.