We’ve decided today is the day to find Beijing’s “Music Street”.  We’ been hearing about it since we arrived.  Apparently there is a street where several blocks are nothing but music stores with every kind of music instrument for sale.  Judy needs 20 sets of jingle bells for her choir.  She also needs the same number of small shakers.  They have a performance next Saturday (Dec.9) at a nearby hotel for a Rotary Club holiday bazaar.

On the train over the Beijing’s “Music Street”.

We establish where we’re going and decide to take the train.  You don’t want to miss your destination, when no one speaks English where you’re going.  The trains aren’t too bad today.  We find the street, and it is definitely full of music stores.  We walk past store after store, filled with woodwinds, brass, percussion, strings, guitars, pianos, and traditional Chinese instruments.  I end up getting a lesson on a Chinese traditional flute from the guy whose name is on the flute.  I struggle a little with my hand position.  It’s going to take some work.

Interested in a sweet potato? There are some cooking in the pot on the left.

Interested in an Erhu?

This is a Zheng, a Chinese zither.

A Yang-Qin, or Chinese Dulcimer

Performers were out, up and down the street.

A couple of Erhu performers/teachers, out on the street.

My Chinese flute lesson, with the teacher whose name happens to be inscribed on all the instruments in the shop.

We find a store with the instruments Judy needs, and spend some time counting, and making sure we have the correct paperwork to get reimbursed.  It’s tougher to get reimbursed here than it is in AISD.  We taxi home, and get some serious nap-time in after lunch.

Tonight, there is a bowling tournament sponsored by WAB (Western Academy of Beijing).  Six different international schools are participating.  BISS has two men’s teams and two women’s teams involved, six members on each team, representing secondary and elementary.  I’m on the elementary men’s team.  We have shirts, and everything. The secondary men’s team from BISS has won 10 of the last 14 years.

This is the back of my bowling team shirt. BARBARIANS RULE!

We bowl 4 games.  I start really slow, rolling an 84 (yeah, an 84), including several gutter balls.  But I start to figure it out a little and my back loosens up.  Next game, I bowl a 123.  I bowl a 149 on our third game, and we end up using the third game totals for our top team score to turn in.  WE WIN!!!!   WE”RE BAD!  I’m not sure what we won, outside of bragging rights, but that’s all I need.

Judy didn’t attend the bowling event, opting out for dinner with some of her school friends.  They enjoy a meal in a Malaysian restaurant in our nearby mall.  Shannon, from Australia, also lives in UHN, so she comes by our apartment after the meal.  She and Judy are still solving the world’s problem when I get home.  She’s a lot of fun, and so full of Australian twists on the English language.  It’s all I can do to keep from secretly recording her while she’s talking.

Shannon’s a great teacher, so dedicated and concerned about every student she comes in contact with.  When Judy was tracking BISS last spring through the website, she kept talking about one teacher who was involved in everything.  The teacher did the elementary choir, was always posting pictures and student work, and seemed to be at the center of most of the activities in the elementary school.  It was Shannon. There’s nothing like an enthusiastic young teacher to reinvigorate you.