It has been a very uneventful week.  Judy has been teaching her regular classes as well as rehearsing Annie segments every chance she gets.  They have rehearsals Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, and both rehearsals go well.  Of course, they’re behind, but when has a musical not been “behind”.

The Chinese New Year Assembly on Friday is requiring a lot of time from the students.  The Chinese teachers at BISS are organizing it, and are taking responsibility for all aspects.  Of course, they’re competing for time with the students against the Annie rehearsals to prepare for their assembly.  Several students missed Tuesday’s Annie rehearsal because of a shopping excursion.  The Chinese teachers took a group after school to purchase clothes to wear in the assembly.  Since the teachers involved in the musical had worked hard to schedule this week’s extra after school rehearsals, the sudden decision to go shopping by the Chinese teachers didn’t go over so well.

My week has revolved around three activities.  I’ve been walking over to the Marriott and swimming every day.  Back at the apartment, I’ve been working on a GarageBand project for the Guitar Club at BHSFIC.  They’re working on a tune called “Jet Lag”.  It’s a really straightforward rock and roll tune.  They need a drum track to play on top of.  I’m putting together GarageBand loops and experimenting with how to add accents where needed to fit the piece.  As with anything I do on a computer, there’s lots of trial and error, and it’s time consuming.

I’m also spending lots of time online searching out travel opportunities for Spring Break, at the end of March.  We’re going to have 5 days, and we want to make them count.  I’ve been checking out sites in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Phillippines.  There are too many places to visit, and not enough time.  I’m also trying to follow the political activities in Bangkok.  The anti-government forces have threatened to shut down the Bangkok Airport.  We fly through Bangkok on our way to Phuket on Saturday.  Here’s hoping it doesn’t get complicated.

Thursday night is the BISS staff New Years Party.  There is a bus from school to the restaurant at 5:30.  I take the subway over to meet Judy after the Annie rehearsal.  It’s a fun evening.  The food is great, and it just keeps coming.  There was a video of all the staff saying “Happy New Year” in their own way.  There were some really humorous versions.  The restaurant had a stage show, that included traditional Chinese dancing and singing.  There was also a magician (pretty good), and a juggler.  There was girl who balanced and spun big barrels on her feet while she laid on her back.  The finale of her act was a huge barrel with one of the BISS staff members (bigger that me) climbing inside.  Then she spun the barrel with him inside.