A new work-week begins, after a successful \u201cAnnie\u201d presentation.\u00a0 BISS is beginning auditions for BISS Idol, the school talent show.\u00a0 Judy has auditions scheduled for the elementary students Tuesday thru Thursday.\u00a0 She\u2019s curious what she\u2019s going to see and hear.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m putting together materials for my classes this week, and several weeks to come.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been doing some talking about \u201cThe Beatles\u201d, and there are great videos available on YouTube.\u00a0 Internet access and speed varies widely, so I have to download and save anything I want to use.\u00a0 I have a program that lets me save a YouTube video for later use, but depending on the internet speed, it could take 2 minutes, or an hour.\u00a0 On a day when we\u2019ve got good internet, I have to work like crazy.\u00a0 On the slow internet days, it\u2019s a real beating.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure what kind of information you might be getting in the U.S., but for the next two weeks, the CPCC (Central Party of the Chinese Communist party), and the NPC (National Party Congress) are meeting in Beijing.\u00a0 The meetings are held at the Great Hall of the People, near Tian\u2019anmen Square, just down the street from my school.\u00a0 We received an email reminding us of the meetings, and the possibility for traffic issues.\u00a0 I travel by train so I don\u2019t anticipate any problems when I go at the end of the week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There is definitely a heavier security network in place, due to the government meetings, but also due to the attack at the Kunming Train Station (not in Beijing).\u00a0 As I went through the usual subway security this morning, all bags are scanned.\u00a0 Today, however, there was someone with a wand, randomly scanning people walking through.\u00a0 They stopped me and pointed at my water bottle.\u00a0 I thought they were telling me to throw it away, like at the airport.\u00a0 Actually, they only wanted me to drink a little bit of it, I guess to prove it wasn\u2019t explosive.\u00a0 It\u2019ll be an interesting two weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new work-week begins, after a successful \u201cAnnie\u201d presentation.\u00a0 BISS is beginning auditions for BISS Idol, the school talent show.\u00a0 Judy has auditions scheduled for the elementary students Tuesday thru Thursday.\u00a0 She\u2019s curious what she\u2019s going to see and hear. … Continue reading