Holy Christ it is December

Messed that up right off the bat..hit enter and it did so I had nothing to go on the blog.

Weather here is turning colder so I now have to wear my Columbia Jacket and eeven had to put on some gloves the other day....But...we are going golfing tomorrow at 9:00 ...need to try out the new clubs to see if they just hit the ball further into the rough or water or trees....Had to go buy some LongJohns as it could be a little chilly...some fire engine red ones I can use as flags when I am finished with them...

Have been making plans to go to Thailand for about 10 days in February...Anyone have some good ideas about where to go and what to do...will spend a lot of the time in Beijing with Merle Davies, a good friend from Medicine Hat who will be over here.

Last night several of us...actually 13, with 3 from Canadian International School, went to the Beijing opera highlights show. It is a combination of Opera and gymnastics/theatrics.....it was quite interesting. I know now that I could not stand a full opera as the high pitched singing almost penetrates into your spine....the gymnastics was quite athletic and some of the choreography was great.....the costumes were vivid in colour and we were able to take pictures and see the cast put on their makeup prior to the performance.....it was 80 rmb which is about $12. The taxi ride was more than that. It lasted for about an hour. The theatre was acutally in a hotel. I would go see it again.










Today we went to the Beijing aquarium. It is a massive building and was quite interesting...most of the writing and information was in Chinese. You can get headsets that translate many of the exhibits but we did not do that. There was an exhibition with dolphins and that was really good. Kris got some good video on his camera and Don and Eve got a few shots on their camera. I forgot mine...woooohoooo. They had Manta Rays, big turtles, sharks, piranhas, and every variety of fish I have ever eaten....well maybe way more than that.

Then we went and did some more shopping...I bought a few more watches ...just for fun...4 Rolexes for 100 rmb and 3 gucci ones for 50. Probably top of the line...nod,nod, wink wink, Say no more, say no more, know what I mean, know what I mean...Monty Python. Also a couple of purses just because I am finding my inner self.....hahahahahaha

Don and Eve and I are going to have our nails done the next time we go to the Yashou market....I figure I will get my toenails painted green..Rideer green...we'll see.

The tour of the Olympics facilities will be on December 16 and I think there will be a lot of people going on that bus...should be really interesting to see all the progress that is being made...I will be especially interested in the Track and Fieldd one as I think that was the massive one that I went by when I ran the marathon...I will have some pictures to post for that. I hope to have some pictures to post onto here but we will see.

We get a long weekend off at Christmas and another long weekend, we hope at New Years....then it is hell bent for January and getting some exams done and some kids crammed to get them through the classes and we are done on January 26 and are off until Feb 26...I think. Some people are going home at that time....some on trips to New Zealand...others all over southeast Asia... Put my big long tie that I got from the school up on the front door and am buying a couple to bulbs to put on Jennifer and Angela's Christmas tree so can have a little taste of home.

After that, we will have along grind until, July 14 whic is the official date for the end of this school year although we may be getting off earlier. No decision about my future will be made until after February, when the administrator will need to know so that he can start his recruiting for next year...

haven't heard from Mark about his new job...hope things will work out. Hope to hear from Jay about the baby...

Got my Webcam working and then it went down...may be that the authorities are not letting out some video as this has happened to many other people...but I have joined the 21st century and hope to get more computer literate as the year progresses....it works if I am just looking at myself but not when some gets on Skype...

Am going down to have a beer with Don so will sign out for now and come back and finish it off.

Been having a heck of a time putting any photos on this blog so I will just add a few that I can and then post this. Got a couple of pictures from the golf course.....the club house.....geez it looks like a temple and inside holy toledo...chandeliers, oak, polished brass, beautiful furniture, sauna, people to help you open your locker, ritzy is the only way to describe it and Bob says that this is not a high end course or club house...golf was over 680 rmb....about 90 bucks for a round and 100 rmb for the cabbies who found your ball and cleaned your clubs and told you where to putt and carried your bag all around the course....all three had to say bye bye to one of my hits as it went way to hell off the course....quite funny actually....we lost to CIS but who was keeping score....clubs didn't make any difference except I looked good....

Next week we have a couple of things happening...the Olympic tour, a bash for the business centres of Canada in China or something like that, then there is a grade 12 dance where I have volunteered to take tickets in my tux and then a dinner on the 22 and one at Paul's ( a Canadian type of restaurant) on the 24th. I may go skiing at the indoor ski facility on Christmas in the afternooneve, at least get some snow feeling. Some people are going away for the weekend, others are waiting until New Years to go away.....not sure what I will do...trying to make some arrangements for Thailand...we'll see...

Enough..haven't had any more luck so this is getting posted. ttfn