It's me again and one other

FOOLED YA

Well I am back but not with pictures yet...I did get some on eventually and that was good.

Great news....If I haven't told you before...oh well even if I have.....my daughter Jennifer had a baby girl on April the 6th....at something like 4:00 in the morning...Kenzie Kaitlyn...(special K)...and she is as cute as her grandpa.....no about a million times better than that....some ime in the future she will probably be upping that number......I won't tell her....all are doing well and I h even have a picture from J..maybe I can get it on here.....I'll try

Had an interesting afternoon.....a lady (Coincidence....her name is Jenny ..short for Jennifer) who I met at the New Zealand embassy ( a fellow teacher who lives in Tongzhou) and I met for a coffee ....damn near got lost again (on my bike)....spent a couple of hours and had lunch .....she showed me her school and then we biked over to mine....also showed her those townhouses that are going unlived in......prior to our coffee we were walking to the shop and there was a store doing some activities with their employees...one was a slow bike race.....they invited me to try to do the activity.....centre of attention......right up my alley.....well, I actually made it through the course...you would have thought I had won an Olympic medal...pictures with the boss, a couple of pictures with the organizer and then much to my surprise, they presented me with a small gift...a stainless steel tea mug....just for a few minutes of "FAME"...funny....god, there was clapping and yelling..non English except one guy who asked "Where you from?" Jia Nada....(Canada) must have made their day....actually made mine.....

Found out that Softball season starts on May 13th....have found another glove and I bought the bat...so now I hope I can find someone who catches and maybe get some reps in....no one seems to play it here....weird....the top guy here lent me his glove so I can at least play with two....we will see how this all plays out...punny

Tickets for the Olympics went on sale today...Henry told me about them....I registered on line and put in for the opening ceremonies and softball semi finals, volleyball mens semi final and some wrestling...you are allowed up to 10 diffeerent venues....so far with all of that, I have spent a whopping $200 approximately....but no guarantees..... and it will be a lottery if they have sold out events....I am trying to get schedules for the games so I will know when Canada is playing an then I will go online to try to get tickets for those games.....I am going to use up my 10 but have not actually sent the request in..you have until June 30th and then the decisions come .....

Had an email from one of the students who I met at Ottawa, Warren Pinto...he was aneat kid....well not a kid anymore....was keeping up with me on the blog...Hi Warren ..I asked you to send me somoe details....don't get lost.....

The football officials in New Brunswick are saving me a spot on the roster if and when I return...a great bunch of men....

Red Wings into the playoffs...wonder how far they will go..maybe with Hasek in net ..who knows.....with initials of DRW, they have to be winners????...

There will be no NFL game here this year....I guess there is a spat going on about trade and pirating and pulp and paper....so that went out...

Finally got finished with Rogers....

Bob has had to have some comfort food....guess what....Kraft Dinner and I have two boxes left....Merle also brought over many (thank you , thank you, thank you) snacking cakes and we have been having those every so often....just a taste of home.....when I go home my return will be with food....a grocery run....

Spent one evening listening to Connie Kaldor (ok J, you can stop laughing now) and the songs about Sask.....sniff, sniff....A Sky with Nothing to Get in the Way.....and it is true....you don't realize the beauty until you leave and see what others don't have.....will just sit and watch the sunset when I get back....and maybe a couple of Smirnoff Twisteds...Still have a couple left....they are for very, very, very special occasions.....

Have had a couple of bar nights....they are interesting.....you can stay out until 4 or 5 in the morning....I don't usually stay out that late...but midnight is not out of the questions....some don't even shut their doors....took Angela and Laura to Maggies to see a diffent kind of bar....they were the only two white women in the place...lots of men looking for their lady friends..nod, nod, wink, wink, say no more, say no more......

No news on my transfer to CIS but am hopeful.....

The Canadian Embassy has a big ball on May 19th....another timie to get my Tux out......even have a new tie...red of course...for it....should be a good time...when do I ever get to go to an Embassy ball...should be good....I think Don will wear his Tux with his Garth Brook's hat....I'll get these guys westernized yet.....

We have been trying to get the kids to stop speaking Chinese....we now give them pink slips of paper if they speak it in class...... and then they have to go to ESP...English Speaking Practise room to spend some quality time with a couple of teachers......it has worked to some extent...less Chinese anyway....and some very good coping strategies....

Computer still is not up to what it was before the disaster but I am getting some thinhgs back...

Am going to start running in the morning again...I think....if I can drag my sorry ass out of bed that early..with no objective (like the marathon ) in mind it might be tough to do...we'll see

Had a talk with Renee and Mom and Janet and Jennifer......Mom was worried since I had lost my computer that I was in Jail or something...had to phone her and tell her everyithing was allright....funny....

Have got all the clubs sent away......but my niece Marina wants to get a set and I think I could get a few more sets sent home.....maybe I can have a new business....who knows...still have 3 sets of left clubs to try out to see which one makes me the better golfer.....as if it makes any difference anyway....will bring one set home.....am going to golf a couple of times during my holidays from the May 2nd to the 9th....

Interesting.....a Chinese teacher of English asked me if I would go to his school of 8 years to talk to the kids....he would book the ticket and hotel and all I have to do is show up and speak and maybe play games with them...make them speak some English....he said they don't see that many teachers and so it would be a great treat for them.....so I think I will do it....it will be in my holiday time so it will break that up a little.....

Went to the job fair yesterday..many opportunities for jobs..some not that good at pay..but interesting.....translating....working with businesses to make their employees more proficient at English.....other schools, universities (who don't receive as much as we do)...not as many booths as I would have expected....

Lost my debit card.....not that is a real royal pain in the unowhere.....lots of hoops to go through now to get some money transferred over here ...not that need much but after spending some with the clubs, myRMB account is a little low so I will use some of the money from home until payday...my Visa won't give me money for whatever reason...says I am not using my right pin so that was a bummer....

Enough....

I have some work to do for tomorrow.....

HEY HAVE YOU ALL DROPPED OFF THE PLANET...SEND ME AN UPDATE ON SOME HAPPENINGS IN YOUR LIFE........I AM NOT KIDDING.....I WILL COME BACK AND HAUNT YOU......NO I SAID I WILL HAUNT YOU.....

By the way, people in parks and rec, I heard via Jennifer that Carol Brasok passed away...a bit of a shocker....