Some days are more grueling than others ...

Today and tomorrow are teacher workdays; working on curriculum guides ... please don't ask ... for your own good. "Never ask a question if you can't stand the answer."
Yesterday we had a picnic at the water park with some local university students. The weather was great. (Spring is wonderful here, just short.) They are a fun group. We ate different foods, rode the electric bumper cars and won a toy monkey keychain for Marilyn by popping balloons with darts. The 8 of us got a lot of stares as we walked around and ate lunch on the grass. A little old lady employed by the park to sweep the sidewalks and pick up trash was very impressed by our work to clean up after ourselves. She did insist on taking one bag of trash for us. She didn't use the same trash can I did ... perhaps she wanted to examine the bag to see what we'd been up to. A couple of the girls had bought Marilyn a helium balloon (SpongeBob SquarePants) which they tied to the back of her bicycle as she rode home. Cute! Marilyn, not SpongeBob!
Saturday was the school carnival. My group of students sponsored a water balloon booth. People could stand there and hit each other for 2 RmB (28 cents) or me for 5 RmB (70 cents). We sold about 600 balloons in 3 hours. I was pretty wet at times, but students get pretty nervous chuckin' water balloons at teachers ... even when they're paying and can't get in trouble. We made a pretty good spectacle of ourselves in front of the migrant workers reworking the street out front of the school.
In a few minutes we'll have a staff appreciation dinner. Man, it's hard to believe we've been here 5 years already.
This morning over coffee, Marilyn and I were reminiscing about the time we've been together. As she looked around our apartment, she mentioned that house on Ferngrove in Antioch and then looked at me (with tongue in cheek, of course) and asked, "Why did you say 'Yes' to the Lord?"
Later, y'all

I haven't forgotten ...

... to write this yet. It's just that for the last few days I haven't really had anything to say. Today the temperature is about 70 again with a wind which can grind you to a complete halt when it gusts in your face. (It did!) (That's a weird feeling!)
Dropped by the clinic today and, as usual, there is a new doctor there temporarily. Got my blood pressure medication renewed and then we got to talking about my ankle. He is the only doctor in twenty years who has offered to look at it specifically and refer me to a specialist. He pointed out four guys who might be able to help, but the fifth one on his list specializes in orthopedic pain. He told me to avoid getting my hopes up for a resolution, but at least they can look at my ankle anyway.
It's Marilyn's birthday. She is a very special lady. She gave up a lot (all of you) to follow me here for what will soon be five years. Thank you, darlin'!
We're excited John and Bethany are coming for two weeks in June.
We're excited about Tim and Allyson's fourth coming in November.
We're excited about going to Heaven.
Later ...

Rain, Rain, Rain

The rain continues today. The students were disappointed because a soccer tournament between the middle school houses has to be cancelled until mid-May.
I couldn't ride my bike this morning. In many cities, taking a bike ride in the rain is no big deal; you get a little wet, that's all. But in this part of the city, the water on the streets backs up very quickly. The puddles can disguise missing manhole covers, monster chuckholes which have appeared over night, bricks, etc. But the worst thing is the quality of the water. It begins to look and smell like sewage very quickly. At any rate, it tends to spoil a perfectly good bike ride.
Maybe Wednesday.

Transparent Gold

One of my 8th grade students was recently baptized. She was asking me where gold was mentioned in Revelation and as I was preparing to help her, she said "21:21". Then she asked, "What kind of gold is so pure that you can see through it?" I admitted that I had no idea, nor did anyone else ... at least, not yet.
I've looked through all of the translations available to me through E-Sword and they all talk about gold that is so pure it is either transparent as glass or clear as crystal. Despite the differences of opinion about various words/verses in the Scripture translations, everyone fully agrees that John absolutely saw a street paved with gold so pure you could see right through it.

Black-and-White Striped Paint

One of my 8th grade boys (bear in mind, he'll be in high school next year) was assigned to purchase water balloons for an upcoming school event. He asked me on Thursday if he should buy the ones which already had water in them ...
Why the title? In my younger days (when I was not nearly so kind and merciful) I had been known to send new kids who were fresh out of school on a search around the shop for black-and-white striped paint.
I love teaching middle school here!

Oh well,

The heading on this site is still showing up in Chinese. I'll have to check with someone about how to prevent this from recurring.

Second Try

It's very warm in my classroom again today. It's about 86 degrees with a fan blowing on me.
The powers-that-be don't turn on the A/C until about May 1st ... why? Well, it may be that the locals don't stop wearing their longjohns (they call them "second pants") until May 1st.
This morning as I left for school it was about 68 degrees with no wind. The first man passed me, riding his bike, wearing a jacket, hat and gloves.
We had several local university students over for snacks and Rummikub last night. They arrived with faces perspiring heavily. When I asked if they had ridden their bikes, they said that they had all used the bus, but it was very hot and crowded and that the streets were crowded with people. They all appeared to be wearing "second pants". What do I know?

Oh, "second try", right ... this is the second try because when I tried to post to this site earlier today, everything came up in Chinese and I was unable to navigate through the site. I deleted the site and started over, so we'll see ......