Friday, January 18, 2013

First Bog - January 18, 2013

I thought I would try a blog instead of the newsletters - I have no idea how to do this so please be patient!  Things in Beijing are all centered around the Chinese New Year.  It is the Year of the Snake - and since I absolutely hate snakes, the celebration is producing nightmares.  

Were you born in the year of the snake?  Here are the years:

Fire Snake:  1977
Water Snake:1953, 2013
Metal Snake:  1941, 2001
Earth Snake:1989
Wood Snake: 1965

The snake follows the dragon which in my opinion is hard as the dragon is so lucky!  I was born in the year of the Earth Boar.  Here is the description....it explains a lot!

Laid back and reliable, Earth Pigs are at their happiest at home with their families. They are organized and pragmatic, preparing a strategy for every project they take on. They are fruitful at work and are content being one of the employees. Even so, Earth Pigs may compensate for this by asking for more money at review time. These Pigs love a good time and so may overindulge at times. Pigs love to spend money. They have an eye for name brands rather than generics so they generally spend a lot of it. Pigs have a knack for being able to find a diamond in the rough. Although they can sometimes be thrifty with money, most of the time it is the reverse. Pigs should be careful; a rainy day may sneak up on them.


Believe it or not - people born in the year of the pig are considered to be very lucky!  Bill was born in the year of the wood horse.  I don't find the description to fit him.  He is suppose to be the best in the Zodiac at sticking to a schedule.  If you have worked with Bill you know that is not true!  Reilly was born in the year of the fire Ox - They are capable of being extremely objective, but these Oxen can display hot tempers, throw temper-tantrums or be unusually impulsive in their decision-making. I was a bit confused because I thought she was born in the year of the rabbit....but God knows that description fits!

Speaking of rabbits - God Damn Bunny (aka Toffee by Reilly, GDB by me) is being adopted this evening by a really nice couple with two children.  I really like the bunny but am so glad he is going!  

Many of you emailed after the NY Times wrote about the smog last weekend.  I have to say it was "scary bad".  You felt as if there was a big fire near by.  I just bought a good mask for running, but here is a picture in a N95 mask which is ugly but effective!  My new one is black and a bit more stylish.  I was the only one who would wear a mask so now you know which of us is worried about safety and who is worried about appearance!  The highest reading was 755, but I did not see that myself.  At about 8:00 pm Saturday night it was 714.



People were pretty freaked out here.  Apparently since the beginning of tracking, 755 was the highest ever recorded.  It is so weird.  At noon today there were blue skies, and now, at 6:02 it is up to 415 and steady rising.  Last time I checked at 5:00 it was 226.  We have air-filters at the apartment in each bedroom and the living room.  It seems to really help.  

As many of you know, it was announced this week that Bill has accepted the position of Head of School and Superintendent of Yu Chung Education (the overarching group above the school).  He officially starts August 1, but has already started working with YCE.  He is very excited and I honestly believe he is the best person for this job.  It will be really difficult.  YCE holds half of my contract - and is the group responsible for training CHinese national teachers, doing educational research, and opening our other schools - the first of which will open in August 2013.  We broke ground for the Early Childhood Center in December.  It will be about a half mile from BCIS and will be the first Gold Leed Certified school in all of China.  

We are looking forward to going to Cambodia for Chinese New Year - but more of that later.  Love you all and please keep in touch.  Let me know what you think of the new format.  I am not sure how to invite you, but I will try!  Love - Andi

3 comments:

  1. Love the blog!!! Congrats to Bill. Miss you all!

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    Replies
    1. Congrats. I love the news and the blog and you all!

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  2. Congratulations! Thanks for adding me! Best,
    Christine

    ReplyDelete