shawn and jazmine

meet baby shawn. a few days ago i got new pictures of my niece and new nephew from my sister. baby shawn has really dark eyes. perhaps it is just the pictures, but they look really dark. and pretty. baby shawn is about three weeks old now.

it sounds like everything is going well for alison and her family in sand diego. her husband, ken, who is in the navy, is getting ready to go out to sea for a number of months. a very busy time for alison is on the horizon. my mom will go and spend some time in california to help out. jazmine's hair isn't sticking straight up anymore. i am glad i was able to see her dandelion look when i was home, it was terribly cute.

our day to day lives in wuhan have been very busy for the last few weeks. we have put a lot of time into our classes and teaching, so there isn't a lot of exciting news to report. many of the students are preparing for an english speech competition. i don't know what this means for the rest of the foreign teachers, but for me it means that i am stalked by eager students who want me to edit their speeches. when i am through with that, they will pull out a digital recorder and ask me to read it while they record. then, i can only imagine, the will hole up in their dorm rooms and listen to my voice over and over and study my inflection. speaking in just the manner of a native speaker is a big deal here. when i am working with my friend amy on her english she is always asking me to read passages aloud, and will copy my inflection. she thinks i read very beautifully, like a story teller. this must be related to how the chinese recite poetry, and how important it is to say some words quickly and drag others out. there is a lot that goes into speaking chinese with the proper inflection, never mind the tones.

duff and i haven't had a chinese lesson in many days. amy works in the admissions office and they are giving an exam to over 1000 students this afternoon. our classes are cancelled (yay!!) because of it. the friday afternoon class is always the most difficult. amy works very hard at her job and it is common for her to put in 12 hour days, or more, when she has a big project coming to a close. in addition, business meetings, business trips, and banquets are an important part of the chinese working environment, and her presence is required at many of these. when amy is finished giving the exam this afternoon, she must then go to a hotel (as best i understand. she said resort, i thought she was getting a vacation) where she will remain for the rest of the weekend marking papers. i would go mad. i ran into her while she was running to her office this morning. she said that she is so excited to give us our lesson next monday...it is a type of relaxation to her. yes, this is a woman who works so hard that teaching a 2 hour class twice a week, in heels, to two inquisitive foreigners who interrupt every time they have a question, is relaxation. we love having her for our teacher. she is most excellent. she is such a great teacher, though, i can see how our lessons are relaxing. it is a lot of fun to do something you are really and truly good at.

this weekend duff and i were going to try to go out of town, but the weather is not so good. we have had wild weather fluctuations for the past two weeks. it snowed, and then it was hot and sunny, and now it is cold and rainy again. washington weather. ireland weather. i love it. tonight, for st. patrick's day, we will go to a party at our friend bill's. this is the first year in many that i won't play any gig for st. patrick's day. just me, playing tunes in my apartment. if my hands don't freeze to the finger board due to the lack of heat. still, i'd much rather have this weather than the suffocating heat we will have in a few weeks.

happy st. patrick's day!