Strawberry Music Fest

Located in the north part of Xián is a huge park. At one time it was apparently the play area for a long-gone emperor. Lots of trees, grass, and flowers (as my allergies would attest to). A nice setting for an outdoors music festival. It was held last weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, and they had 3 stages for performers to play on. We bought tickets for Saturday. The music covered a gamut of genres - from electronica to pop to rap to Mongolian. The performers were all Chinese for the most part (except for the Mongolian band - but they still spoke Chinese). There was a rapper called MC Hotdog who rapped in Chinese - I couldn't understand a word of it but if you watched his motions he would have been at home in the US. My favorite was the Mongolian band - they did that weird throat singing stuff and played a variety of instruments. There was also an electronica band a la Daft Punk that was very loud and entertaining. Except for the language difference, you could have been at any festival  anywhere. My one complaint was the toilet situation - they must not realize that at an all-day event people will have to go to the bathroom - the lines were huge and took forever... But the weather was nice a good time was had by all!

The AP exams are now over for school, so the classes are in a state of "limbo" until the end of the school year on July 4. We start the next year's curriculum, so that when school re-starts in September, we've already covered a healthy chunk of the material. It makes things a bit difficult in terms of planning lessons and coordinating timelines, but that's the way they like to do it so that there is a huge amount of time left at the end of the school year to review before the AP tests. So these last few weeks will not be as laid-back as I had hoped...

We finally located a bowling alley here in Xián. There's a sports building that has 8 lanes on the 4th floor of a building. I don't know how a person would ever find it. The lanes are in good shape and do not appear to get much use (when we were there only 1 or 2 other lanes got occasional use). The lanes are well-polished, as well as the area up to the foul lines. It was so slippery, that I fell several times when releasing the ball. You would have to play there often to get used to it. After a miserable first game of 121, I somehow managed a 165 on the second game. That was enough, so we quit.

I was bummed out to discover my allergies came to life in spring here in China. I was pretty miserable with my eyes and nose being very irritated. It suddenly dawned on me (maybe at the music fest), that I had brought my nose  spray with me here! I rummaged through my stuff, and sure enough, there was my savior! So after a couple days it brought me total relief and I don't think about it at all. I probably hadn't had allergies like that in quite a few years...

We are still trying to finalize our teaching schedules for the end of this school year. Things keep changing constantly - I am hoping that by the end of this week it will be settled down. Any hopes that I would know what I'll be teaching next year are pretty well dashed. Probably have to wait until our return in August.  I'm sure to be teaching BC Calculus like I did this year, but may also have some Statistics and 10th grade math (sort of Pre-Calculus). I think the math department may be a little short next year which is not a good thing...

Our next (one-day) holiday is Dragon Boat Day on June 22. I'm still not sure what goes on that day, but I know I won't be climbing any mountains!

And the winner is...

All of my students have now completed the AP Calculus BC exam (it was done on Tuesday). They are now spending the rest of this week and next week taking their other subject exams (some of them are taking as many as 7 AP exams). How is it that the Chinese score so well on these exams? Well, let me tell you a story...

The NBA is now down to the finals for the world championship title. There are 2 teams left, Team Charlie and Team Uniform. They are worthy opponents, and as they have made it this far, they are definitely quality teams. What are their differences, you say?

Team Charlie is led by a very strict, disciplined coach. The team is constantly running drills and reviewing past films of the opposing team, studying every possible move that the other team has ever made. The team members are extremely talented (you have to be at this level), and they run perhaps the best pick-and-roll moves in the league. The coach wants the players to run scripted plays, and prefers the players not to run rogue on the floor, as any breakdowns of structure will lead to unknown results. He does not want to try anything new, since if it results in failure he will undoubtedly shoulder the responsibility. He cannot be blamed if he has prepared everything with tried and true methods.

Team Uniform is led by a coach who is a lover of the game. He revels in the challenges of somehow matching each player's abilities and strengths against the opposing team. He runs drills, but mainly to keep the players sharp, as he recognizes that at this level they are all extremely talented. He is not only willing to try new plays, but is also constantly on the lookout for anything innovative or unusual that might spark his team or players. Players will sometimes make mistakes, but they are human. He is willing to take calculated risks.

It can be said that at this level, both teams are winners. After all, they have made it to the finals!
They are both successful teams and will reap nice financial rewards. You have $1000 (your only savings) to place on one team. The odds are listed as even.

Which team do you place your money on, Charlie or Uniform?