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Man it's easy to blow this thing off when I can't do it myself; such a pain in the extreme lower back.

Wuhan is in central China. Cental China gets hot. Really hot. Wuhan gets really hot. "Because of its hot summer weather, Wuhan is known as one of China's Three Furnaces, along with Nanjing and Chongqing. Wuhan is by far the hottest of the Three Furnaces; the average temperature in July is 37.2°C (99°F), and the maximum often exceeds 40°C (104°F)." I hadn't given this much thought before I came. I mean, Dallas is in Texas. Texas gets hot. Really hot. "...the north central Texas region where Dallas is located is one of the hottest in the United States during the summer months, usually trailing only the Mojave Desert basin." (I couldn't find any stats on humidity, but here 75% is low.) So anyway I wasn't in the least worried about the weather and proudly put down any and all Chicken Little's with "I'm from Texas, I'll be fine." Well I now know that there was one variable I had not accounted for: Texas is air conditioned. Everyone and everywhere in Texas has air conditioning, I don't know how many times I've heard "you have to have air conditioning in Texas, you couldn't live here otherwise." Well actually, that's not exactly true. Texas without air conditioning is Wuhan and a whole bunch of people live here. One difference in climes is that Wuhan gets cold in the winter. I got here for the tail end of winter and quickly learned, from its absence, the value of central heat. Well that goes double for A/C in the summer. Its rough. And so of course mine went on the fritz the other day. Actually it had been working at about 50% for the past few weeks but then she leaked water all over the livingroom floor and we had to shut down operations completely until we could get a repairman in for a visit. Well, she's back at full health now, thank goodness, so as long as I don't leave the apartment... (thanks to wikipedia for the weather info.)

So a few weeks back we put on an English show. The English Department, or just the foreign teachers rather, put together a variety/talent-type show to be performed all in English. And I got to host the whole thing. Oh how I cursed this show. This was right around the time when I was having to write finals (one final exam plus an alternate exam for each class, that's 6 exams in total) and grade story analyses, and cram 2 extra weeks worth of material into the rapidly dwindling school year (that one was my own fault). I was stressed out, and the last thing I needed was another task to spearhead. Like a good little time bomb I supressed my rage and did it anyway and after it was all said and done I had a blast. I'm so glad I went through with it rather than unleash a blue streak across central China to rival the Great Wall. We put out the call for students to perform and we got some real talented kids. There was singing, dancing, skits, a one-act play, and the comedy stylings of yours truly. Here are some pictures.

When the Music's Over

Hola amigos. I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya, but things got crazy if you know what I mean. Let’s just see, when were we last together? I believe I was writing finals. I can’t find out for sure because….well that’s a whole ‘nother thing. So, I was writing finals, an arduous task in the least, unnecessarily made a tremendous pain in the donkey by the folks upstairs. I remember my professors complaining about administration. Saying their job was to convince others (and themselves) that they were necessary. I’ll let you know when I find evidence to the contrary. And in addition to writing finals I was trying to cram four weeks of material into two weeks of classes. It seems, you see, I can’t read a calendar. As I was mapping out the agenda for my classes I counted two of the finals weeks as class weeks so needless to say, though I will, we were terribly behind. In addition to that we were trying to put together an English show, some variety of performance put on by the English department featuring teachers and students alike. (And performed all in English of course.) Also around this time our internet went out, and when it came back I was (and am still) unable to access my blog. And I was sick. (Shameless fishing for sympathy.) So, I apologize for the delay, but I am now back. And will try my darndest to stay back. Connected via intermediaries. As some of you may notice there is no musical accompaniment for this post. I thought it best to remain silent for now in observance of my disconnectedness. Regularly scheduled programming will resume next time. A teaser for upcoming episodes: our English show, Guiyuan Temple, exploring Wuhan, and more. So stay tuned. Oh, one more thing, there is a (hilarious) allusion embedded within this post. If you can identify it you could win a prize! Please send all submissions (with proof of purchase) to jmattscott@gmail.com. Tob e eligible, entries must be completed and received on or by the closing date of the draw. Restrictions may apply. Void where prohibited.