Good Weather = High Morale

A funny thing happened today in Wuhan. It was a really nice day. The air was warmer, the wind was calmer, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It's weird how much of an effect a blue sky can have when you don't see one nearly as often. There's a certain visceral pleasure to it, like that of little kids watching a man fall down repeatedly. You can't always predict when it'll happen again, but you're always hoping and waiting for next time.

Of course, all of this lasts only until something goes wrong, or not according to plan. Today, it was the projector. Most of my lessons are taught using PowerPoint, as the students respond better to visual aids like photos and videos. Plus, it's always good to show them the text as you're speaking. Unfortunately, the classroom technology is about as reliable as the Chinese food industry. (Kidding. I assure you, the food is plenty safe.) Anyway, the students eventually got it to work, which was great, since I was having a hell of a time trying to find a key to another classroom. You'll be glad to know that things went pretty smoothly after that. Problems here have a way of working themselves out, and most things in China seem to be out of my control, anyway.

When I wasn't teaching, I spent the day lesson-planning (mostly continuing our discussion of Halloween), eating, grocery shopping, and helping the Zhongnan University Shakespeare Club with their rehearsal. I'm headed off to bed, so I'll close with a few pictures from our Halloween gathering a couple of weeks ago.

From top left: Jim, Cori, Gabriel, me, Avi, Steven, Marguerite, and Maggie; Bob and Maggie (who look like they might've been drinking, but really hadn't); me, in my bad butler costume.