Busy times

It's hard to believe another week has flown by. As I write it is Saturday afternoon. We only have 6 more days here in Xi'an. We will leave by train next Friday evening with "soft sleeper" compartments - meaning each compartment will have 4 beds with sheets and a comforter. We will be shipping our big suitcases earlier that day as there is no room for all the luggage in the compartments. It will all be delivered to our hotel the next day.

I met with our travel agent on Thursday afternoon to pay for our tour and to finalize plans for our time in Beijing. We were able to once again get rooms in the Taiwan Hotel, where we have stayed for most of the years of the exchange. Luckily it will still be about 10 days before the start of the Olympics because at that time the room rates jump by hundreds of dollars. The hotel is well-located with lots of places to walk nearby - including shopping.

This week we had slightly shorter days as the Chinese students were not able to join us on Friday, and due to our cooking class once again being canceled on Thursday due to a visiting American teacher-training team from Massachusetts. Yesterday I heard rumors that the school year for the remaining students might end as of today - meaning that the campus will be much quieter for our last days. We still have classes from Monday to Wednesday with a final exam in Chinese on Tuesday, and a final exam on the book we are reading on Wednesday. Then on Thursday we will attend a one-hour show when some student groups will entertain us and where our group is to present two short "acts". With the help of our two Chinese teachers some plans have been made for our part of the show. Following the show will be a Farewell Banquet to which all the host families will be invited. A couple of the students will help me with my speech. Following the luncheon we will all head home for our last 24 hours to pack and get ready to leave.

I'll try to post more pictures before we leave on Friday.