Amazing Race

I was in bed last night reading when I noticed that the fireworks had all suddenly stopped at 1 AM. It was like everyone agreed to end at 1 AM! I was happy to be able to get some sleep without so many bombs bursting in air!

This morning, most of the firework debris had been cleaned up by all the sanitation workers. The did an amazing job, because last night had layers and layers of debris piled up on the streets and sidewalks. Miles told us today that he was checking the U.S. Embassy's air quality level for Beijing last night and it got to 300! 230 is the danger level and 300 can be deadly for the young, elderly and the sick. Yikes! I'm going to appreciate Oregon air so much more in the future. You can look up the scary Beijing air quality statistics from the U.S. Embassy: http://twitter.com/beijingair

I had an early meeting today to meet our school's new Customer Manager boss. Her name is Becky and she is from China and has worked at another school for four years. Our previous CM has been promoted to be in charge of three of EF's Beijing schools.

I taught one elementary class this evening. It was a special testing day for the students during the first hour, and in the second hour, they completed an "Amazing Race" where I gave them clues about numerous tourist sights around the world and they would have to look online to answer a question before they were given the next clue. We have a bank of computers for students to use in the main hallway, and a few parents got in on the action, but mostly they enjoyed the group of boys trying to figure out that one of the clues was about the Great Wall! They were getting a bit of a laugh over that. I was just happy they were working together, floundering or not!