Who Needs Fire?

A few days ago, I was planning to meet a friend at a coffee shop. I got on the bus and went downtown. I was about an hour early and thought that I could use the time to catch up on some work. Then something struck me – I hadn’t eaten lunch. Lately I have been very busy, and sometimes I forget to eat. So, I decided to visit the Golden Arches which was near the coffee shop. I went in, ordered, sat down, and began eating. (In case you’re wondering, McDonald’s taste the same here as it does in the States.) I was eating and reading, and then I noticed a woman come in and sit down at a table in front of me. She did not order anything, and she had a strange look on her face. She looked at all of the people sitting in the immediate vicinity. She studied them closely about a minute for each person. Then came my turn. I could feel her eyes on me, and at first I tried to ignore it. I am used to being stared at because there aren’t too many foreigners in this town. Soon, minutes began to pass, and

Well, this week was a crazy one. This last Monday, I started teaching 10 more hours each week. My school just started a program to prepare high school graduates to study abroad. I’ve been teaching the grammar end of it, and it has been keeping me busy. Tuesday morning I went to the office to review my lesson plans before class. One of the other foreign teachers saw me and told me something very interesting. He told me there was a crowd of people at the gate of my school. I had no idea what it was for so, I called a friend who works at the school, and I was told that one of the students had died. It seems a few weeks ago they went on a class trip in a forest preserve. At the end of the day, all of the students went back to the busses, but one was missing. The teachers looked everywhere imaginable, and could not find him. So they called the police and professional rescue personnel to look for him. They did not find him until almost twelve days later. It seems he was climbing and had fall

When I decided to come to China, I knew there were things from home that I would miss very much, and I’ ve been able to handle it fairly well. One of the things that I miss the most is the annual car show that happens in Chicago every year. It has the new models for the new year as well as many amazing concept cars. It is so much fun to see the fruits of labor of some of the most imaginative and innovative engineers in the world. I always looked forward to going each year, and when I moved to China I added it to the list of things that I wouldn ’t be able to do. One night a few weeks ago, I was hanging out with a friend, and I happened to see an English newspaper from Shanghai. I started reading about the various events that were happening throughout the world. I had finished looking at the third page or so, and then I flipped to the next. The next page was a full page advertisement. It had several pictures of exotic cars, and in the middle of the ad in large letters was - 2009 Shangh