you don't know the pseudnoyms I assume for you.

brown and white
Originally uploaded by heather rocks the casbah

yesterday, thanks to a light drizzle of rain throughout the day, I got some cleaning done around my apartment that I had put on my permanent procrastination list...forever ago.

but I certainly didn't play Cinderella, I cleaned, straightened and tidied for just over an hour and a half, than I made dinner and returned to watching episodes of LOST.

A TV series which I have been told for years is worth a watch. So far, I agree. Though I have discovered that if I turn down the sound and turn on the English subtitles, so the spooky music is hard to hear, I sleep better at night.

the number of Internet websites blocked in Beijing has increased since the new "activity' began out west.
I read in the news that Hu Jintao, El Presidento of the CCP, left the G8 summit early.
I am off to the dentist today.

xiao gou!

xiao gou!
Originally uploaded by heather rocks the casbah

four days into summer vacation.

day 1 - Canada Day was spent with Jules on the #115 bus heading out to a suburb further south than I live in. After a very hot and sweaty standing ride, we arrived in Daxing to visit Catherine in her temporary apartment where her and her boyfriend will live before heading off to Mongolia.

day 2 - jules and I went and purchased some matching Yongjiu (Forever) Chinese bikes. We played with some puppies at the bike shop and then biked away the day. I think we put more than 20 kilometers on our new bikes. We rode up to Haidian to pick up Jules' Visa for our trip to Hong Kong in late July.

day 3 and 4. I have mainly hung around my apartment. Hid from the heat, started reading Joyce's Ulysses (which is my summer reading project), cleaned a bit, laundry, watched marathon episodes of pirated American sitcom DVDs. Though I did manage to get out of the house, both days.

I think it will be an interesting summer albeit a slow and relaxing one.

I leave for a trip to the coast: Qingdao in 10 days!

End of year two contract: school's out for summer!

notes from students 2 - with Jacques Cartier
Originally uploaded by heather rocks the casbah

Isn't this note from one of my Korean students just darling? Part of our history course was exploration and first arrivals to Canada.
Hence the addition of Cartier to her "postcard" note. Unfortunately this student will not be coming back to our school next year. Which is too bad, she was sweet.

Want to see what happened in Grade two yesterday on our last day of school? We went on a Gingerbread Man Hunt.

Select photos on flickr. = http://www.flickr.com/photos/heathersfeelgoodrevolution/

soldier on, soldier on

power poles #1
Originally uploaded by heather rocks the casbah

here is a old photo - March 28, 2006/

a week tomorrow is my last day teaching this school year.

In the beginning there was nothing &, to be honest, that suited me just fine. I was three weeks late coming out of the womb In no great rush to join the rest of mankind where there were: Further complications

funny wave
Originally uploaded by heather rocks the casbah

my post title is a jarvis cocker tune, which I have had on repeat lately. The opening lines to the song are a little funny, since I, too, arrived three weeks late into this great big, beautiful, complicated world.

here on the beijing home front, still no blog access. but I am sporting a wicked head cold which has taken up refuge in my chest, so raspy and snotty.

the last thing I feel like doing this week is writing report cards and administering exams but that is all I got right now. Eight more working days until precious, lovely slow days of summer.

roadside yellow

roadside yellow
Originally uploaded by heather rocks the casbah

have not been able to access blogger and flickr is intermittent, so until you see my posts here regularly just assume the #Great firewall is keeping me from updating you.

I've been busy, but the end of year is so close. I am so happy to cross many things off my to-do list as the year winds down.

This Friday I will finish my Mandarin classes and take the exam.

fingers crossed my access to the websites i like will resume soon.

the end

the end
Originally uploaded by talimelekalikimaka

i just finished all 727 pages of Steinbeck's East of Eden.

I so enjoyed the read. It is part moral teaching and part examination of the human condition. For these reasons, I am so happy to have read, lived, enjoyed and benefited from John's fiction.

here on the beijing home front, still no internet access to my blog.

after a month of toasty warm summer temperatures, we had rain on Thursday (actually strangely enough, the last three Thursdays in a row). Today there is a stench coming from the drain of my shower which is a result of chinese plumbing methods. (no P trap) I shut the bathroom door and have lit a vanilla ice-cream scented candle.

Am about to wash up some dishes. When I filled the sink, 30 minutes ago I also noticed the water from my tap is noxious and putrid, not unlike the smell from the bathroom drain.

oh my, what a saturday evening.

One day I'm going to grow wings

throwing
Originally uploaded by heather rocks the casbah

i was all hot and cold today.

moody monday. looking forward to three days off this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

maybe it is the rather deathly hot weather that we have had around these parts the last three weeks.

is that what makes me a little less nice? or maybe it is just the final push to finish out this school year.

Much to look forward too, and I am pleased as punch with the whole lot of life currently dished onto my plate.

Though getting more hours of sleep during the week days would do me a world of good.