we had a rainy weekend, much to our astonishment, and this morning i was sorely tempted to have a last run to the park, along the streets of beijing. well, of my district, anyway. because the dust has dissipated somewhat, the air's cooler and smells a little fresher, and best of all, the piles of dirt and sand and loose concrete are damp and the wind's therefore unable to blow any of it into your face.
i don't think last runs are really last runs unless you set out from home thinking it's going to be your last run.
but i lay in bed for a while listening to the sounds of traffic and thought about how a wave of exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke hit me when i stepped out of the apartment building, on my way to church yesterday morning, and decided against it.
i skipped in the lift lobby again. you've got to go at a particular time: too early and the neighbours are leaving for work; a while after that and the cleaning lady comes. once i hear the sounds of her huge mop i know i'm good to go in about five to ten minutes.
our university has an Extremely Strange and Useless Policy. we've got take-home exams which function pretty much the same way as they do in singapore, except that after you've finished typing your essay, you're expected to collect these sheets of paper from the teacher and copy out your entire essay by hand before handing it up. thankfully, two of my three professors with take-home exam modules have decided to do away with this requirement.
still, i had to sit at the dining room table last night copying out 3500 chinese characters, not all of which were arranged in correct grammatical order. jinni had a good laugh editing my essay for me - every cloud has a silver lining.
i've decided that i can only put one article per day into my luggage for the remaining days that i am in beijing. however, i realise that i'll probably run out of things to put in, unless i want to end up not brushing my teeth or washing my hair.
i don't think last runs are really last runs unless you set out from home thinking it's going to be your last run.
but i lay in bed for a while listening to the sounds of traffic and thought about how a wave of exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke hit me when i stepped out of the apartment building, on my way to church yesterday morning, and decided against it.
i skipped in the lift lobby again. you've got to go at a particular time: too early and the neighbours are leaving for work; a while after that and the cleaning lady comes. once i hear the sounds of her huge mop i know i'm good to go in about five to ten minutes.
our university has an Extremely Strange and Useless Policy. we've got take-home exams which function pretty much the same way as they do in singapore, except that after you've finished typing your essay, you're expected to collect these sheets of paper from the teacher and copy out your entire essay by hand before handing it up. thankfully, two of my three professors with take-home exam modules have decided to do away with this requirement.
still, i had to sit at the dining room table last night copying out 3500 chinese characters, not all of which were arranged in correct grammatical order. jinni had a good laugh editing my essay for me - every cloud has a silver lining.
i've decided that i can only put one article per day into my luggage for the remaining days that i am in beijing. however, i realise that i'll probably run out of things to put in, unless i want to end up not brushing my teeth or washing my hair.
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