Make it Rain!!!

This is exactly what it is like to live in China, summed up in one story. Two weeks ago, I mentioned that it was snowing on November 1st. A very early snow storm for anyone living where civilization is located, ie Alaska and Minnesota don't count. Well, when it first snowed, I thought, man we are in for a long winter, enjoyed the snow and didn't have another thought about it. That was until I read a news story a few days later. Turns out, the government made it snow, by accident, but still. I will repeat that sentiment for everyone again.... THE GOVERNMENT... MADE... IT SNOW. Let that sink in. I say accidently, because the government didn't intend it to snow, they intended it to rain. So the government was trying to make it rain and missed by one. So first things first, the government makes it rain. Not in the way Pacman Jones does and gets arrested for it. No, they launch canisters of some chemical into the sky using old WWII anti-aircraft guns and the chemicals (the name is escaping me right now and other than my few science friends, none of you will be the wiser if i did say the name) interact with the clouds in such a way that it will rain for a day or two and then be clear skies for the next 3 or 4 days. We have known about this process as the artillery shells have woken us up on many a sunday at 7am. Why they have to make it rain at 7am is beyond me, but it did work as a nice alarm clock for a few weeks. Anyways, on October 31st, the government officials in charge of making it rain (How can I get this job???) decided to get one more rain in before winter. However, they forgot to check with the weather forecast guys who would have told them that there was a cold front moving in the next day. So they made it rain, and because it was cold, we got snow! Because that's what happens when government agencies don't talk to eachother. YAY Bureaucracy!

At school, it has been a slow week. I've spent a lot of time working on my polling situation that will go out later this month. It has been very complicated. Creating a simple poll that can be quickly read to parents before they lose interest but in depth enough to get significant answers. Not to mention translating my questions to Chinese, and the results from Chinese to English. On top of all of this, I am running into bigger and bigger problems with consistency, bias and continuity of the poll so even if my results produce significant results, I won't be that sure how accurate they are. Oh well, one problem at a time. Hopefully my books get here before I need to analyze the data cause I'll be lost without them. Other than that problem, school is rolling along smooth as ever. I'm still not sure if I am moving next month or not, but we'll cross that bridge when it arrives. (Don't worry, still in Beijing, just across town). Onto what I've learned,

1) Payday is the best day of the month

2) The Yankees still suck despite a World Series win, The Red Sox are definitely the Team of the Decade!

3) It seems whether its a Ruby Tuesday in Gettysburg or a pre-school in Beijing, girls just flock around me at work, more research must be done on this.

4) Kids are cruel no matter the continent of upbringing

This last story actually happened to me this morning. While in class I called one student up to board to do a problem. On his way back to sitting down, the boy next to him moved his chair back while he was sitting down. Now, my first reaction was to laugh and give him a high five, but after I supressed my inner 5 year old by distracting him with something shiny, I scolded the student and told him not to do that again. Luckily the fallen boy was okay, but no matter where you are located on the globe, kids are evil... NEVER FORGET THIS!!!