As you might have read, today was the first ever “Red Alert” for smog in Beijing. Beijing is well known for its smog. And strangely enough the red alert day (Today) the smog was literally half the level it was about a week ago when it reached 670 parts per million (Of 2.5 micron particles). Today, the smog was about 320 at its height. So, to choose today to sound the alarm really surprised everyone in the city.

    What the alarm meant for us. The government decreed that students stay home, to study, and only the kids who stay at the school (Boarding) should be in class. For us, the parents came and picked up most of the boarding students. I had a half day work, just in case some students were sent in anyways. Which could happen, a lot of parents work, and they can’t afford to take the day off to watch their child during a school day that the kid is not sick for…. I got all my marking up to date, had a meeting about final exams, and winter camps, then after lunch left.

    The smog alert has been set for 2 ½ days, which means officially no classes for us until Thursday afternoon, but our school declared Friday morning to be the return. We are a bit worried that the students will fall behind, and I will send out homework to the parents each day through Wechat (Kind of like skype on steroids).

    A lot of parents were posting pictures of their kids doing housework with them to share with the school. We are alive and breathing, so no worries there, we all have quality breathing masks and use them when we go out. Not sure what we will do tomorrow if we are home stuck, but will figure it out.

    Sunday, the last day of the weekend. We all crawled out of bed about 8:30 as normal. The kids played and watched videos on the laptop all morning. We hummed and Hawed about what to do today, while lazing around the dormitory room the school has provided for us.

    About 11:00 we had decided to go out to the “BHG” a Mall not too far from our house. It is a 20 minute walk, or 5 minute rickshaw ride away. We love riding rickshaws. Our whole family always has. The kids call them Tricycles as that’s what they are called in the Philippines. What they actually are, however, are the front of a motorcycle attached to a back Bench seat for passengers. The whole device is enclosed in a large metal box with windows. These little boxes zip around the city like mini-taxis. Everyone talks about how dangerous they are, because there are very few licenced ones compared to the number of rickshaws on the road. The unlicensed ones might be dangerous drivers, cutting into traffic or driving too fast, but we’ve never had a problem with them.

    We took the rickshaw to the mall. As we entered the mal there was a man renting robots for the children to ride in. So we let the kids drive these exoskeletons around for 5 minutes. They kind of looked like robot-shaped bumper cars at the entrance to the mall. They had a great time running into each other or chasing each other for 5 minutes.

    Then we went to our favourite restaurant, Saizeriya. It’s good priced Italian food that the whole family likes. We go there about once every week or two. We arrived just after the lunch rush, we still had to wait for a seat but only for 5 minutes. We were able to have steak, pizza, spaghetti, sausages and squid and not break the bank.

    Finishing that we went to the top floor of the mall where there is a children’s arcade. All the games are geared to elementary school kids. Sammy got to play a firefighter simulator where she sprayed water at flames that appeared on a screen. She won 2 pogo stick races (Real pogo stick, virtual race), and rode a horse in a horse race. Joshua played virtual bowling (real ball, digital pins), went on a safari adventure with a jeep, and both racecar raced and motorcycle raced.

Upon finishing this we went to the supermarket below to get cereal for breakfasts, found Maple and Brown Sugar instant oatmeal (From Canada) that Sammy and I love. And before coming home were able to rent a whole merry-go-round for just our family (for $10), and then JD & Irish took a little kids roller-coaster ride all by themselves (No other customers) while Sammy and I took the rocket ride where you go up and down in a rocket that flies in a circle.

Irish pointed out at the end of all this that there is no way we could have had a day like this in Canada. We just could not afford it. It is nice to be able to take the kids out and have fun with them. Tomorrow is school again, and I have to plan my lessons in a few minutes but it is nice to just relax.

    It’s strange how in one day a person can go from glee to sadness to happiness to depression. These emotions don’t normally flow in that way in my life, I’m usually a very happy person who love helping others. I have good co-workers, I love my job, and my family if wonderful, I have a lot to make me happy.

Today started off as it has since the start of the school year (or really since we arrived.) I got up, dressed in a suit and tie, and headed to the front gate of the school. Every day I go there and greet the students as they enter. As I am a well-respected teacher at the school, and I have taught the majority of the kids at one time or another, the new principal thought it would be a good Idea for me to do so. I love it. I smile and wave and greet the kids as they enter. Some kids give me high fives as they enter, some stop to talk for a moment. One little boy is so happy to see me each day that he runs up and hugs me. It’s a wonderful experience.

Then I run back to the dormitory we are staying at temporarily, and remove my suit jacket and tie as I don’t like things tight around my neck for long, and I don’t want to get the jacket dirty. I then carry my books and computer to my office where I start. Today is mid-term day. Fun. So I had a lot of tests to give out today.

I teach grade 1 Maths to 5 classes, and Grade 1 English to 1 class. I, stupidly I might add, made the test a bit too long for them. Standard practice at our school has always been to give the class more time if the test is too long. Break it up over 2 classes. The teacher that teaches the other 4 classes of English to grade 1 doesn’t do that. So my class will finish their test tomorrow morning before they have their Halloween party. And they will all (Most likely) pass. Unfortunately my daughter’s class doesn’t get the luxury off extra time and the entire class will have to settle for less than 50% on the first written test of their life…. That really brought me down.

My students brought me back up. Kids always do. I love being a teacher, because of the children. I help them understand the world, and they help me see it inn new and wonderful ways. The kids had me smiling again before the lunch period was finished. I helped a couple of new teachers decide on their Costumes for Halloween tomorrow. I figured out how to tie a bowtie, and another teacher celebrated her birthday in our office with Chocolate cake (Yum!).

When I got home, I was able to get an email from my virtual phone, which emails me any voice mail messages I get. Unfortunately the internet in the school and the dormitory is set up in a way that I cannot use my VPN program to connect to the virtual phone or facebook/twitter etc…

Anyways When I got home, my mother had left a message that made me almost cry. My beloved Grandmother has passed. I am planning to talk to Mom in Canada tomorrow morning as when I got the message it was 3am in Canada. I will update on the causes, but I believe I know.

I curled upon my bed with my SUDOKU magazine to comfort me, and my daughter and son, sensing I was not feeling well decided they needed to cheer me up with pictures, and jokes. I did say I have a wonderful family. I told my children about how wonderful their great grandma was. I am going to do so again and again for a long time I think. They never got to meet her, and I want them to know about her, and their great grand-pa.

I will try to call Quebec, tomorrow after work. After I figure the time differences.

I’m going to bed, now. I wish you all time to hug the ones you love and let them know how much you love them.