The team just finished week 4 of 16 for the term. There has been more lessons to prepare initially, but it's slowing down a little. I enjoy preparing lessons, mind you, but at times it can get overwhelming. I only have 7 classes a week, but these involves 3 different types of classes (with 1 class meeting twice a week) - meaning I must prepare 4 lessons a week to teach in class. Being a quarter of the way through, my thoughts have turned to returning home - and I can't wait to see my 2 nephews, Nehemiah and Zao. Boy, do I miss them a bunch!

With college basketball's March Madness in full swing, the team scores for their brackets are as follows: 1st = Wu @ 77 pts.; 2nd = Me @ 72 pts.; 3rd = Daren @ 70 pts.; 4th = Vance @ 68 pts.; 5th = Mark @ 66 pts.; 6th = Rachel @ 64 pts.; 7th = Kat @ 62 pts.; 8th = Jennifer @ 61 pts.; 9th = Sarah @ 44 pts. & 10th = Anthony @ 38 pts. As a concession, I don't think Sarah or Anthony have ever followed college basketball, much less have ever filled out a bracket. As to a second concession, I'm not 2nd according to the "total pool" of participates which includes Jason & his girlfriend, Matt (Jason's bro), Seth, Michelle, Robb, Amy (our country director), Jenny (an assistant in Beijing), and Tim (our area director). With these people factored in I'm 6th...and the only one pulling for Oklahoma as the champs! <Fingers crossed here.>

The never ending song (March 12, 2009, Xinhua)
More than 1,200 residents in northeastern China have set a new world karaoke record by singing continuously for 456 hours, two minutes and five seconds. Students, soldiers, and businessmen from Changchun, capital of Jilin Province, sang more than 6,200 songs from February 20 until yesterday morning, Xinhua News Agency reported today. It beat the old Guinness World Record, set by Finns in July, by nearly 10 hours.

Bidding fierce for last-round Beijing Olympic Games relics (March 19, 2009, Xinhua)
Collectors spent a total of 47.8 million yuan (7 million U.S. dollars) yesterday to get their hands on the last 410 drums and 978 bamboo scrolls that featured in the amazing opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics last summer. The popular souvenirs went under the hammer at the China Beijing Equity Exchange (CBEX) in a four-hour auction that attracted more than 130 millionaires from across China. It was the third and final round of the auctions, with the total winning bids for all 1,500 fou, a traditional Chinese drum, and near 1,000 zhujian, ancient-style bamboo scrolls, a staggering 119.1 million yuan. The sales are expected to make the Beijing Games an even bigger financial success, with organizers, who will wrap up their duties by June, already declaring an estimated profit of over 16 million U.S. dollars.

Yao Ming tops Chinese celebrity list again (March 18, 2009, Shanghai Daily)
Basketball player Yao Ming remains China's top Chinese celebrity, leading the Forbes China Celebrity List for the sixth year. The 2009 list was released yesterday in the March issue of Forbes China, the Chinese-language edition of Forbes magazine. It surveyed the incomes and popularity of leading figures in film, sports, media, music and publishing. All those considered were born and raised on China's mainland. The China list is modeled on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list. Yao topped both the income and popularity sectors with an income of 357.77 million yuan (US$52.34 million) last year. Though income is the biggest single factor in compiling the list - which tracks the transfer of fame into fortune over the past year - media coverage and web hits within China also figure prominently. Actress Zhang Ziyi now ranks No.2 overall - she was 5th last year.

I'm not sure what to think of it all, but apparently there was an earthquake felt near Siping. Both Mark & Rach said they felt it. Rumors flew around Siping that the earthquake was in Gongzhuling (about 50 miles north of Siping). Classes on campus were actually canceled this afternoon due to some fears of the administration. Rumors still flew around this evening that at 10:30 PM tonight, there would be another one (like these things can be predicted like this?).

To find the truth to all this, I went online and found here that indeed an earthquake had occurred in Asia around the time mentioned by Rach & Mark, but it was in Japan - around 1,000 miles east of Siping. It was listed as a 5.1 earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan, not even on the mainland. However, I did hear from Jason tonight that there was a 4.3 earthquake in Jilin province (but I can't seem to find anything referencing this). Despite the hype around this event post-Sichuan earthquake, I think I'll still sleep soundly tonight.

It's March Madness time and Team Siping is there! Jonny printed up the NCAA brackets for the team, passed them out, and instructed us to fill them out and turn them in (along with 10 Yuan for the "pool"). I don't think Anthony had ever filled one out as I saw Wu explaining, in great details, what to do. This is something of a small tradition as the winner receives the "pool" of the money and the "first loser" (as Wu calls him) receives 10 Yuan back. I've selected Memphis and OU (University of Oklahoma) in the finals with OU on top. I saw that ESPN will offer $1,000,000 to the person who submits a perfect bracket. So I submitted my and expect to receive my $25,000 checks for 40 years. Rock on!

I honestly don't know why I haven't blogged in like A MONTH AND A HALF. Call it laziness or downright procrastination, but it's time I get back with the program. I've updated my class schedule this term, set up some more links, changed my music, and did some "web" cleaning. There'll be more to come. But for now, I'm going to bed.