All Quiet on the Chinese Front

Not much to report this Monday morning, except that's it's a new week in Beijing. We had no rehearsals between Thursday and Sunday evenings because students had mostly left for the long holiday weekend, so David and I got some time to ourselves, spent hours at wifi central (aka Starbucks, where we should be paying rent by now, or at least get a mailbox). In my case, I had a good amount of grading still to do, and spent much of Sunday compiling final grades for upload to UF's server before Monday.
Saturday's adventure was braving the shop-happy masses in the vast underground mall at Zhongguancun, Beijing's largest. I needed a mattress pad to offset my unforgiving bed, and we had a few other items on the list, such as hand sanitizer (we've read about swine flu here, too, and want to be ready for germ warfare!), wine (the Chinese now make a palatable cabernet under the "Great Wall" label), cinnamon (needed to make my breakfast oatmeal less bland), cheese (who doesn't need cheese?), etc. All this and much, much, much more (did I mention "much"?) can be found at the Carrefour, the French-owned but thoroughly chinesified super-mart that anchors the mall. I got the mattress pad for 99 Yuan (about $15), and then we ascended to the food area, where you duck careening shopping carts, low-hanging signs, and shouting salespeople to stock up on every manner of meats, fruits, spices, rice, and tea. The din and the smells are unbelievable. It's a perfect mix between a traditional outdoor market and a Western-style supermarket. I'll post some pictures when I go next.
Sunday rehearsal was quite satisfying, although we find we can't move as fast with these students as we can with our own. It is not for lack of unerstanding; their command of English is quite sophisticated. Rather, there is a discrepancy in theatrical sensibilities that we well have to find a way to bridge. For now, some practical considerations are also challenges, in particular trying to coordinate everyone's schedules. But that's boring, and I won't trouble the blog with it.