Money in Your Pocket

Its always great to find money in your pocket, except when its 100 yuan. Doh! I put on my running shorts yesterday (obviously haven't done that in awhile) and there was 100 yuan. Nothing like an $8 souvenir.

I went into to school yesterday only to find out the district has changed the bilingual program and I will be starting with it in three days. Don't you love how they make decisions that affect you (and the students) during the summer, so that you can't be a part of them (to contest. protest, find another job.) I want to believe that there were some intelligent, well-informed people involved in this process. Given the outcome, probably not. There is no need for me to hide my feelings on the blog because most people know how I feel about the matter. It astounds me that the same people that benefitted from policies of past seem to be the ones so bent on ridding the system of those policies. Maybe it is misperceived.

A moment of weakness, I had to comment. My back comments are only as good as my notes and my memories (and the photos.) I have relayed the same stories again and again that sometimes I don't know what I have told people. China, this, China, that. But let's continue...

Xi'an is rich with history and legend. Our tour guide explained that China's history is like a tree, at the roots lies Xi'an - 5,000 years old. It was the ancient capital. The old city is surrounded by a wall. "The city wall of Xi'an is an extension of the old Tang Dynasty structure, as a result of a wall building campaign. Xi'an's city wall after its enlargement in the Ming Dynasty stands 12 meters high. It is 12-14 meters across the top, 15-18 meters thick at bottom and 13.7 kilometers in length." (http://www.legendtour.ru/eng/china/r0203.shtml) The area inside the wall (and moat) is 800 sq km. The orignal wall was build by Emperor Zhu, of the Tang Dynasty. The legend goes that earthquakes were frequent in Xi'an and the emperor was told that a dragon was causing them. To stop the earthquakes, the dragon needed to enclosed within a wall. A bell tower, the exact center of the city, was placed on the dragon's head. There have been no earthquakes since. Maybe San Francisco needs to look into this. This Emperor Zhu was an interesting character. Zhu fell in love with his son's wife. She was sent off to a monastery and upon her return became the first concubine of the Emperor. She is considered the most beautiful woman of China. There were four, she apparently holds the number one spot. She is described by our size two guide as being more plump and having a double chin. She's probably a size 12 and I saw no evidence of a double chin on her statue. You can judge for yourself from the picture. Eventually some ministers felt threatened by her, told the emperor she was evil and was going to try to take over and so she and her family committed suicide to save the Emperor's good name. God love a threatened group of men. Apparently women of the Tang society got a better deal. The got to wear sexy clothes, ride horses and such. Of course if you are going to let a voluptuous woman ride a horse wouldn't you want her in a low cut dress.

One of my favorite days was spent in Xi'an, but I will save that for another post as this one is getting pretty lengthy. I now have to prepare my brain and body for some running and work. Woe is me.

ciao.