A Good Week

This week hasn't been super exciting, but it's been good.

Colin met up with his adviser and is starting to get some of the details he needed about completing his project here. He's also gotten his first taste of being a TA. Students have been filling his email all week and about half of them didn't follow directions. He finally sent out a class-wide email explaining the process again (to good reception from his adviser).

The two of us have been attending two classes given by Chad Hansen, one of the big names in Chinese philosophy. Great classes. One is on Chinese Humanism and the other is a comparative of Western Rule of Law and Chinese 'fa'. They've both been providing us with some good food for thought. We've also attended the coffee sessions after class, which have led to us meeting a study abroad student from the US, Larry. We had a great meal with him last week. Very funny and articulate.

I've been trudging away at my classwork as well. This week we discussed students with behavioral and emotional disorders (BED to those in the teaching world). There was a lot to learn about an extremely heterogeneous group of students that I'll no doubt encounter in the classroom. Next week is my first test, so we'll see how I'm retaining it all.

I'm pretty excited about tomorrow. Saturdays are usually lounging/working days for Colin and I. We don't usually plan too much, particularly since Friday nights are date nights (good food) and Thursday or Friday nights are lecture nights with the department. This week, we're going to be meeting up with a couple we made friends with in the airport on our way to Hong Kong. Jodi and Jennifer are both professors on exchange/sabbatical trips to the Hong Kong Institute of Education and they brought their adorable daughter, Beatrix, with them. She's really verbose and articulate for a two year old (I originally thought she was four or five!). We're looking forward to walking around the neighborhood and park and eating Thai with them.

Have a good weekend!