It’s been a busy time for me recently. Let me bring you up to date. I was in ShenZhen May 12th…the day of the horrific earthquake. I was an invited judge of an English speaking competition which will be on CCTV 10. I did not feel the earthquake itself, but like the rest of us in China, and the world, we have felt the aftershocks. We still do…and I do not mean just the physical ones. On May 19th, I was in Wuzhen, which is a remote canal city near Hangzhou. We did not hear the massive horns like in Beijing. But instead, we stood looking at the peaceful canal that night and set a few flowers floating in memory of the deceased. It was a private offering, and extremely meaningful. Very personal… 

Came back to Beijing and was a judge in the Outlook English speaking competition finals. A half a million people tried out for this competition! You will have to watch to see who the winners are. You will be able to see it on CCTV 10 in the near future. I have been consulting English speaking skills for a large cell phone company and a few other clients. And doing some voice work for various products and services. Also doing some writing these days on an autobiography which seems to be taking forever! But I am reminded of the past these days as I am taking the time to clean out storage boxes in my apartment that contain too many pictures and other junk. But I am saving people pix and throwing away pix of scenery, objects, etc. The people pix are irreplaceble. The scenery can be seen on the net easily. 

One of my students asked if I enjoyed being on the radio or teaching more? I enjoy them both, but in many ways I enjoy teaching. I can see immediate results and in many ways it is very rewarding! I will always cherish the bond with the audience and my colleagues of Joy FM on CRI. But that program will never come back as it was. In fact, the name is now used by another radio station in Beijing! I have no idea how that happened! So strange! Wonder who gave away that name so easily which CRI used for about 15 years? Anyway, it is not my concern. But, I do encourage all of you who were part of that program, especially as a listener, to “always look for the JOY in life!” And hope to hear from some of you here on this blog…