January is nearly halfway finished, but I'm sure the New Year's is still fresh in most of your minds. I will be blunt with you, though. I didn't do much for the New Year, but I'll see what I can dredge up from my memories.

First off, let me tell you that the government declared a long weekend for the Y2K New Year. So I had my Friday classes cancelled just before the New Year. That threw my testing schedule a little out of whack, but things worked out in the end. Many of the students took off on the Thursday afternoon to rush to their hometowns. Most wanted to go home for the special occassion, but a good number of the students, who come from very far away, decided to stay on campus.

On the last Thursday of 1999, the teachers and I went to a New Year's Party hosted by the College English Center. That's one of the departments we teach for. The other is the Foreign Language Department. So, if you remember what party really means in China, then you know we had to sing. We just sang Auld Lang Syne. We figured that was fitting for the time of the season. Plus, Brian and I had just taught it that week in classes and the lyrics were fresh in our heads. Then many of the other teachers and workers at the College English Center had their turn. The karaoke machine was working overtime that night. The Karaoke VCDs ranged from HuangMei Opera to the Macau, Come Home song. They sure got that song on karaoke disc very quickly. The kids sang it that night, but the pictures on the TV screen didn't match the song. Those of you who have ever sang English karaoke back home will know what I mean.

On the very Eve itself, most of the foreign teachers were busy preparing for next week's tests and stuff, so it wasn't exactly a perfectly relaxing day. At night, we decided to watch some movies-- Entrapment and The Thomas Crown Affair. Entrapment took place around the Y2K New Year so it was very appropriate. Honestly, I didn't like The Thomas Crown Affair that much. One of the teachers said he saw the original with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway and it was much better.

Then, as midnight approached, we all went back to our own rooms. Talk about anti-climatic, eh? The movies were all finished and everyone was a little weary. The most exciting thing that happened in my room that night was a phone call from one of my students just after midnight. That was night, but let's just say he was the last call that night too.

Sorry, it just wasn't as exciting as most people want it to be. Tomorrow is another day.

The next day, however, I did call up Justin's house back in Vancouver and talked to some of you yahoos just around midnight PST. They were definitely excited on their end of the phone. I hear two of you guys hugged each other. I see we're getting friendlier for the New Year. I would have loved to hug you too, but the ocean seems to get in the way somehow. Go figure.