Globe Trotting

Z in the US

W in South Korea

A in China

Me in Taiwan

We got the world covered.

Generation Gap II

Today, W. travels to Seoul, Korea for a Band festival with his school concert band.

In our day, participating in any kind of festival or inter-school sports league meant taking the bus to the local concert hall/stadium 20 minutes away.

College Apps (Again)

Time is just whizzing past. Before you know it, the school year will be over & we will be into the summer holidays then in a flash, W will be a senior with college applications to work on. I feel tired just thinking about it. Because of what he wants to study, the process will be even more intensive than Z's with auditions & samplings of his work & additional essays to write in some cases.

He has already started working on his music portfolio which he will need to submit to apply to some music programs. We will be meeting with his counselor soon to talk about his list of college which he (we) is (are) thinking about applying to.

We've done this once before. Maybe it gets easier the second time around.

I hope.

Impressions from China - February Snow

It's been as dry as a bone this winter in Beijing, until last night. When I went to bed, there was a light dusting of snow; but when I woke up, this is what I saw.

Admittedly, it's nothing compared to the snowstorms that have been hit

ting the USA this winter. But the little girl in me who grew up on a tropical island just one degree north of the Equator can't help but feel thrilled at the sight of the white stuff drifting down. It also gave me an excuse to put on my brand new snowshoes which I had mail ordered back in the Fall in expectation of stupendous amounts of snow & more crazy weather this Winter. But alas, the boots only just saw the light of day today. And I admit, it was probably a bit of an overkill to wear them boots which were probably more suited for a blizzard rather than the inch or so that we had. But hey, I had to break them in :).

(Sidenote: snow boots are damned difficult to put on. And almost as difficult to take off)

I love making footsteps in the freshly fallen virgin snow!

Travel

Flights between China & the USA are getting increasingly more expensive & difficult to book. I guess I should not be surprised given the vast number of Chinese sending their children there for college, hence flights between these two continents during the popular summer & winter holidays get filled up six months ahead of time. What's left are the more expensive seats & business class seats - way beyond our annual traveling budget. What's made it worst are the cost-cutting measures implemented by many American airlines which have resulted in fewer (& more expensive) flights.

Z, who traveled back to Beijing for his winter break, said that on both legs of his trip, the plane was filled with mostly mainland Chinese students studying in the USA, going home for the holidays. I was horror-filled to discover that the economy saver seats (read: cheap) on direct flights between the the airport from which Z flies out of to Beijing were already full for the May flights (which is when the college semester ends for many). So Z will have to make one transit stop on his way "home".

I have just booked our trip for the summer. We travel in June, peak travel period, and I do not want to be left in a lurch with no tickets or stupendously expensive tickets if I book them too late. The early bird, in this case, truly gets the worm.