Eye of Modok

After the short break for New Years (solar - the big break for the lunar new year is coming up) Ellie came home from school very excited and brandishing a honglingjin 红领巾 (red neckerchief) that she was awarded that day. For most Chinese kids, this is probably not that big a deal, because most Chinese kids are good students by anyone’s standards, but it is a big deal for Ellie. The honglingjin is awarded to kids who show exemplary behavior in school, and those who wear it are considered to be model students, even model junior citizens. I’m pretty sure not too many foreign kids have been given one.

It turns out that in Ellie’s class, most of the other kids had already been given a honglingjin, so the ceremony rather singled her out. Ellie and the others who were to receive a honglingjin lined up in front of the whole school, and some older kids came up and tied it around their necks. (To Ellie’s dismay, it was a boy who tied hers!) Now only one kid in her class is without one, and he is generally considered by all to be a “bad apple”.

Makes a daddy proud!!

Blysse and Ellie took part in a concert over the weekend at the Bookworm, a well-frequented hangout for Beijing denizens who prefer a more high brow place to chill. They sang five songs in all, and I recorded them all on my trusty dusty Sony snapshot camera, which does well in good light (except for the annoying clicking sound that shows up from time to time).

Here are two of my favorites from the concert:

Rooster Rag…

And Joseph’s Coat…

Once again its time for the annual performance of Handel Messiah by the International Festival Chorus at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. This year we are privileged to have guest conductor Dr. Martin Dennis directing from the harpsichord. Dr. Dennis is none other than the man responsible for the tutelage of our own conductor Nick Smith, and after the vocal calisthenics the chorus was put through in preparation for our recent performance of the Bach B Minor Mass, this year promises to be the best ever, perhaps even our best performance ever… period! Or, perhaps I should say, “full stop”!