Blues Skies!

This morning I woke up and could barely believe my eyes!

For the first time since I arrived in Beijing.....which was now a week and a day ago (it has felt like a month, and it's only been a week....)

I woke up to blue skies smilin' at me! Nothing be blue skies do I see :) Seriously. It's sunny and beautiful. I can see the horizon, with all of the buildings and I think I can almost see the mountains! I was really starting to get bummed by all the pollution and dirty, grossness, so this is really encouraging. A lot.

It can't have come on a more perfect day, because today I'm going into town to watch some ultimate frisbee (today is their summer league tournament), and hopefully I'll at least get to toss the disc a bit.. Mostly, I'm just excited to meet the ultimate community!

And then....I'm going to dance team practice! I went out swing dancing Monday night (because their big dance night is Mondays, at a bar called CD blues....hmmm....Monday night dancing at a local bar....that sounds familiar!), and I was invited to join their performance team :) I guess they have an upcoming performance for a TV show, and in the next month or so their doing something for a movie. Sweet!

So basically, in a week, I've managed to set my life up with essentially the same schedule I had in Chicago. Dance on Monday nights, performance team practice on Saturday, and ultimate. Of course, I realize that my job has to come first, so I might have to drop some of this stuff as school gets going, but we'll see.

The philosophy of my school is amazing. I'll make a post about school and all, but they believe in the "work hard, play hard" and "Life balance" ideas, which is great, because at Princeton, my work/life balance was waaaay out of whack and I never want to do that again. I know as a music teacher, I will always spend a lot of time at work- and I love it, so that's fine, but I never want to FEEL as unbalanced as I was in Princeton, because then you burn out.....and that makes you a shitty teacher, which is no good for anyone involved.

Anyway, here's the view from my balcony on this beautiful blue skied morning! (sorry it's sideways, can't figure out how to turn it) Can't wait to go play some ultimate!