I hear that there's been some shake-up at the Company. I must admit that I've known about this for a while. We can only wait and see where the Boss sends any of us. I live in China.

This week is the last week of classes, so I'm gearing up for finals on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. My Huihua (Conversation) class has a two-parter (because one part to a final is never enough). The first part is just Zheng Laoshi and me in the classroom. I draw a topic and talk with him about it for something like 7 minutes. I'm number 7 in my class to go. That'll be interesting. Monday and Tuesday are the other finals. All written. Fun.

Today the Professor and I booked our second round of tickets. Now we have tickets from Beijing to Bangkok and from Bangkok to Phnom Penh. It seems we'll be taking a train/bus/taxi/pick-up truck from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City (that's Siagon to those of you who don't know Vietnam is one country) and then from there by train up to Hanoi and all the way up from there by train back to Beijing.

It'll take about 5 days to do the home-bound trip, and I'm excited about it. All those tickets will be arranged once we're down in that part of the world, though. We're getting the hook up with a travel agent in Cambodia. Also, we are trying to go to Angkor Wat. That will only happen if we have the time extension that would be provided by finding out that school starts a week later than we think. This is a serious possibility, since we've heard nothing from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Angkor Wat is one of the most intriguing places in the entire world for me, so here's hoping.

The Professor points out that donations are always welcome for such excursions. And, even though we're being very careful and frugal in these plans, they could always be compensated. I would add to that that I didn't get Christmas this year. (Do you feel guilty? I'm really just messing with you, dear reader.)

T