Eric's Beijing Diary

Been out of touch for awhile. This is the first year I have taught a class to graduating seniors--a class designed especially for them. But it turns out that seniors don't generally take classes in their last semester (or so I'm told). So I was not aware that they have a different schedule than the rest of the undergraduates. I ended up having to move my classes up by a week. So I have been frightfully busy the past couple of weeks.

Got a new cleaning lady today. My old cleaning lady (me) wasn't that great. But I think this one is going to work out alright. Man, she cleans this place up slick! The poor cockroaches are going to starve. Actually, this apartment is not that hard to clean. No carpets, just stone tile. Sweep it, mop it, and you're good to go. I have always felt that carpets were a dumb invention. In one of my past lives, I was a vacuum cleaner salesman. I remember one time, I was at a lady's house demonstrating my product. I swept the cleaner across her carpet a few times, opened it up, and showed her the filth and gravel I had just collected. She looked at me and shrugged, "It's the floor."