Can you believe the craziness going on in the World Cup?  All of the Greats except Germany have been knocked out, South Korea and the US are still in the running.  Alas, my most insane dream cannot come true because the USA and Spain are on the same side of the knockout round and would meet in the semi-finals, but it would be my second most insane dream for them to advance and play each other in the next-to-last round of the tournament.

Plane tickets have been booked:  Shirley is leaving this(!) Friday the 21st of June, while I'm leaving the 12th of July.  This will give me two weeks to run around and do final China things.  I'm fantasizing about a trip to Urumqi, but time may not permit it:  research shows it's a 80 hour train ride from Beijing!  Research also says Beijing-Urumqi Y429 for a plane flight, but I'm skeptical.  I'll do some calling around this week.

This week the kids are doing oral testing.  No class, very easy schedule and Shirley is rushing so it has got me in a hard-working mood.