sock hop

We caved in and bought a DVD player this afternoon. Showing clips of American movies and discussing whats happening will be useful in the classroom, so we thought we ought to be able to watch the movies ourselves and decide which clips are culturally educational. I bought the VCD (cheaper version of a DVD) 'Big' with Tom Hanks at the supermarket. I remembered how much the part where he was in that awful motel room with the sirens and screaming people outside his window scared me years ago, though it lightens up with joyful scences of giant keyboards and baby corn faux pas.

I wore some new boots to work today (black ones from NZ). They were fine for the first hour of my walk to work, but then I started to experience some pain and before I knew it, I was in misery! I could barely make it to my class. My feet were worn raw at the heels, big toe and pink toe! It was excruciating. I shuffled to the bus stop after work with only my tippy toes pushing the boots along from the inside, and was so grateful that I found a seat on the bus. The whole ride home, I was consumed with pain and thought of nothing else besides how much I was dreading the walk from the busstop to the apartment. If I have not given you an idea of the magnitude of pain I was in yet, this ought to do it: (but first, recall that the streets and sidewalks in Ji'nan are filthy--spit, oil discarded from street vendors, children with bottomless pants who squat on the sidewalk whenever nature calls) I took off my boots and walked home sock footed! I was even more of a sight to see than usual. I couldn't have made it otherwise. I really liked those boots, but I think they must have been closer to Claire's size than mine!