108 days without any form of precipitation and it finally snows on the morning I have to go back to work. Thanks, Beijing!

No classes this week, so I’m spending my time doing office work and phoning potential students. Mostly they seem nice, but yesterday I talked to the biggest prick of 2011 so far. I started the unfortunate ball rolling by asking him to “tell me something about yourself”. He started off by saying that he’d sold his house when Obama was elected, as “America is doomed”, and moved to China “to get some money back from the Orientals.” The call lasted around five minutes, all in the same kind of tone. In the end he expressed interest in joining a course during the summer. I’ll have to find a way of making sure I don’t teach him.
Meanwhile, in the hospital V is undergoing constant testing. The potential problems possibly indicated by every test are setting our nerves on edge and the later reassurance that there actually isn’t a problem each time doesn’t actually make things much better. The due date is only five days away now and V is huge. I don’t think I can relax until the baby is out, and maybe not even then.
The doctors have asked V to stay in the hospital from now until the birth, and I’ll be able to stay there some nights too, amazingly. Substitutes have been found to take over my work when the time comes. Now we just have to wait.