New semester for the students, and more of the same for the teachers... sometimes difficult to believe that we are halfway to summer! Very cool, I'd say.

The rain has stopped for a while - flooding was bad in the areas near the rivers... and several students lost their homes/belongings in the New Year's Weekend Floods. Studying for final exams after the flooding was difficult for all the students.
I am a big proponent of changing the School Year to end the first semester BEFORE Christmas Break. Having final exams three weeks after coming back from a long vacation does not seem to be academically defensible to me. Students need to have time off, not with things pending their return to school term, so they can come back re-energized to their studies. Some students do try to work on their academics over the break (and have no vacation, per se) in order to keep their grades high , and others 'blow off' the school work and relax (as they should), but their grades tend to suffer as a consequence. If the calendar were to be adjusted to have first semester end before the Christmas Break, students would take finals before their vacation, have a real break, and return to school for the new semester after a well-deserved break.

Thinking of going to Portland, OR soon on the overnight train. It will be interesting to see how American trains differ from the Flying Scotsman, TGV and the "Soft Sleeper" on the Shanghai to Beijing run. So far we have only passed thorough Portland on the way to/from the San Juan Islands on summer holiday. We may wait until Springtime for that trip, though... more daylight hours to spend on the train that time of year.