Etc. etc. etc.
Well things have been crazy and when they calmed down enough for me to have time to update, the internet went out. Murphy’s law. Anyway, here’s what’s happened so far, in a nutshell.
I got my flight from Toronto to San Francisco and the 5 hours were exhausting. I tried not to feel that way since the next flight I would be taking was going to be twice as long but it still was. Anyway I finally got there and had a hard time figuring out where I had to go and also had no clue as to whether or not my bags would already be transferred. Anyway I got that question answered and went to the check in line for my flight. Unfortunately this was an Air China flight so I was prepared for some drama. The line up was very long and I was in it for about an hour. Then when I finally got to the counter, they told me that the flight was delayed. Delayed by 3 hours. Well 3 hours was my exact layover time when I arrive in Beijing to get my connection to Wuhan. Anyway, the guy at the counter told me that maybe I would get the flight. I was less hopeful. Anyway, I stayed in the San Francisco airport longer than I anticipated and I’m now convinced that this is the coldest airport in the world because it was just as cold the last time I was in it. Anyway, the reason they gave us that the flight was delayed was the fact that they didn’t have a plane for the flight. Yes, you read that right. They didn’t have a plane. So it took them 3 hours to find one. We all have a reservation and we’re all aware that a flight leaves at that time but they are apparently not as aware and just didn’t have that plane ready. Anyway that finally came and we boarded. I was lucky in this trip because no one sat next to me, so I had 2 seats to myself in a feeble attempt to try and sleep. I was probably more comfortable on this flight with Air China than I was on the flight to the US in July but I still couldn’t actually sleep.
Anyway, 12 long and exhausting hours later, I arrived in Beijing and the first thing on my agenda was getting my bags and then getting to the Air China ticket window to get a new flight and now a place to sleep for the night. Not my fault I missed my connection and now there are no more flights leaving for Wuhan for the night. Anyway, I thought they would have made a fuss but they were actually cool. They got myself, and a few other passengers who were also inconvenienced, a shuttle bus to a hotel, free dinner, a room for the night and then a shuttle bus back to the airport. Dinner was ok but I was more tired than anything else, so I was just eating for eating sake. I met a couple of nice people telling me the stories of their travels and I got to watch my last bit of English TV. Unfortunately, I had to share my room with another girl but she was cool and didn’t bother me and once I hit the mattress, the world ceased to exist.
I was lucky that I brought my Chinese cell phone with me because I was able to get a message to one of my friends to tell Mr Ye that I won’t be coming on my original flight but someone has to be at the Wuhan airport to pick me up in the morning.
So the next morning I finally got my Wuhan flight, and got there at about 10 am. Eva was waiting for me.
I forgot how absolutely hot Wuhan gets in the summer and how hot September actually is. I really haven’t stopped sweating since I got here. Then not to mention the humidity. Absolutely thick. Anyway I got to the frat house and noticed that much has changed. The living room no longer exists. Everything is gone and it’s just an empty room. The bedrooms on the other side of the house have already been converted. The kitchen is still there but not much is happening. The only thing that seemed normal was the side of the house that Matty stix and I lived on. And it was very strange too because we were now the only ones living in this frat house that was now converted into office space. About 30 seconds after I entered my room, I saw a familiar face at my door. Matty stix. We were both excited to see each other because I guess it signified that while everything was a mess, there was some stability still in existence. Each other. We caught up and I told him how much I missed him and wished that I could have seen him over the summer as he said he would. And he admitted (surprisingly) that he missed me.
So the day I arrived was now Tuesday and Mr Ye came by and told me that Matty stix and I will be moving out the next day. Everything in my room was the way I left it and it felt kinda good coming back to that. Anyway for dinner Matty stix and I went to The restaurant and Mama and Baba were happy to see us and I had to admit that they were a sight for sore eyes. Matt and I both found that we were having that time adjustment problem and by early evening we were wiped and had to go to bed. I was up at 3am and so was Matt but neither of us suspected that the other was awake. We both waited for a decent morning hour to make enough noise to announce our morning rise. Wednesday was an extremely busy day. We had to pack up the last of our shit at the frat house so that we could be out by noon and they can convert those two rooms into offices. I have never seen Chinese people move so efficiently. Matt’s room was first. About 20 Chinese people were in there at once and they cleared it in about 30 seconds flat. I still had a few things all over my room and really procrastinated on the packing so when my turn came I had to tell them to buzz off for an hour so I could get these things done. So I finally finished and then I had the same, what felt like 20 million Chinese men in my room and they cleared that out in no time. Then Matty stix, Eva and myself hoped in a cab and headed over to the branch school. Our new home but not our new place of business. At the branch school, there are new apartments built and we are all supposed to have our own space. Anyway, the truck got there before us and I had never been to the branch school so this was all new to me. The school itself is ok and the area is very quiet and almost deserted but I’m very happy that I don’t have to work there.
My new apartment is great. It’s just big enough for me, plus I have my own kitchen and a bathroom that’s a decent size. I immediately got giddy when I walked in. Then when I saw the carpet, that just made my day. So I unpacked a few things then later that day Matty stix and I looked for food. We found a nice restaurant not too far away but nothing will really beat our restaurant. Anyway, the next few days were filled with unpacking and trying to get things organized and meeting new people. There’s a couple from Canada, Colin and Lisa and they are quite nice. Of course Lillis is back. Russell is still here and there’s also a new girl Maya from Quebec. Her father is from Hong Kong so she can speak fluent Cantonese. Unfortunately, this does nothing to help her here because the language is Mandarin. Over the next few days we have also seen brothers from the states Matt and Alex and another Alex from Niagara Falls. Plus we are still waiting for an Amy and a Mustafa to show up. Mustafa is from the UK and nobody has told us where Amy is from. Roy and Angela are still here and they feel so much more superior than the rest of us that they now live and work at the branch school, when before we lived and worked at the main school and they lived at the main school and took a bus to the branch school here. I told her that I loved it. It was fun and it was one less thing to worry about. I didn’t have to find my way out there on my own, beating traffic, fighting for a seat on the bus and then having to do it all over again in the afternoon. The school provides a van that picks us up in the morning, albeit a little early, and drops us right at home in the afternoon. I took the wind out of her sails when I told her that I enjoyed it.
Anyway, the first day of school on Friday was amazing. I missed my kids so much and they missed me. And that was made very obvious when they screamed my name when I was re-introduced to the school population at morning assembly. This year the school seems a bit more organized. I guess it’s because they have more of the teachers to fill more of the spaces they’ve always wanted to fill. This year I teach grades 1 and 2. My classes are distributed better and I don’t work more than 4 classes a day. My schedule is nice and light and I was able to keep 2 of my classes from last year. Only downside, my Lily got moved to the branch school o I don’t have her. I don’t have class D to teach so they’ve gone with Eva. Now I have 2 new co-teachers who are both 2 new co-teachers. For my 2 grade one classes I have Kelly. She seems nice and her English is not bad. She also seems to follow my lead without any problems. For my 2 grade two classes (the same kids I thought last year) I have Yuko. This girl is a royal twit. Her English is so sub par. I’ve already made the decision that I’m getting paid to teach 180 children how to speak English, I don’t have time to teach her. I give her a month to get her shit together, then I tell Mr Ye that I can’t or don’t need to work with her. Luckily she’s my co-teacher for students that already know me so I can muddle through. Seems as though nothing can really be blissfully perfect.
I spent the weekend doing the last of my unpacking and yesterday was our first Monday. I think I’m really going to enjoy this year. We work with great people. I have some great classes and I live in a great apartment. All these things added up together almost makes me want to stay the year but I know that I agreed to 6 months. I don’t plan on staying longer and I can’t stay any longer. I have to get my shit together at home. I ain’t getting any younger so I can’t put this off anymore.
So that’s the big story so far. Not much of a nutshell unless it ways a ton. As usual I’ll keep you posted.
TTFN
I got my flight from Toronto to San Francisco and the 5 hours were exhausting. I tried not to feel that way since the next flight I would be taking was going to be twice as long but it still was. Anyway I finally got there and had a hard time figuring out where I had to go and also had no clue as to whether or not my bags would already be transferred. Anyway I got that question answered and went to the check in line for my flight. Unfortunately this was an Air China flight so I was prepared for some drama. The line up was very long and I was in it for about an hour. Then when I finally got to the counter, they told me that the flight was delayed. Delayed by 3 hours. Well 3 hours was my exact layover time when I arrive in Beijing to get my connection to Wuhan. Anyway, the guy at the counter told me that maybe I would get the flight. I was less hopeful. Anyway, I stayed in the San Francisco airport longer than I anticipated and I’m now convinced that this is the coldest airport in the world because it was just as cold the last time I was in it. Anyway, the reason they gave us that the flight was delayed was the fact that they didn’t have a plane for the flight. Yes, you read that right. They didn’t have a plane. So it took them 3 hours to find one. We all have a reservation and we’re all aware that a flight leaves at that time but they are apparently not as aware and just didn’t have that plane ready. Anyway that finally came and we boarded. I was lucky in this trip because no one sat next to me, so I had 2 seats to myself in a feeble attempt to try and sleep. I was probably more comfortable on this flight with Air China than I was on the flight to the US in July but I still couldn’t actually sleep.
Anyway, 12 long and exhausting hours later, I arrived in Beijing and the first thing on my agenda was getting my bags and then getting to the Air China ticket window to get a new flight and now a place to sleep for the night. Not my fault I missed my connection and now there are no more flights leaving for Wuhan for the night. Anyway, I thought they would have made a fuss but they were actually cool. They got myself, and a few other passengers who were also inconvenienced, a shuttle bus to a hotel, free dinner, a room for the night and then a shuttle bus back to the airport. Dinner was ok but I was more tired than anything else, so I was just eating for eating sake. I met a couple of nice people telling me the stories of their travels and I got to watch my last bit of English TV. Unfortunately, I had to share my room with another girl but she was cool and didn’t bother me and once I hit the mattress, the world ceased to exist.
I was lucky that I brought my Chinese cell phone with me because I was able to get a message to one of my friends to tell Mr Ye that I won’t be coming on my original flight but someone has to be at the Wuhan airport to pick me up in the morning.
So the next morning I finally got my Wuhan flight, and got there at about 10 am. Eva was waiting for me.
I forgot how absolutely hot Wuhan gets in the summer and how hot September actually is. I really haven’t stopped sweating since I got here. Then not to mention the humidity. Absolutely thick. Anyway I got to the frat house and noticed that much has changed. The living room no longer exists. Everything is gone and it’s just an empty room. The bedrooms on the other side of the house have already been converted. The kitchen is still there but not much is happening. The only thing that seemed normal was the side of the house that Matty stix and I lived on. And it was very strange too because we were now the only ones living in this frat house that was now converted into office space. About 30 seconds after I entered my room, I saw a familiar face at my door. Matty stix. We were both excited to see each other because I guess it signified that while everything was a mess, there was some stability still in existence. Each other. We caught up and I told him how much I missed him and wished that I could have seen him over the summer as he said he would. And he admitted (surprisingly) that he missed me.
So the day I arrived was now Tuesday and Mr Ye came by and told me that Matty stix and I will be moving out the next day. Everything in my room was the way I left it and it felt kinda good coming back to that. Anyway for dinner Matty stix and I went to The restaurant and Mama and Baba were happy to see us and I had to admit that they were a sight for sore eyes. Matt and I both found that we were having that time adjustment problem and by early evening we were wiped and had to go to bed. I was up at 3am and so was Matt but neither of us suspected that the other was awake. We both waited for a decent morning hour to make enough noise to announce our morning rise. Wednesday was an extremely busy day. We had to pack up the last of our shit at the frat house so that we could be out by noon and they can convert those two rooms into offices. I have never seen Chinese people move so efficiently. Matt’s room was first. About 20 Chinese people were in there at once and they cleared it in about 30 seconds flat. I still had a few things all over my room and really procrastinated on the packing so when my turn came I had to tell them to buzz off for an hour so I could get these things done. So I finally finished and then I had the same, what felt like 20 million Chinese men in my room and they cleared that out in no time. Then Matty stix, Eva and myself hoped in a cab and headed over to the branch school. Our new home but not our new place of business. At the branch school, there are new apartments built and we are all supposed to have our own space. Anyway, the truck got there before us and I had never been to the branch school so this was all new to me. The school itself is ok and the area is very quiet and almost deserted but I’m very happy that I don’t have to work there.
My new apartment is great. It’s just big enough for me, plus I have my own kitchen and a bathroom that’s a decent size. I immediately got giddy when I walked in. Then when I saw the carpet, that just made my day. So I unpacked a few things then later that day Matty stix and I looked for food. We found a nice restaurant not too far away but nothing will really beat our restaurant. Anyway, the next few days were filled with unpacking and trying to get things organized and meeting new people. There’s a couple from Canada, Colin and Lisa and they are quite nice. Of course Lillis is back. Russell is still here and there’s also a new girl Maya from Quebec. Her father is from Hong Kong so she can speak fluent Cantonese. Unfortunately, this does nothing to help her here because the language is Mandarin. Over the next few days we have also seen brothers from the states Matt and Alex and another Alex from Niagara Falls. Plus we are still waiting for an Amy and a Mustafa to show up. Mustafa is from the UK and nobody has told us where Amy is from. Roy and Angela are still here and they feel so much more superior than the rest of us that they now live and work at the branch school, when before we lived and worked at the main school and they lived at the main school and took a bus to the branch school here. I told her that I loved it. It was fun and it was one less thing to worry about. I didn’t have to find my way out there on my own, beating traffic, fighting for a seat on the bus and then having to do it all over again in the afternoon. The school provides a van that picks us up in the morning, albeit a little early, and drops us right at home in the afternoon. I took the wind out of her sails when I told her that I enjoyed it.
Anyway, the first day of school on Friday was amazing. I missed my kids so much and they missed me. And that was made very obvious when they screamed my name when I was re-introduced to the school population at morning assembly. This year the school seems a bit more organized. I guess it’s because they have more of the teachers to fill more of the spaces they’ve always wanted to fill. This year I teach grades 1 and 2. My classes are distributed better and I don’t work more than 4 classes a day. My schedule is nice and light and I was able to keep 2 of my classes from last year. Only downside, my Lily got moved to the branch school o I don’t have her. I don’t have class D to teach so they’ve gone with Eva. Now I have 2 new co-teachers who are both 2 new co-teachers. For my 2 grade one classes I have Kelly. She seems nice and her English is not bad. She also seems to follow my lead without any problems. For my 2 grade two classes (the same kids I thought last year) I have Yuko. This girl is a royal twit. Her English is so sub par. I’ve already made the decision that I’m getting paid to teach 180 children how to speak English, I don’t have time to teach her. I give her a month to get her shit together, then I tell Mr Ye that I can’t or don’t need to work with her. Luckily she’s my co-teacher for students that already know me so I can muddle through. Seems as though nothing can really be blissfully perfect.
I spent the weekend doing the last of my unpacking and yesterday was our first Monday. I think I’m really going to enjoy this year. We work with great people. I have some great classes and I live in a great apartment. All these things added up together almost makes me want to stay the year but I know that I agreed to 6 months. I don’t plan on staying longer and I can’t stay any longer. I have to get my shit together at home. I ain’t getting any younger so I can’t put this off anymore.
So that’s the big story so far. Not much of a nutshell unless it ways a ton. As usual I’ll keep you posted.
TTFN
posted by Tish at 5:30 p.m.
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