Roller coasters are fun......... sometimes.
Well this update should have come to you sooner but we have been having a really unstable internet connection. It’s in for an hour then out for 3 hours then in for 10 minutes then out for half a day. Anyway long story short, I haven’t been able to do any updates.
Well Friday night we went to HBS for Klaver’s birthday and that was a roller coaster of a night. There were ups and downs and I had to break up a possible fight between Matt and a friend of mine who’s also a regular at HBS. Even more so than myself. Anyway, I didn’t stay as long as I normally did but I made the best of my night. I have to be honest with you, the days following that are a bit of a blur. On Sunday, Delia (one of the co-teachers and a friend of mine) invited me over for dinner. I had been once before, but the difference this time was that I teach her nephew in my grade one class. She’s also moved closer to the school and lives in a 2-bedroom apartment with her parents, her nephew and his parents. Dinner was ok, but too a long time to be prepared and was actually better the last time I was there. Then Sky, my student, was being a brat and his parents kept asking me (as Delia translated) whether or not he was a good boy. I made no qualms about lying. I said he was. The way I saw it, it was better for me to tell the truth because then they would deal with him and I would have one less annoying kid in my class. Anyway Delia’s cousin, gave me a ride home and it was my first time being in a Chinese person’s car (other than a cab). It was pretty cool. Then Delia kept annoying me because she was just so amazed that I could give her cousin directions. She was concerned because she didn’t know where the branch school was or how to give directions. I had to keep repeating myself with “I live in Wuhan and one of the most important things I have to know is how to get myself home.” These Chinese people can be annoying sometimes. You made your way half way across the globe but the 10 miles between school and home…. well that’s just something I can’t do. Anyway, I called in sick on Monday because I just had the worst sore throat and wasn’t in the mood to spend the day yelling at my kids. Then after that, more of a blur. A good blur. There were nights of hanging out in someone’s room or another and just talking and joking. These are some of the fun times. Everyone has been super broke and just waiting for payday. Luckily, us teachers at the main school got paid yesterday. The guys at the branch school and the second branch school are still waiting, last I heard. Yesterday we went out for dinner and then that turned into an interesting night. We went to Paul’s restaurant, then we ordered a round of beers, then another and another and another. Then we were drinking white Russians and the boys were drinking baijiu (buy-jo). Then we were all drinking wine and then Matt’s idea was to go to a hair-washing place. I protested. I didn’t want any Chinese people touching my hair. They wouldn’t know where to begin. And the funny thing about this was, I had a dream the night before about going to a Chinese hair salon and putting up a stink about not wanting my hair to be touched. Anyway, Matt continued to insist that I get a hair washing and that the massage that they give is good. So I finally gave in after Alex said that he would pay for me. I have to admit that the head massage was good and they didn’t do a bad job washing but when it came to styling that’s when I had to stop them. They kept telling me in Chinese that they really liked my hair and they were in awe of it, touching and looking. Then the girl tried to give me this big Texas hairstyle and I was like, no no no. I took my clip out of my bag and just clipped my hair back. I’ll do the styling myself at home. Anyway, the boys were very drunk and Matt for whatever reason decided to torture his brother Alex and made the staff dye his hair. Actually bleached his hair. Alex is your everyday Italian-American so he’s got very dark hair. Well the bleach wasn’t left long enough and now it’s orange. I had to coach him through the experience and tried my best not to laugh. Klaver also got his hair lightened but with him being a dirty blond already, a little lighter blond isn’t a stretch, actually it looked pretty good. Poor Alex however had to go to school today with orange hair. Colin said that he could easily fix it and I think I’ll get Colin to do something with my hair too, since he is the hair expert as he admitted. Anyway, today wasn’t too bad. With the holiday next week, we have to work back the 2 days that the school gives us off. So we work tomorrow and Sunday. Not this Sunday but the Sunday after. Then for shits and giggles, they gave us the Wednesday schedule on Friday, today and then we’ll be working Friday’s schedule tomorrow Saturday. Why you may ask? Well we have learned not to ask that question anymore. It would make more sense to keep Friday’s schedule as is and work the half day on Saturday but what are we thinking? Anyway it was cool to have another half day today and actually be able to go home. In other news, I bought a new guitar today. I was going to bring the one I had before back to China but when I got to the airport they told me it would cost $180 for the guitar as it was oversized and extra baggage. I told them to shove it because the guitar wasn’t even worth that much and I could just as easily buy another one for less than $180. Anyway I went to my neighbourhood guitar shop and Colin helped me pick one out. I got it for Y200 (that’s about $30) including a carrying bag, strap and a pick. I talked them down from Y285. Anyway, now that I have some cash, I have to send some money home and I have to complete my list for the shopping extravaganza I have to do at Carrefour on Sunday. There are so many things I need to buy. Over the holiday next week, Colin, Lisa, Matty stix and Maya are going to Shanghai and they are really pumped about it. Matt, Alex, Klaver and Mustafa are going to Hu Dong Shan Mountain. I was going to go with them but financially I don’t think it’s a good idea. I have to send a bunch of cash home and I have to make my apartment liveable. With all the cash I’m gonna be parting with over the next few days, if I add that trip I’m gonna be broke before we go back to school on Sunday.
Anyway, so that’s the update so far. I will try my best to keep my updates regular but it’s really hard when the internet sucks. But even if my posts are weeks apart, I’ll always give you the low down on how things went.
TTFN
Well Friday night we went to HBS for Klaver’s birthday and that was a roller coaster of a night. There were ups and downs and I had to break up a possible fight between Matt and a friend of mine who’s also a regular at HBS. Even more so than myself. Anyway, I didn’t stay as long as I normally did but I made the best of my night. I have to be honest with you, the days following that are a bit of a blur. On Sunday, Delia (one of the co-teachers and a friend of mine) invited me over for dinner. I had been once before, but the difference this time was that I teach her nephew in my grade one class. She’s also moved closer to the school and lives in a 2-bedroom apartment with her parents, her nephew and his parents. Dinner was ok, but too a long time to be prepared and was actually better the last time I was there. Then Sky, my student, was being a brat and his parents kept asking me (as Delia translated) whether or not he was a good boy. I made no qualms about lying. I said he was. The way I saw it, it was better for me to tell the truth because then they would deal with him and I would have one less annoying kid in my class. Anyway Delia’s cousin, gave me a ride home and it was my first time being in a Chinese person’s car (other than a cab). It was pretty cool. Then Delia kept annoying me because she was just so amazed that I could give her cousin directions. She was concerned because she didn’t know where the branch school was or how to give directions. I had to keep repeating myself with “I live in Wuhan and one of the most important things I have to know is how to get myself home.” These Chinese people can be annoying sometimes. You made your way half way across the globe but the 10 miles between school and home…. well that’s just something I can’t do. Anyway, I called in sick on Monday because I just had the worst sore throat and wasn’t in the mood to spend the day yelling at my kids. Then after that, more of a blur. A good blur. There were nights of hanging out in someone’s room or another and just talking and joking. These are some of the fun times. Everyone has been super broke and just waiting for payday. Luckily, us teachers at the main school got paid yesterday. The guys at the branch school and the second branch school are still waiting, last I heard. Yesterday we went out for dinner and then that turned into an interesting night. We went to Paul’s restaurant, then we ordered a round of beers, then another and another and another. Then we were drinking white Russians and the boys were drinking baijiu (buy-jo). Then we were all drinking wine and then Matt’s idea was to go to a hair-washing place. I protested. I didn’t want any Chinese people touching my hair. They wouldn’t know where to begin. And the funny thing about this was, I had a dream the night before about going to a Chinese hair salon and putting up a stink about not wanting my hair to be touched. Anyway, Matt continued to insist that I get a hair washing and that the massage that they give is good. So I finally gave in after Alex said that he would pay for me. I have to admit that the head massage was good and they didn’t do a bad job washing but when it came to styling that’s when I had to stop them. They kept telling me in Chinese that they really liked my hair and they were in awe of it, touching and looking. Then the girl tried to give me this big Texas hairstyle and I was like, no no no. I took my clip out of my bag and just clipped my hair back. I’ll do the styling myself at home. Anyway, the boys were very drunk and Matt for whatever reason decided to torture his brother Alex and made the staff dye his hair. Actually bleached his hair. Alex is your everyday Italian-American so he’s got very dark hair. Well the bleach wasn’t left long enough and now it’s orange. I had to coach him through the experience and tried my best not to laugh. Klaver also got his hair lightened but with him being a dirty blond already, a little lighter blond isn’t a stretch, actually it looked pretty good. Poor Alex however had to go to school today with orange hair. Colin said that he could easily fix it and I think I’ll get Colin to do something with my hair too, since he is the hair expert as he admitted. Anyway, today wasn’t too bad. With the holiday next week, we have to work back the 2 days that the school gives us off. So we work tomorrow and Sunday. Not this Sunday but the Sunday after. Then for shits and giggles, they gave us the Wednesday schedule on Friday, today and then we’ll be working Friday’s schedule tomorrow Saturday. Why you may ask? Well we have learned not to ask that question anymore. It would make more sense to keep Friday’s schedule as is and work the half day on Saturday but what are we thinking? Anyway it was cool to have another half day today and actually be able to go home. In other news, I bought a new guitar today. I was going to bring the one I had before back to China but when I got to the airport they told me it would cost $180 for the guitar as it was oversized and extra baggage. I told them to shove it because the guitar wasn’t even worth that much and I could just as easily buy another one for less than $180. Anyway I went to my neighbourhood guitar shop and Colin helped me pick one out. I got it for Y200 (that’s about $30) including a carrying bag, strap and a pick. I talked them down from Y285. Anyway, now that I have some cash, I have to send some money home and I have to complete my list for the shopping extravaganza I have to do at Carrefour on Sunday. There are so many things I need to buy. Over the holiday next week, Colin, Lisa, Matty stix and Maya are going to Shanghai and they are really pumped about it. Matt, Alex, Klaver and Mustafa are going to Hu Dong Shan Mountain. I was going to go with them but financially I don’t think it’s a good idea. I have to send a bunch of cash home and I have to make my apartment liveable. With all the cash I’m gonna be parting with over the next few days, if I add that trip I’m gonna be broke before we go back to school on Sunday.
Anyway, so that’s the update so far. I will try my best to keep my updates regular but it’s really hard when the internet sucks. But even if my posts are weeks apart, I’ll always give you the low down on how things went.
TTFN
posted by Tish at 2:12 a.m.
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