Many a day has gone by

Sorry that this update is delayed but the internet has been out for over a week. Here’s what you missed.
So last weekend (St. Patty’s day weekend) proved to be both entertaining as well as financially lucrative. No, I didn’t become a hooker. I was having a good time at the bar at BS and this Chinese guy came up to me. He started talking about the fact that he needed an English teacher for a class on Sundays. He gave me all the details and I told him that I would call him the next day to discuss it more. Heck, I was half drunk in a bar and even in that state I knew I shouldn’t be making any big decisions. Anyway, we had our night and enjoyed it a lot. After BS, we went to Vox and all was fun over there. On Saturday, I called this guy, Steven, and got the details of what he wanted and what I was supposed to do. At first I was for it, then I was completely against it when he told me that the class would be about 50-60 students. This is a significant difference than the 45 I teach in my classes right now. I flat out told him no but he begged and begged. The he offered to pay me whatever I wanted and additionally he said that he would pick me up at home and bring me to the school on the first day. How could I refuse that offer? Now I have to keep in mind that I’m working on Sunday mornings and I won’t be able to party Saturday nights. Although, over the past few weeks I haven’t really been partying on Saturday, so it’s no big loss. On Sunday I went in, to teach the class and for the most part they look like a fun bunch. Lucky for them and me, I speak some Chinese so, teaching without a co-teacher shouldn’t be that difficult. Most of the students can speak basic English and some of them are still learning, but my real purpose is not necessarily to teach English and the details of English, my job is just for them to listen to me and be able to communicate with me, or anyone, in English. I’m gonna try my best in future to make the class more social so that we’re having discussions as opposed to me being up there and teaching like I already do Monday to Friday. What’s good about teaching this class as well is that they are all students of the university and I get paid cash on the same day. Steven told me that I could take the class in any direction I wanted and really I’m there to just help them with the English classes they are already taking. Steven thought that I did a really good job with my first class and then he asked the students what they thought and they agreed that I was a good teacher. All of them wanted my email address (which really isn’t a big deal for Chinese people and most of them find it easier to communicate in written English than spoken English) and when I asked them at the end of class if they wanted me to come the next week, they all replied with a cheerful yes. Made me feel good. So I think I’ll be doing these extra classes, which should really help me financially. It will make my trip to Thailand easier, I’ll probably be able to squeeze in that Dali trip and in addition to that, I should be able to have my money in order to get back to Canada. Last week was an interesting one. The first half went quickly and then we were told that our Thursday evening classes had to be moved to Wednesday in order to accommodate an important meeting we had to have. So Wednesday was a bit of a drag because usually it’s half day and then when Thursday came, we were all curious to see what this meeting was about. Apparently, they had these “super teachers” come in and discuss our lessons and things we should and shouldn’t do. Now, I have no problems with someone giving me tips that would make me a better teacher or that would assist me in controlling the students or even advice on how the cultural differences could affect your teaching, but I got instantly pissed when they started telling us how we should write the letter “i” on the board. I was basically like “fuck that!” How dare you tell me how to write my language. I don’t correct your written Chinese. Don’t correct my written English. In fact, don’t correct my English at all. Who are you to tell me, a native English speaker, how to speak or write something in English? I was so mad and insulted at that point that I just refused to listen to anything else this woman had to say. Especially with the fact that her information was being translated by someone who’s English wasn’t that great. So I left that meeting and went on a rant. After I was done, I was good but it was something that really bothered me. They’ve brought us over from our English speaking countries and then they try to tell us how to teach the language. Anyway, Friday we went to a town called Ezhou (uh-joe) and we planted trees for china. We did this last year as well but what made it suck this year was that it was a rainy day. What was good about it, was the lunch. The food this time was really really good.
Over this past weekend, I really didn’t do much. On both Friday night and Saturday night I just stayed in and drank with the boys. Same effect as going out to party but at the end of the night, I have more money in my wallet. I’m really trying my best to be as thrifty as possible so that I don’t have any problems making my trip to Thailand. This thing is extremely important to me. I’ve wanted to go there forever and now that it’s so close, I’m doing anything in my power to make sure it happens.
In other news, obviously I’ve been here in China for some time so I’ve been able to pick up a lot of the language and I’ve also been learning how to write in Chinese. So far I can write the months of the year and the days of the week. In addition I can write my Chinese name, also the word china, the word Chinese, the word English and one other word I can’t remember right now. Then there are the other characters that I can’t write but I recognize upon looking at them. It’s a really cool feeling. Chinese people compliment me on my Chinese all the time and even Mr. Ye said today that if I spent another year in china, my Chinese would be perfect. A lot of the teachers here at the school come to me with Chinese questions and/or if they want to learn a new word. I work with Lisa and Colin a lot on their Chinese and it’s really fun because now I’m proud of my students that are doing so well. I am by no means fluent in Chinese but I know enough to get me wherever I need to go, to be able to communicate with people and to be able to demand something that I want. Sometimes I really feel like I live here. And I know you’re probably thinking, “Well, you do live there Litisha” but it’s more than that. I feel like I really live here. Like I’m just another girl from Wuhan but I’m just not Chinese. Anyway, these are the kinda things that just make me smile (reading Chinese characters) and these are the kinda things that I’m gonna be missing. C’est tout.

TTFN

Ho Hum

Well, these past couple weeks kinda flew by in my opinion and seeing as this is my blog, my opinion is the only one that counts here. Last week we went out to Vox on Friday and I had a great time. We were supposed to make a repeat appearance the next day but, as I have learned in the past, I'm not allowed to take evening naps. Again I did this and again, I missed out on the night. There is a good side though. I was able to keep some money in my pocket and can rest easy knowing that. I really want to make sure that I have enough money to get to Thailand and eventually home.
I've really been making an effort to keep to schedules I've created. I've made myself a weekly schedule that I've been pretty good at keeping and then at school, I also have a daily schedule that keeps me focused and I think is the main reason why things seem to be going by so quickly.
In other news, I just fell in love with my grade 2E class all over again today. They have so much character about them and they are always willing to keep conversations with me in english. Conversations that are not in their text books. I love it. Today I did an impression of one of the kids in my class, Marcus, and when I asked the rest of the class whether or not my impression was correct, they all replied with a resounding yes. I had to laugh. It was really cool. Sometimes, it's just the little things. Like when they make fun of each other in english or they ask me a question using vocabulary that I haven't taught. It's amazing how even on the other side of the world and despite all of our cultural differences, kids are still just kids and it's truly a beautiful thing to watch them grow and learn.
Now for the weather. Honestly, it sucks. It's been cold and rainy almost all week and I don't know how much more of it I can take. I know it will warm up soon but it's not soon enough for me.
Tonight, we plan on going out, despite the weather and we're gonna have a good time. Tomorrow is St. Patty's day (like we needed an excuse to drink) and we'll be partying it up a bit... no, scratch that.... in true St. Patrick's day tradition, we're gonna really party it up. We may not get our pint of green beer but we got beer in green bottles. That'll have to do. Hopefully I don't nap again.
Well that's about it for now. Not much else going on.

TTFN

Back to normal..... or atleast as close to normal as possible

Well things have more or less gone back to normal at school. Today I had Mr Ye and Miss Lee (the foreign department principal) come by to watch one of my classes. Luckily as part of my Chinese New Year's resolution, I've made the effort to be more organized. I plan my lessons well in advanced and each lesson is timed throughout so that I could be using the most of my class. So when they came to see that class, there was very little room for mistakes on my part. They both seemed to enjoy it but unlike the western world, they never take the opportunity to provide you with feedback. Usually if your boss watches your performance, you'll be advised of things that you've done well and areas where you may need improvement. With Chinese people, you just have to guess. Did you have a good lesson? They'll never tell. Are there areas of improvement for you? You'll never know. The only consolation that one could have at this point, is that one is not doing that bad since they haven't fired you.
In other news, the weather has been confusing. Over the weekend, there was an incredible storm. Heavy rains, lightning and thunder included. Ironically, this didn't disuade us from going out. Then Monday and Tuesday were overcast and cold and today is sunny and cold. I have been looking at the buds on the trees and they're ready to pop. Soon it will be spring and then overnight it'll be summer and an incredibly hot one at that too.
So I no longer do kindergarten this semester which kinda sucks because I'll miss the money but the good news is, I get my afternoons back and on Wednesdays I can go home at lunch. So there's a good side to everything.
Other than that, I guess everything is honky dorey. I'll keep you posted.

TTFN

One flew over the cukoo's nest

So I finally saw the new girl at our meeting on Wednesday. First impressions….. she kinda looked like a nerd. Anyway, the day before school opened we figured that it would be nice to invite the new people to join us for dinner. The couple had plans but the new girl, Sara, was happy to join us. At dinner we enjoyed ourselves as we normally do and occasionally we had questions for our new recruit. Then it was Sara that had all the questions. Her questions went from typical to interesting to downright disturbing and it only got weirder as the evening went on. I couldn’t even think of repeating it here so you’ll just have to trust me. Also, as we normally do, we have a few beers with dinner. Sara took this as an opportunity to show us her chugging skills and sucked her beer back like she was Hoover vacuum cleaner. Lillis was disturbed by why she would do that and I was also questioning that move. Heck, we’re just having dinner, no need to go overboard.
Anyway, that night, we somehow had this impromptu party in my room. On Tuesday, we wanted to have our “last night” party but it fell through and on Wednesday we knew that we all had to get up early and didn’t want to party but somehow this party happened anyways. Everyone was in there, we’re all drinking and having a good time. It was as if there was no next day of school. Anyway as the evening moved on we discovered a few more disturbing things about Sara. Then she left the room for the night. As soon as she was gone, she was the main topic of conversation and has been ever since. Apparently, she went out with the boys on Friday night to Vox and was involved in some very odd dancing rituals. It was the kind of thing that the boys described as ‘you had to be there to truly believe it’. Since I’m a huge fan of seeing is believing, I decided that I would go out with them and her the next night. Well I came and I saw but I still don’t believe. Unfortunately I can’t really describe it but Moose sums up her dancing as “I’m this creature, come and catch me”. People cleared the dance floor in an attempt to give her the room she apparently needed. Some people took pictures in disbelief. A few of my friends came up to Matty stix and I at one point and were asking who this girl was. Matty stix and I just replied that she was new at our school, she’d only been in town for 4 days and we really didn’t know her. Since Sara has joined us here in China, it’s been one weird/disturbing/odd move after another. I don’t believe that she’s a bad person or an evil person but she is doing so much to try and fit in with us, that sometimes it’s a bit sad and it also makes me question what she may have gone through. She must have a sad history or few friends growing up or even to present day, if she’s trying so hard to desperately fit in with a bunch of strangers. She’s trying to be on the same level that we’re all at now but doesn’t seem to understand that she can’t and that it took time for us to get here and it would take time for her to be at the same place. For now, I plan on keeping my distance and just being pleasant.
I have to admit, what we all have here is an amazing thing and the friendships that have been made here, will last for years to come. Unfortunately, the couple and Sara are unlikely to be a part of that.

TTFN