Inch by effing inch

So I barely managed to make it through the weekend but (pat on back) I made it through. It wasn't easy. Especially on the Sunday but there was very little I could do about it. So on Friday, at the kindergarten, they had a talent show. I was surprised (and somewhat relieved) that I wasn't asked to do something to participate in the event. Anyway, they had the kids do different little things. Sing songs, do little skits and even had them do an English skit. The whole thing was mildly entertaining and lasted about an hour. Lucky for me, this was time spent NOT TEACHING, so it was the best thing ever. In any event, I still managed to take advantage of the day and for the two classes that I had left after the talent show, I basically did nothing. The first class I told the teacher that she could let the kids play with their toys and in the last class I asked them to sing some songs. All in all, not a bad day. Now Fridays is on of the two days I have no middle school classes, so after that event, I went home. On weekend, both schools were on the Monday and Tuesday schedule. On the Saturday, this worked out not too bad for me since Monday is the other day that I'm not at the middle school. On Sunday, I taught my regular lessons at the kindergarten but opted for a lazier approach at the middle school. I basically told the class that as long as they were quiet, they could work on what ever they wanted. I didn't have a lesson for them. It was a painful 80 minutes but it was better than teaching to a bunch of kids that have no interest in learning on a regular day, much less on the day before holidays. Then after that class I had the kids from Henan province. I told them the same thing. 15 minutes into the class, Nancy came over to see how things were going. I told her that I was working on something and that the kids were quietly working. She reminded me about the upcoming holiday and then turned around and said something to the kids. After she spoke, they were all happy and cheering. I had a feeling that I would have enjoyed whatever it was she said too. Then she told me that because of the holiday, maybe it would be best if we dismissed the class early. I was all for it. So I did the official class dismissed since they are my students and then bolted outta there.
At the kindergarten, the teacher loaned me some flash cards that they use for the students. I took these to help me learn some characters. I figure I wouldn't waste the entire vacation and actually use the time to learn some Chinese. Nancy also said that she'd help me and some other things that I could do is buy the books that the use to teach children to read Chinese. It sounds funny but that's basically the level I'm at in terms of learning the written language. I can speak quite a bit of it but most of the words I know, I wouldn't know what they looked like if I saw them.
Last night, Klaver was by and we decided that we had to do something western for dinner. We wanted to order a pizza and have it delivered but we couldn't find one in my area. Much less a place that'll deliver. We headed out to a Pizza Hut that was in a different part of town and had a nice time. Pizza is pizza so no surprises there but we were walking around in the area after dinner and found a temple that I'd like to visit at some point and also a western style bar. They have a cover charge but that includes a drink so it may not be that bad. We have plans to check it out. What's good is that it's near a subway stop, so it'll be easy and cheap to atleast get to.
Today I went to Carrefour and was amazed at how packed it was. I thought for sure it would have been atleast a bit quieter than a regular day. I thought all the holiday shoppers would have been out of town by now and I could have just coasted through the store. No such luck it would seem, but I managed to get the things I needed and thankfully stuck to my list. Even though there were many temptations to deviate to. In the big shopping spree I plan on doing next month, I'll probably treat myself to a few extras.
On the part time job front.
Well on Saturday evening I had a meeting with Suraj. He was referred by Charles. He's from Nepal. It was the most bizarre encounter. Here I am this Canadian girl, with Trinidadian roots, in China possibly being employed by a Nepalese guy teaching Japanese kids how to speak English. It's a mish-mash of cultures and countries. Anyway, if they can accommodate my schedule and open a class to suit, I basically have the job. I just have to wait and see. He's on vacation for two weeks, so I'll be on pins and needles till then. I'm still gonna go to that interview on Oct 6, if they're still gonna have me. Plus I got notice that there is another school looking for a conversational teacher and the hours that they quoted are perfect. This one would be ideal for me depending on location and rate of pay. As for Suraj, what he has to offer isn't too bad and the pay is pretty good. Plus it'd give me a chance to be exposed to yet another culture. At this point, everything is a toss up and I'm gonna go with whomever could work with me, is in a decent location and is paying pretty good. For now, I'm still playing the waiting game. One way or another, I GOTS TO GET PAID!!!

TTFN

Note to self

NEVER take the subway during rush hour. It's as close as you can get to genuine torture. It smells, it's crowded. There's nowhere to sit and nothing to hold on to since people bogart all the hand holds. On top of all of that people push just to get in and out. They'd step over their own mothers just to get into that train. After my last class today, I had English corner for a few minutes and then I had to meet Daisy at the visa office to get my visa renewed. I took the train out to a different part of town. It was interesting being there. It was a very business oriented part of town and had this eerie quiet sort of calm to it. At the visa office things went more or less smoothly. Also it had been a while since I'd seen so many foreigners in one place so there was something slightly comforting in that. That is of course if you disregard the African guy who decided to stand directly behind me. I could practically feel his breath on the back of my neck and needless to say I could smell his stink. "Personal space....? Ever heard of it buddy?" Anyway after leaving the visa office I was smack dab in the middle of rush hour. UGH!! What an exhausting and smelly experience. I was never happier to see my stop.
At the middle school, I had the class that I actually don't mind teaching that much but again I just gave them an in class assignment and tried to stay awake while I sat in back of the class. This particular class isn't too bad but all in all, it ain't a pleasant experience. Today I got home and was completely beyond exhaustion. Sometimes I don't even know how I make it through the days. But I gotta buck up. I'm looking for extra work and if I get it, I'm going to be even more exhausted. Charles referred me to someone who has Japanese kids looking to learn English (why they leave Japan to come to China to learn English? You got me!). We've yet to hook up and see if it's all a go. Then I got an email from another school today. Their email read as follows " We have read your qualifications and believe that you'd be suitable for our school. Come for an interview on Oct 6th at 10am. This is our address..." It was the strangest thing. I was thinking to myself "Did you want to even verify whether or not I could make that appointment?" Who does stuff like that? Oh wait! I forgot, I'm in bizarro world. I guess when it rains it pours. I'm gonna go with whomever is willing to work with me under my terms and availability.

TTFN

Bizarro World

I don't care what anyone says, in my opinion this is bizarro world. In Canada and America, the number to dial for emergencies is 911. Here it's 119. Day is night. Up is down (remember your Bugs Bunny cartoons). Another example, October is approaching. Normally the weather gets cooler around this time. In this country, it's actually been getting hotter. The days are getting hotter and hotter and even more and more humid. Just about everything is weirdly opposite over here. Anyways, enough ranting.
In other news, I let my class go early today. My last class (which is two periods long) was going down the tubes anyways. Half the class didn't show up and the ones that were there weren't very interested in learning. I gave them an in class assignment and told them to be quiet while doing it. I don't know if it was the heat or if I was just bored out of mind but after the first period I had had enough. I told them that if they didn't tell anyone, they could leave early. I told them if anyone asked, we went downstairs to have an English corner. They were happy to leave and so was I. I bolted outta there like I was breaking out of prison. At first I was a bit concerned that someone would have found out and I would have gotten into trouble but after a while, I really didn't care. These kids have no want to learn, which gives me very little want to teach. In fact, I don't even know why I'm there. Only 3 and a half more months of this (insert sarcastic yay here).

TTFN

You give me fever

Today has been an absolute scorcher. It's hot and humid and with the extremely poor air quality in this place, it makes it hard to breath. Your clothes feel like they're glued to your skin and you feel like there is no relief in sight. Anyway, I got hit with a bomb of information today. So the October holiday is coming up and it's supposed to be 7 days off. Now for whatever reason, they feel the need to make you work the weekend before. So they say, for 7 days off, you must work 7 days in a row. Now this doesn't make sense to me. By this logic, should I not also get the following Monday and Tuesday off since I'm working the weekend? I don't consider the weekend off to be holiday time off. I would get those two days off anyways. It's like anything else. If I work for a company and ask for two days off and tack them on to a weekend (like a Friday, Monday thing) Then I get 4 days off for the price of 2. I don't then come in on the Saturday and Sunday. Those two days off are already a given. So their logic is work Monday to Sunday so that you can get Monday to Friday off and include the weekend in that, which I feel is a jip. But I don't really consider that 7 days off. That's 5 days off and the weekend (which I get off anyways). For me, 7 days off would be Monday to Friday, then my natural weekend off, then Monday and Tuesday off. Anyway, as you can see, it gets confusing. Which is why I think it's stupid that we have to work the weekend before. So, as if my weeks aren't long enough, they make it longer with this extra long week. Luckily, I get a week off after that but whatever. One of the teachers told me that I can go travelling during this time if I wanted and visit other cities in China but I don't know if I'd be able to make that happen. Charles was supposed to hook me up with a Saturday class which would have assured me some extra cash but at the last minute he said that they didn't have enough people for the class and so far it's been either postponed or cancelled. This puts me in a dilly of a pickle because I was really depending on that extra cash. Without that, I know have to dip into my already low paycheck in order to have money for the month. I'm still looking around for extra work but am finding that this is more difficult to secure than I thought it would be.

What's the deal?

What's the deal with autism, down syndrome, speech impediments and rotten teeth running rampant in this country?
What's the deal with a kid being both cute and hideous at the same time?
What's the deal with Chinese women not looking their age?
There are so many kids that have autism and speech impediments in my classes. Then there is a small handful of them that have down syndrome as well. Unfortunately, it's a bit harder to spot over here. Then the rotten teeth really get me. They drink milk everyday but still have these incredibly rotting teeth. Then there are a few kids in my classes that look cute but then they smile and they're still kinda cute but those teeth make them look hideous. Then I was talking to one of the teachers today and she told me that she was 38. I had a hard time believing it. She looked late 20's, early 30's at least. Then the class nurse was wondering what we were talking about and she told her. Then the class nurse gestured to me that she was 61. The lady didn't look a day over 45. I was stunned. Anyway, that's my rant.

TTFN

Happy Birthday Klaver

Well the week seemed to crawl by even though it was a short one. Luckily, the October vacation is coming up, so that'll be a wonderful week off. Anyways, today is Klaver's birthday so last night we went out to celebrate. Klaver heard about this place that was popular with the foreigners, had cheap beer and decent music. It's called The Shelter. The set up is pretty good and is actually an old bomb shelter. It's got these cool dark cave-like walls and ceilings, the beer is decently priced and the music............well, that can be improved. There were quite a few people there and I got to mingle a bit. Actually I met a guy there that I met at a club in Wuhan. It was funny that he remembered me and Klaver and I were amazed at the odds of bumping into this person in Shanghai of all places. In any event, we really liked the place. It reminded us of Vox in a way. So we've decided that it'll be our club and probably go there whenever we want to unwind. In all we had a good night, so needless to say I'm paying for it today. I don't know what the deal will be this week but we'll see how it goes. I'm starting to warm up to my neighbourhood a bit. It's a nice little area. I've got a grocery store near by and the market. There are a few restaurants in the area and a convenience store right around the corner. Now this is all well and good but it ain't to Wuhan. I miss that place so much. I'm praying that I can make a trip out there before I go. Anyway, all is more or less well.

TTFN

Long weekends a good weekends

Well my weekend wasn't too bad. On Friday, Klaver and I hung out around town. It was a pretty good evening. We got some roadside entertainment by a cab driver, a cop and a man wearing tight-ass pants that looked like the ones John Travolta wore in Saturday Night Fever. Then we went to a pub and had a few more. After that we headed back to my place and had even more. The next morning I paid for it but it was worth it. I spent most of the day on Saturday just hanging out. It was good to just relax and do nothing. Saturday night was pretty quiet. Not much happened and I was happy to keep it that way. Sunday was even better. I went to Carrefour and picked up a few things. The place was packed with all the holiday shoppers, so it was crazy. Klaver came with and I treated both him and I to some Starbucks. On Monday evening Klaver came over and we hung out a bit. Then I had to actually do some work. I could have done it earlier but I work better under pressure. I put together my lesson plans for the next week. Hopefully that'll keep Charles happy for the next little while.
Now Charles told me before that I was supposed to work with the Chinese teachers. We're supposed to work together in carrying out the lessons and they're supposed to help me with the kids. Today I had an issue. I walk into one of my classes and start talking to the teacher. Basically I was saying what I wanted to do in the class. She looked at me with a stunned expression on her face. The bitch doesn't speak English. Well how the f*ck am I supposed to explain the lesson to her, so that she can explain it to the kids, if she doesn't speak English? Anyway, she got the other teacher to come in and help out and explain. Basically when I talk to her I have to use small words and speak really slowly in order to have a class. What is her purpose? I could just as well do that with the kids. At the middle school, I was faced with an incredible surprise. I was told that my classes were changed and there was a class that was added. My regular classes weren't too bed. The new class was pretty interesting. They were some kids from a school in Henan province. When I entered the class they all applauded. I don't know what it was about but it felt nice to enter on applause. Anyway, I had no lesson plan and just decided to wing it. The only problem with that is that these kids could barely speak English. Their English was so incredibly poor and made it difficult to actually teach anything. I decided to make it a casual setting but again, the inability to speak English made things hard. Heck, they didn't even have English names. It was so bad that they asked me to speak to them in Chinese. Well I know a bit of Chinese but not enough to be able to teach a class. Besides, what is the point of speaking to them in Chinese anyways? How will they learn English if I speak to them in Chinese? Anyway, I made it clear to them that I would only use Chinese when absolutely necessary but for the most part I was going to speak in English. That's the only way they'll learn. Anyway, I came home and Klaver offered to cook dinner. It was pretty good. Just finished a while ago and was glad to have enjoyed it. We'll see how the rest of this week goes. I have to teach that class on Saturday and I'm still looking for extra work with another school. Will keep you posted.

TTFN

You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well you might find, you get what you need.

Well this week had it's ups and downs but at least it ended on an up note. I managed to have a good class at the middle school yesterday. The kids were pretty good and actually had a sense of humour that I could deal with. I gave them the last ten minutes of class to do as they wanted (I didn't feel like doing anything), but I told them that they had to stay quiet. After a few, they started to get loud and one boy was singing. I told him that since he was singing, that maybe he should come up in front and sing for everyone. Reluctantly he came up and asked me if he could sing a Chinese song. I refused and demanded that the song be in English. After all this is English class. He tells me he's gonna rap and then he gets to it. At first, I didn't know what he was going on about and then after a while I got. He was singing Eminem. To everyone's surprised I joined in. They loved it. The bell rang and we all had a good laugh.
Then I got a message from Charles that he was gonna come to my class to have an "inspection" on Friday. So today I got to class and I put on the show. I was everything they wanted me to be. I was the performing monkey. After class, I got the "suggestions". It wasn't as bad as I thought it was but I did make Charles see that every class can't be a game or a show. At some point I have to sit down and teach something. So we've come to an understanding. I told him that he gave me the impression that I had to make every class a game. He says, that this isn't what he meant. In any event, now I can have the balance that I don't mind having. I can teach at some point and then sometimes we can play games to reinforce the lesson. For me, this works out alot better since I don't like having to be this performing monkey for every class and I can be the English teacher that I'm certified to be. So things are starting to look up. What I was happy about too, was that he got the opportunity to see that the kids do "please, please love me"
In other positive news, Monday is a holiday so I'm gonna try my best to enjoy the long weekend.
We'll see how it goes. Maybe Klaver and I will do something.

TTFN

Slowly warming up

Ok so weather wise, it is blistering hot. I feel like the sun is gonna burn my skin off even in the wee hours of the morning, but so it goes. China is a very hot country.
Anyway, on my way to work the other day I noticed at the next stop after mine there was a Carrefour in the area. I could see it from the train. As some of you may remember, Carrefour is THE place for foreigners to do their shopping. You ever hear those comedians make those jokes about whether or not there is an American food section in Chinese supermarkets because we have Asian food sections in our supermarkets. Well these aren't jokes. These are facts. Carrefour is one of the places that has a foreign food section in it's supermarket. Anyway, since I had yesterday afternoon off, I decided to get off at that stop and check out the Carrefour. To my surprise, I found that the location wasn't just a Carrefour, it was actually a huge shopping centre and one of the great things about this place is that it had a STARBUCKS!! One of the cool things about Shanghai is the abundance of Starbucks. Unfortunately there isn't one in my immediate area because I live in ghettosville but now I know of one that I can go to. Finding this Starbucks location has made life a little more bearable over here. Anyway, I checked out the Carrefour. It was a pretty decent location and the foreign food (or actually imported food) section was really nice. It was bigger than the one in Wuhan and included foods not only from America but foods from other parts of the world like Italy and South Korea. Money's a bit tight right now but once I get paid, I know quite a few things that I'll be buying there. So, I'm feeling a little better, slowly warming up, now that I know where I can do my good shopping, have a caramel macchiato and just chill out and do some window shopping.
In other news, I'm being annoyed by my boss. He sends me a text yesterday asking if there was anything he could help with. I basically replied that I was fine and wasn't sure what I could use his help for. He proceeds to tell me that they thought I was upset and if I could please please please, make sure that the kids love me. I should mention that he's sent me previous messages saying the same things. The kids should love me and I should please try to make them love me and I shouldn't use the text books to just read them the lessons. I should sing songs and play games to relate the lesson. Which brings me to my performing monkey frustration. Anyway, I told him that I have been playing games with the students. I've taught them some new songs and they already love me so what more can I do. Then he says something about the local (meaning the Chinese teachers) thought I was upset and I should make nice nice with them. I had half a mind to tell him to please please take a long walk off a short pier. I don't know what his obsession is with making the children love me. Even before I started he said the same thing. As some of you may know, as a foreigner, I don't have to really DO anything to MAKE the kids love me. They just fall in love with you anyways. Just because you're a foreigner. But he tells me all the time "please please, you must try. make the kids love you. they must love you. please please" My thoughts are, you want me to make them love me or you want me to teach them English, which is it? Anyway, so I've changed some things around and have integrated more games into my lessons. We'll see how things go. But I gotta be honest, if he comes to me one more time with his "please please", I'm gonna freak out. I am a certified English as a Second Language teacher. I am not a babysitter or a performing monkey. Then the thing that kills me the most is, he doesn't give a shit what I do in the middle school. To the students that I can teach an actual lesson and they can learn something, he doesn't care. No comments there. But for the kindergarten (kids with the attention span and memory retention of a goldfish) I must "please please, make them love me, please"
Anyway, we'll see how it all goes. Tomorrow is teacher's day so that should be an interesting one.

TTFN

To sum up

Well much has happened. I'd like to start with a little list. Things I miss and things I don't miss.
Things I miss:
- speaking Chinese
- using chopsticks
- being able to buy food anywhere on the streets
- reading Chinese

Things I don't miss:
- the smell of piss on the streets
- the smell of shit on the streets
- having to avoid stepping in shit on the streets
- people spitting everywhere
- having to avoid stepping in people's spit
- people staring at me where ever I go
- not being able to enjoy personal space
- the walking
- the stairs
- not being able to always adequately communicate what it is I'm trying to say
actually the list could go on from here.

Anyways, I'm just bitching a bit because it's taking me a while to warm up to Shanghai.
Upon arriving here, the school wasn't waiting at the airport. I got out and didn't see anything with my name on it. I waited for over an hour and then took a taxi into town. After the long and exhausting and horrific flight, the last thing I wanted to do was wait around the airport. Anyway, I told the cab driver to take me to what I thought was the school. Y160 later, I found that the address I had was not for the school but for their main office. Luckily somebody was there and she spoke a bit of English. She got in contact with Charles (the director for the school) and he directed me to the hotel that I was supposed to be staying it. Once I met up with him, he thankfully refunded my money for the cab and then told me that I had an hour and a half to get refreshed and I had to be back out so that we could go looking at apartments. So after I had a shower I met up with him and we had dinner. Then we were off to the apartment I was supposed to be staying at. I thought the place was really nice and it was surprisingly clean. I found it curious however that the person that seemed to be living there at the time didn't look like they were moving out. In fact I asked Charles when the person was supposed to be moving and he said the next morning. This chick's stuff was everyone. She wasn't even close to being packed. I knew that this was going to pose a problem for me the next day. Anyway, fast forward to the next day, she was supposed to be moving in the morning, we got there around 3pm and she STILL WASN'T PACKED OR MOVED OUT!! She was just getting her shit together. So now I'm waiting at the door with Nick (one of Charles' assistants) and Mr. Peach the driver......waiting for this girl to get packed and get going. After a little while Nick suggests that we take a walk so that they can show me the area and familiarize myself with places to shop and the location of the nearest metro (subway) station. We're gone for about an hour and it was a painful one too. I was still tired from trying to adjust to the time difference coupled with the jet lag and it was raining to boot. We got back and she was still at it. Anyway, they were all talking and arguing and trying to clean up and I was trying to keep my eyes open. Eventually they left and I took to settling in. Monday morning came and I got the run down of the two schools I was supposed to teach at. My morning classes are at the kindergarten and the kids are very young. If you know me at all, you know I don't like children so my morning classes are pretty painful. You may ask what I'm doing here in the first place but that's a story for another day. Anyway, my afternoon classes are in the middle school (another campus) and those classes aren't too bad. For the most part, the students are of the older high school variety and they are ok. However, most of them have no interest in being there and teaching can be difficult. Especially when they aren't paying attention and in some cases are sleeping. But in these classes I actually feel like a teacher, as opposed to a performing monkey for a bunch of kids slightly older than toddlers.
Anyways I make it through the week at the schools but at home I was having a huge problem. My DVD player wasn't working properly and there was no Internet. I made it clear to Charles several times that I needed Internet in my place. Anyway, after alot of back and forth, I've finally gotten connected. They were in here yesterday and the technician finally got me hooked up. I bothered Daisy (another of Charles' assistants) about it all week. I kept pestering her. I was ruthless but I didn't care. I got what I wanted. So currently I'm getting through my days between the two schools and am looking for extra work during my spare time. Charles has set up a Saturday class for me which should bring in some extra dough but I need to do some more. We'll see how it all works out. As usual I'll keep you posted.
In other news, after getting word to Klaver that I was in town, we made plans to meet up. He's been to my place a couple times and we even went out on Friday night. We're not located as close as I was hoping we would be but on the plus side we're not very far away either. It's about 4 subway stops apart. In total it'd probably take an hour or so to get to each other. 15 minutes to walk to the metro, then about 20 minutes on the train, then another 15 minute walk to each other's place. I suppose it could be worse. We could be on opposite sides of town. In any event, having Klaver nearby will keep me feeling normal. It's taking me some time to really feel Shanghai. It's very different from Wuhan. Wuhan felt homey in a short space of time and it's not a very expensive town but the down side is the people constantly staring. Shanghai is a bustling city, not as many people stare however, it's a bit more expensive here. I don't know if it's any better or worse, it's just different. Anyway, that's the scoop for now. We'll see how the upcoming weeks go.

TTFN

UPDATE COMING SOON

It's not that nothing has been happening since I got here but I don't have easy access to internet. Once I'm up and running I can fill you in on all the juicy details....and boy, do I have details to tell.

TTFN