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
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
posted by Tish at 4:15 a.m.
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