Sometimes being super angry can give you the afternoon off from work

So today, I was right pissed off. I was supposed to do mid-term exams for the middle school kids. I never wanted to but Nancy told me I had to. She figured it would help make the kids take the class more seriously. I don't think that there is anything on this planet that can make these kids take anything seriously. Anyway, I had told her several times that I would have the exams this week. I emailed her one of the exams last Friday and the other on Sunday. I get there today and there are no tests. I go looking for Nancy and she's chatting away in her office. She chooses this time (5 minutes after class has already started and after I have gone on a manhunt for her) to tell me that although she received my email, she wasn't able to open the document file. I freaked out. Why wouldn't you have told me before??!!!!! Why wait till now??!!!! You had 3 and a half days to figure this out and you wait till now. The 99th hour. I was so upset. She then said that maybe I could give the students a lesson. I told her that I had nothing prepared because I was anticipating doing a test today. Anyway, we went back and forth and then instead of going back to the class and pulling one out of my ass (for students I care nothing for nor do I enjoy spending time with) I decided to go home. So basically I told her that I'm not doing anything other than going home. "There's 2 classes over 4 lessons that have nothing to do now. You deal with it!!" I believe were my exact words. So, I was super angry and as a result, got the afternoon off. It was a good break. I spent some time at home before I had to go to my part time job. Normally I wouldn't do that but I'm already dealing with so many frustrations at the school that this was just the straw that broke the camel's back for me. About an hour later Nancy called me and I was still pretty upset but in typical Chinese fashion, she'd rather blame me or manipulate me into assuming blame for something the is clearly her fault. I should have called her, I should have this, I should have that. She knew I was having the test today. She checked the email this morning (even though it was sent on Friday) and she had all morning to tell me that there would be no tests when I got there. I'm counting the days till I'm outta here. This entire experience is about 2 steps away from being defined as cruel and unusual punishment.
53 days and counting.

TTFN

Criticism VS Suggestion

I won't bore you with the details of my past week. Suffice to say, it wasn't that great. Again, I was "blamed" for it being cold. I was wearing my gloves during my lesson at the kindergarten and the principal told me that I shouldn't. She said that we shouldn't be wearing gloves or hats indoors. Well, I tend to wear my gloves when it's cold. I'm just crazy like that. Then the teacher asked me if I would wear my gloves inside if I was in Canada. I told her that it would depend. Then she gave me the snide remark of "well I guess in Canada, you can do anything you want". I didn't bother replying but the thought occurred to me after the fact. In Canada, the heat would be on, and I wouldn't have to wear my gloves inside. If they mention it again, I'm pretty much gonna tell them to buzz off but ultimately, I wouldn't have to wear my gloves indoors if the windows were closed and the heat was on.

On the up side, I may have locked down some excellent extra work. This extra class can really put me into the realm of living a normal life. Even though I only have 8 weeks left, it'll at least help make the time go by faster in addition to loosening up the purse strings a little. So things seem to be looking up. In any event, I wanted to show you some stuff.

So this is the Japanese style building that Ricky and his family live in. This first pic is just after you get off the elevator and enter the floor. The second pic is just outside the elevator doors.












The next pic is from the balcony with the view to the ground floor.
This last pic is from the same balcony but this time looking up to the ceiling. It's a pretty tall building. I think maybe 20-something floors. I never really paid attention. The other thing is, I've never seen the place in the day. Imagine how amazing the light must be coming through there and how beautiful it would look with all that natural light coming in.
Anyway, I just thought I would share. I have some more pics but that'll have to wait for another day.

TTFN

You want things done right? Do 'em yourself!

So this past week wasn't too bad. Things at the kindergarten are about the same. No huge surprises except for the fact that I realize now more than ever that this country is bizarro world. Since the weather starting getting colder, I've noticed that someone was opening the windows in my office. Well it's not really "my" office but it's the room I use and my desk, teaching aides and books are there. So it kinda is my office. Anyway, I walk in, in the morning and the windows are open, ergo, the room is freezing. It's like I walked outside all over again. Now of course the first thing I do when I walk in is close the windows but then the room is still freezing for the better part of the morning. With me only being there in the morning, you could see why that would be uncomfortable for me. Anyway, my point is, I spoke to the teacher and told her that I'd appreciate it if they didn't open the windows in my office. It's way too cold for that and makes my life uncomfortable. In classic Chinese form, she told me that the reason why I felt that way was because I wasn't wearing warm enough clothes and it was necessary for them to open the windows in order to air the room (they like to blame you for things that are obviously not your fault, ie "the room is freezing when you walk in because YOU are not wearing warm enough clothes" Go figure). My position was....... WHAT THE FUCK?!! What I'm wearing is irrelevant and when I walk into the room, it's like I walked outside again. Then I told her that typically a room is aired out in the summer. This is when the heat can cause a room to feel/be stuffy and opening the windows can help to keep the air fresh. She then says that in the summer they keep the windows closed because they want to keep the hot air out. Anyway, we went back and forth for a while and then I ended it with "You know what? There's no point in me arguing it with you. You guys just do things differently and I unfortunately have to live with that. Now if you'll excuse me I have a class to teach" So summer, close the windows keep the hot stuffy air in. Winter, open the windows and freeze your 'nads off. So now, I'll just have to resolve myself to the fact that I will have to close the windows everytime I go in there.
Things at the middle school are, ma ma hu hu (so-so). They aren't THAT great but they aren't as bad as they were. The students, for the most part, are doing the assignments I give them. But where I really find my joy is with the kids from the Henan class. I see them on Tuesdays and they just make my day and in some cases my week. This past week they invited me to a party they were having on Friday evening. At first I was reluctant but they really wanted me there so I decided to go.

Friday 6pm

I get there and these students are beyond elated to see me. They all wanted hugs and told me how beautiful I was and how excited they were that I made it. The evening was pretty interesting. It was a mish-mash of games and skits and speaking Chinese and really bad English. They all admit that their English is bad but I admire how hard they try. They are just such a pleasure to teach and their enthusiasm for the language and for me, just warms my heart. After all the fun and games were over, I had to pose for pictures. I took so many pictures with these kids, I'm surprised I didn't go blind from all the flashes. It felt like being a celebrity. This one wanted a pic with me with her camera. Then that one. Then another one. Then another, and another, and another, and another and yeah, another. It just kept going on. We probably took pictures for an hour. It was exhausting but fun. Then I took a few pics of my own and then we all got to dancing. After a few turns around the dance floor, I called it a night. In my limited and broken Chinese, I told them that I was gonna head home, I loved them all, and appreciated and loved how much they loved me. I had introduced them to the concept of the pot-luck and that's our agenda for our next class. They'll bring the food and drink and I'll bring the music. It's our second to last class and I want to enjoy it. After that I'll give them a final exam and then they'll be off to Henan. I will miss them alot. However, time will march on and so will I.
On today's agenda, Klaver and I will be going to church. It's not a Catholic church, just your garden variety Christian place of worship but maybe it'll allow me the opportunity to feel normal for an hour and a half.

TTFN

Working hard for the money

Well, I had the two extra lessons this week and it wasn't too bad. I had the first class yesterday with the young boy. I think he might be 9 or 10. His lesson wasn't too bad and the parents were really nice. The building they live in is affectionately known as little Japan. The security is crazy but the style of the building (according to Naomi (the Japanese girl that's Suraj's assistant)) is a Japanese style. We got onto the floor and it was unlike anything I had seen before. She told me that 95% of the people that lived in that building were Japanese. She said that the building even smelled like Japan. The set up was truly different. The center of the building is open all the way from top to bottom. So when you get to the floor, you don't walk down a hallway. You can see all the floors. It's actually kinda hard to explain. The next time I go, I'll take a pic and show it to you. Anyway, their apartment was nice. It looked well lived in and it was very apparent that dad did a lot of travelling. They had many fridge magnets and they were almost all from different cities around the world. The lesson itself was slightly painful since I was exhausted but I managed to make it through. It's only an hour and a half and with all the repeating, I made the most of it.
Today I had the other lesson with the two kids. There was a bit of a problem though. These people don't live near a subway station so, it's a bit of an issue for me to take a taxi. I don't have money for cab fare and the distance is way too far to walk. Naomi said she'd talk to Suraj and see if there's something that can be worked out. The mom said that there was a shuttle bus that was available but we'll have to look into that some more. The place where these people live is really nice. It seems like there are possibly two apartments to a floor and there are two sets of elevators. However, the elevator to their floor doesn't open to their apartment but basically it does. They are the only apartment on that side of the floor. The only thing stopping the elevator doors from opening directly into their actual apartment is a foyer and a door. It's actually pretty cool. Not to mention the fact that the apartment itself is really nice. It's all white and they have this beautiful wall mounted flat screen TV. Lessons with these kids aren't too bad because it's the two of them so any assignment takes a bit longer to get through, but again, I managed to work it out.
Anyway, it's starting to get really cold and rainy lately. I haven't had to turn on the heat yet or wear my long john's but I know the day is coming soon. Speaking of things coming soon. My D-Day isn't coming soon enough. It would seem that I mis-calculated my departure date. December decided to have 5 weeks in it this year. This extra week now bumps me back to 10.5 weeks left in this hell as opposed to the 9.5 I was calculating. No problem, this extra work should help the time go by faster. I'm glad I got it and I hope it stays steady. As usual, I'll keep you posted

TTFN

Slowly looking up

So I had two trial lessons last week. One was on Wednesday and the other on Thursday. The Wednesday lesson ended up not being a lesson. It was actually an interview conducted by the father of the potential student. He was a Japanese man and seemed nice enough. He wanted to know about me and how I planned on teaching. I put on my best face and crossed my fingers. Then on Thursday, I had an actual trial lesson. It was the two kids. I think maybe 11 and 9 years old. They were pretty shy but seemed really nice. Their mother was with them and I guess her English isn't that bad. She was able to do a bit of translating here and there. In some cases she was even helping correct their pronunciation. There was a small part of me that was thinking that I had no purpose to really be there, but there was a bigger part of me that was really happy about making the cash. I got a text message from Suraj on Friday that said that the parents for both sets of students were really impressed with me and wanted to sign up. Needless to say, I was elated to hear this news and relieved that I would now have some extra cash coming my way.
Upon getting this text message, I was in the middle of the Halloween celebration that was going on at the kindergarten. It would seem that the show on Wednesday was just the practice run or something. The actual full show happened on the Friday. Although, this time it included a fashion type show. The students wore "costumes" and mimicked walking down an aisle. They would get to the end and pose. It was pretty funny and I guess was a pleasant alternative to teaching that day. And of course, again, I wasn't included. I suppose I shouldn't complain and should just be grateful but at the same time, it just reinforces my isolation here. They have this show in Chinese and I understand less than half of it and then they have a few skits in English and I understand less than half of that. So again, I suppose I should just be grateful that I have little to no responsibility at either school. Just 10 more weeks to go and I'm outta here.
In other news, the school was having problems getting the correct visa for me. Anyway, the issue seems to be on the road to resolve. I don't have to go to Hong Kong anymore, but I do have to take a medical test and then they'll get a long work visa for me, which they'll then cancel after I leave in January. The funny thing is though, that they kept insisting that I pay for the trip to Hong Kong. Charles kept telling me that because I took sick days that they had to pay for, they can't afford to pay for the trip. I told him that I'd be willing to work back the sick days and if getting me the visa that my contract says they would get, required me to take a trip to HK, then every penny of that trip was their responsibility. Anyway, they managed to talk to the visa office and the HK trip is no longer necessary. I swear, these people will try to fuck you over any chance they get. They don't want to take the money out of their own pockets knowing fully well that they are responsible for it. They would prefer to have someone else pay for something that they are suppose to pay for. Then they'll use every excuse they can, to get you to do what they are supposed to do. After my last email of telling Charles that the sick leave budget should affect the visa budget and that if it bothered him so much that I took the time off, then I'd work them back......he really hasn't had much else to say. I really hate that fucker. I can't wait to stomp on his face on my way out of here. I've even told Klaver about the whole situation and he hates Charles too. Also, because he's been doing a lot of studying on Chinese, their culture and how they operate, it makes him hate this guy even more because he knows that they are trying their best to fuck me over. It's both funny and sad that they think all foreigners are dumb. I may not have a degree but I ain't no fool. My momma didn't raise no fool.
Anyway, financially this month isn't that great but I'll be making up for it next month. Not only will I be repaid for the time lost but I'll also be getting extra money from the part time work I've now scheduled. Thank heaven things are starting to look up. It's about fucking time.

TTFN