To sum up.....bah-humbug etc

So quite a bit has happened over the past few days but I'm gonna have to give you the Cole's Notes version.
First things first, I had a class with Kid Castle 2 Saturdays ago. It was barely worth the money. I was beyond exhausted and it was students that I'd taught before and wasn't looking forward to teaching again. I got "sick" half way during the day and bolted outta there.
At the kindergarten, it looks like I'm being watched there now. The main teacher is watching the time I arrive at her class and the one next door to her. Yesterday she told me that I didn't arrive at 11:10 but I got there at 11:12. I told her I was wiling to stay the extra 2 minutes if absolutely necessary. She said no but you could tell it bothered her. The way I see it, if you don't want me to stay the 2 minutes, why mention it? Why is it even an issue?
Yesterday, the middle school had their show. I had no idea it was something that was going to be done on such a large scale. This is where our Cinderella story came in. I watched some of the other acts and it was pretty good. For our play, we had 2 boys play the ugly step-sisters. This was priceless! Although, one of the boys seemed a little too "comfortable" in his dress (if you catch my drift). The other boy is just such a funny guy that the whole thing worked. I was surprised at the overall talent of some of the students at the school. All in all, it wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be.
Christmas................wow
Well, I was pretty down in the dumps since my boss denied me the time off to go to Wuhan and spend Christmas with friends. You know, I didn't really believe in Christmas miracles until recently. I was bummed because I had to work over Christmas but I guess because I believed that I shouldn't have, it was like a Christmas wish......and it came true. The unfortunate thing about this Christmas wish is that it wasn't all "Tiny Tim can walk now" or "That kid spoke for the first time in 5 years". In fact my wish was granted to me in the most disgusting way possible. So you must be wondering, what is the one thing that can give me Christmas day off guilt free? Well that would be a wicked case of coming-out-of-both-ends-iosis. There's a little restaurant around the corner from my place. I eat there maybe once or twice a week. On Christmas Eve, I picked up some food and apparently picked up a bit of food poisoning too. I spent all night with the porcelain god and it wasn't pretty. By morning I was a mess. Then, so as not to give my boss any doubt, I dragged myself to work. I got there and couldn't go anymore. The principal had to get a student's parent to drive me back to the subway station so that I could go back home. Who would have thunk it? I didn't want to work for Christmas, I was denied the time off and I got Christmas off anyways. Later on Christmas day, Klaver came over, we did our gift exchange, watched a Christmas movie and spent some time together but I had to tuck in pretty early in order to get enough rest to be able to work the next day.
Charles told me that I had to make up the sick leave days I had in October. He tells me that I had to do it after my contract expired. I basically told him to take a hike and that he should have arranged the weekend activities like he did with the other teacher. He goes on and on about me not having the sick days but never arranges for me to make up the days. Two months go by when I could have made up the time and now these fuckers are waiting till the 99th hour. Then he tells me that they aren't able to schedule anything for me before the end of the semester. He said that I could either work it after the contract expiration or they could work out the exact amount I owe and give me the difference. I told him to give me the motha fucken difference. I ain't staying here any longer than I have to. I understand that I don't have any sick days in my contract, but to hear this fucker tell it, it's like my contract says that I can't get sick.
Tomorrow, I plan on picking up my pay and going straight to the travel agent. I can't afford to waste any time in getting my ticket. I'm already pushing it as it is. My contract is set to expire on Jan 15th which happens to be a Thursday. I want to be on a plane to Canada on the 16th. I'll try my best and see what I can get. If I leave on the 16th or the 17th, all is good with the world. If I get a flight leaving on the 18th or 19th, I may take a day trip to Hangzhou before I leave. My main focus though, is getting outta here. Not including tomorrow, I owe these people 12 days of work and that's my countdown.
So that's the scoop for now. Wishing everyone a happy new year and I can't wait to see you when I get home.

TTFN

Lull

Well not a whole heck of a lot is going on the past few days. I'm slowly coming out of my slump but I think that that's because I know I'm coming close to the end. Only 4 and a half weeks left. So I was hoping that I would get some regular work from Kid Castle but it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. They've asked me to sub a couple times and the guy gave me the impression that there was a class available for me to take over, now I ain't hearing nothing.
In other news, I've had a pretty bad cold but have still been making my way to work. As much as I'd like to stay home and wish the sickness outta me, it's just something I can't do. Charles has made it very clear that I have no sick days in my contract and even if I did, he apparently is just not down with people calling in sick. So, as a form of subtle protest, I go to work and do a half-assed job. The way I see it, they can't have it both ways. I can't come to work sick AND do a good job. That'll learn 'em. In any event, it really doesn't matter. I mentally checked out about a week ago.
So some of you may know that I haven't really been doing much. I'm working my ass off and then for the most part I just go home and veg until I gotta get up and do it all over again. Klaver and I hang out whenever but we don't really do much either. This weekend, things were a bit different. After declining several weeks in a row, I finally took Klaver up on his offer. There was some indie rock bar that had a couple bands playing and he asked me if I'd like to go. At first I hesitated since indie rock isn't really "my thing" but then I thought that it was probably a good idea. It had been a while since I've been out to hang, party, socialize, drink, whatever. Actually the last time we/I went out was for Klaver's birthday and that was in September. It's really sad I haven't done much of anything other than work since I've been here. And I know that that was the main reason for coming but without an outlet to unwind, the entire experience here has become exhausting. Anyway, as far as the bar, it was good to get out. The first band that played was pretty ok. The second band left much to be desired. All in all, I probably would have been better off to stay home and get drunk but the time spent in a social setting was worth it (somewhat).
At the middle school, I wrote a script for a Christmas show. It was my version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It was actually the first script I've ever completed (but that's another story). Anyways, after Nancy read it, she thought that it would be too complicated for the students. I basically told her that because it wasn't written in Chinglish that maybe that's why she felt that way. Anyway, I had the students read it and they liked it and I was surprised that they actually did pretty well, but then we decided that maybe they should do Cinderella instead since my Christmas story was too long and we don't have much time to rehearse or perform. So I found a Cinderella script and we're gonna do that. What's great for me is that I get to sit in the director's chair once more. Now I don't think the performances here would be anything close to the calibre of performances that I'm used to in Canada, but I will work my magic and see how it goes. So the holidays are coming up and surprisingly many places have decorations up. Some of the bigger fancier malls have huge Christmas displays (elegantly decorated trees etc) and most other places have their employees in Santa hats. As for me, I'm getting ready to go to Wuhan for the holidays. I don't know if my boss will automatically give me the time off (most places usually do) but I'm requesting it off and making it very clear that I'm gonna be out of town and therefore unavailable. I'm also going to be requesting my birthday off and if they have anything to say, they could just go fly a kite. I don't wanna hear that noise. It's my birthday and it also happens to be a holiday. I'M NOT WORKING.
Anyway, we'll see how the upcoming weeks go. I'll keep you posted and I'm still counting down the days.
I can't wait to get home!!!

TTFN

More pics

Wanted to share some more pics. Nothing special.
This first one is on the side of a building. You may have seen something like this before but I find it so interesting nonetheless.


This is the same building but from the other side. Now this is in the subway. As most building codes indicate you should have equipment to extinguish a fire in the event of an emergency. Now I have no problems with a fire hyd rant. They broke up the word so that it fits nicely under each character. My problem is with the next picture.What exactly is a fire hose rant? Do you have a hose rant in your building? Every time I see this it makes me chuckle. And I see it everyday on my way to school. And the really funny thing about it is that the character in the middle (火) is the actual one that means fire. So then that begs the question, what does it really say above fire hyd rant?

Now this is my building. Not much but someplace to hang my hat. Second window from the top, is my apartment.

So that's about it for now. I have to take a few more pictures in my area. Once I do that, I'll be able to share some more.

TTFN

I'm sorry, your question has to be in the form of an answer

So they managed to sort out the visa issue. Last trip to the visa office was a 3 hour wait but by the end of this week, everything should be kosher.
In any event, I'm officially working 3 jobs now. I have my full time job, Monday to Friday. I have the part time job with the Japanese company on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I have another part time job with a company called Kid Castle on the weekends. This place isn't too bad. I like the fact that they are super organized. I hate the children but that doesn't say much because I hate children anyways. But for the most part it's ok. They have locations all around Shanghai and they work from a fixed curriculum. So when I come in to teach, it's clear as to what lesson I have to cover and they include all the books and necessary teaching aides. I've done a few lessons with them so far but on Sunday they sent me to this location that was in a very different part of Shanghai. It was so incredibly far away that I told the girls that I would never come back there again. In addition to it being so far away, the trip just wasn't worth it for me. It was an hour and a half long lesson with kindergartners. Talk about torture. It was a same day pay (they do this and I love it) but I wouldn't go back to that location. They're supposed to get me on a regular thing but the details of that haven't been provided to me as of yet. Apparently they're losing a teacher and they want me to take that class. I still can't believe it. THREE JOBS. In what dimension did I think it'd be cool to work 3 jobs?
Anyway, things at the kindergarten are the same. No better, no worse. Things at the middle school could always be better. I teach 4 classes at the middle school. They all suck but out of the 4 of them, 3 of the classes are not all that bad. The one class is the one I can't stand. And it's not necessarily all of the students but one boy in particular. This kid is just a jerk in every sense of the word. On Tuesday, I was walking up to the class with tests in hand. I told them beforehand that it was going to be test day, so they all knew about it. The kid saw me coming and even alerted the class of my arrival. Yet by the time I got into the class, put down my bag and started handing out the test, he's in the back "sleeping", glasses off and headphones on. I had had enough. I smacked him on the head and told him to get out (something that I'm not really supposed to do). He rolls over and looks at me with "sleepy" eyes and gives me a look of "why did you wake me?" It was as if he'd been sleeping for hours and I was the rude one for waking him. So I told him again to get out. He looks at one of the classmates and asks what I was saying. They translate and he looks at me and mumbles something. Then I made it clearer by say "buh-bye". He looks at me and says in Chinese that I should speak Chinese. I was a heartbeat away from saying "FUCK YOU! GET YOUR COCK-FUCK-STANK-ASS-SHIT ATTITUDE OUT OF MY CLASS" Instead I opted for saying "buh-bye" again. He looked at the classmate and again was asking what I was saying. The classmate translated it simply as "buh-bye". He still sat there. I reached my breaking point, I grabbed the chair he was sitting in and dragged it out side. I told him to get out and never come back. After he left, I told the rest of the class that that boy was no longer welcomed in my class and I never wanted to see him again. The students hate homework so if he does appear in my next class I'll tell them that unless he leaves, I give everyone homework. That should solve my problem. I hate that fucker so much. He's such an asshole.
Anyway, earlier this week Nancy told me that there was going to be an English speaking contest. She then asked me if I'd like to be a judge. Now when she asks me if I'd like to be a judge, this really isn't a question. You have to truly understand how these people operate. They ask you questions but they really aren't questions. They are statements. Because if I had said, I'd prefer not to do it, there'd be a problem. She would then come back with, "You must. You are the foreign English teacher. You must be a judge" Then her and I could go back and forth on why she asked me but that would be pointless. So when she asked me if I'd like to be a judge, I just replied with yes. The easier way. The competition was pretty interesting. Some of my better students were there and of course, they came to me for advice and assistance before they started. I was pretty generous with how I awarded points, however, no one got 100% for pronunciation from me, because (let's face it) they never get it right. One of the boys in one of my classes came to me before the competition started and asked me how to pronounce a particular word. After I helped him, he confessed he was nervous. I made a joke and told him not to be nervous and that he would do well. He smiled but then remarked that there were so many girls there. He was afraid of embarrassing himself. I told him he would be ok but after he left I had to smile. Guys are still guys no matter where on the planet they are and teenage boys have the same feelings regarding teenage girls no matter where on the planet they are. It was good to know that while I was in bizarro world, there were at least a few things that remained consistent.

TTFN