So it's Saturday night, about 7:30, and for want of nothing better to do I thought I would make a blogpost. I suppose you could say our social life isn't exactly "rocking" at the moment. But at the same time, we are both happy to have a night in just relaxing at "home".
I'm kicking back on the wooden couch, listening to the soulful sounds of Gotye, a bit of Bic Runga and Sarah Blasko thrown in to the mix, and am steadily making progress on the first bottle of wine I have seen, let alone drunk, in almost a month.
I suppose I should apologise now incase I start to ramble, as I the wine seems to be going straight to my head ;-) So much so that when I went to pour myself a second glass, I accidentally opened the second bottle I bought...which now means I have two open bottles of not great wine in the fridge, which will surely go off over the next few days..and will see me having wasted quite a few Chinese dollars!
Alas..
Tonight was supposed to be English corner, which we ditched. Well, to be honest, I ditched, and will happily cop any wrath that comes our way. Marcus was quite looking forward to English corner, which I admire him for, as I am yet to muster the same enthusiasm. Marcus forced me out of the house at 5:30, we get to English corner and there are no other teachers. I'm already not wanting to be there (I was acting somewhat like my sulky, attitude prone "Class 15" on Friday mornings...I'm sure my parents will be able to picture my teenage mood...), and the thought of attempting to run this by ourselves just simply does not appeal. The last one we went to probably attracted 100 kids, not a lot considering we tackle class sizes of 55 alone. So really, it's nothing we couldn't handle together, but it's just that one extra expectation that gets to me. And as Marcus has mentioned before, it's all the good kids that attend, which only compounds the guilt of not wanting to be there. But we did the right thing and showed up, but shortly headed home when we realised there were no other teachers there. Who knows what took place after this, as I'm pretty sure the kids either didn't know what to do or just ran riot at the thought of having 90 minutes to themselves with no adults watching them. I have no doubt we will hear about this at some point in the following days.
So I'm quite happy to say I'm at home on SATURDAY night, and not teaching. As mentioned above, I've been having some dramas with Class 15. They are my first class on a Friday, and due to timetable changes, means that they are the first class I roll out our new lesson to. So my lack of confidence, combined with never being truly ready for a new lesson, along with their attitude generally results in mayhem. I haven't been able to put my finger on it until yesterday, whenI realised what the underlying problem was. I've noticed that the girls in this class are unusally cheeky, they have an almost "flirtatious" attitude, like they are going to get out of high school and go a little crazy. So yesterday whilst they did the first activity (or pretended to), I counted the kids. Out of a class of 52, only 14 are girls. There are THIRTY EIGHT boys in this class...and that is where the problems begin. The boys have somehow corrupted the girls and turned them into terrors. If this was Australia, I have no doubt one of them would be pregnant by now. Of course though, as always happens, the classes we expect to be bad and visa versa, never really happen. So on Friday, I have class 15 in the morning, then class 8 & 2 in the afternoon. Class 8 & 2 are my faves...yet this week they let me down. It was as though Class 8 had conspired against me...as they sat in utter silence for 40 minutes. I'm not kidding. If you have some spare time over the next few days, attempt to fill 40 minutes of silence in front of 55 kids...not quite my idea of how I like to spend my time. Literally not a peep. Class 2 bouyed my spirits...but only slightly. I left feeling as though they all hate me. Bring on Monday hey!
On a happier note though, one of my girls in Class 8 last week asked me to help her pick an English name. This is a daunting task! Well duuuhhh says everyone with a child. So I told her I would come back this week with a list of different names and their meanings. I saw her after class yesterday with the list (go me for remembering who she was!), which contained all sorts of names. Top of the list was "Sarah", which I must admit I did unashamedly push. So I am happy to report she chose the name Sarah!
Last night Mr Pan took us to a massage place just down the road - so close you couldn't imagine. We have actually walked past this place, and after we had been there, found it somewhat unbelievable that we hadn't noticed! So we both received massages off two blind men, massage seems to be a fantastic job option for the blind of China. It makes perfect sense really, the ability to feel and define things with their hands so much better than a seeing person. And from what we can gather, it seems a safer environment, where they would be paid a decent wage and looked after. After all, there is no social security system in this country, it's every man for himself, which is a harrowing thought for the number of disabled and just hard done by people in this country. So we were led up about 3, maybe 4 flights of the steepest steps I have ever encountered. I was barely managing them myself, when I realised the man in front of me was blind, and then all I could think was how does he navigate the way back down?? We were massaged in a double room, which was good as it allowed us a couple of sneaky, laughy looks at each other at the beginning. The Chinese simply do not understand the meaning of relaxing, there was so much noise throughout the massage...but it's something that you eventually zone out to around here! A little while into the massage, the man I had, something on his belt area started talking, like a transistor radio. I was lying there with this thing yelling Chinese in my ear, thinking jeez!! The noise! Of course the next time it went off I picked up on the words and I realised it was actually a version of a watch telling him the time, and then I proceeded to feel like the biggest, meanest idiot for the rest of the massage.
The massage was great. But it was in all honesty, the hardest massage I have ever had. I seriously thought he was trying to push me through the table. At one point I feared my ribs were going to snap, and then he put so much pressure on my back that my windpipe was actually cut off for a good 15 seconds against the face hole. It was intense!! My back today is very tender, and I think if I actually looked might possibly be bruised...but it was all worth it and we will be going back very soon! It was so good to find a place so close to home, as our district Dong Ting sometimes appears a little lacking!
The weather over the last few days is slowly improving. Actually, it's improving quite fast, but is a bit sporadic. Spring has officially started, and the temperature is definately on the up. We had a couple of days during the week that were about 20, however the nights are still very cold. The grounds around the school are looking greener, with leaves and flowers springing up. The weather is still unpredictable though, and we had a couple of freezing/raining days during the week, which we anticpate will continue as we have been told a couple of times that "we must still look after ourselves" during spring as the weather can still be very cold. With the turn in the weather comes another unexpected happening...mosquitos! Yes, whilst it might a chilly 16 degrees outside, it appears that the mosquitos are ready to unleash their reign of terror! We should have known, when you consider the walls are covered in splattered mosquitos, but really expected it not to start until closer to summer. Needless to say we are both sporting some bites (HOW do they get under the doona?!) and will be asking Mr Pan tomorrow to let us in on whatever bit of Chinese wisdom he can to allieviate the problem. And knowing Mr Pan, he will have some obscure remedy!
Speaking of Mr Pan, he is taking us shopping tomorrow to some market to buy cheap rugs. We have this large expanse of fake wood floor in the apartment and think that a couple of rugs around the place will make us more comfortable and absorb some of the echo factor that the apartment has. At the same time we are going to ask him to drive us to the German emporium, otherwise known as Metro. We caught the bus there this afternoon to get some bits and pieces, and decided that we want to get a vacuum cleaner (hang the expense!) and this incredily luxurious looking extra fluffy mattress top for the bed! We have been thinking of different ways to make the bed more comfortable, and short of sewing together a huge quantity of cushions, we figured there must be something we could buy that would be bed size. Well we found it today in Metro. They come in these huge zip up bags, and are like a quilt, but filled with a foam substance. We think it will be just enough to make the bed more comfie (and if not we will be going back to buy another...). I actually patted it and told it we would return tomorrow. Turns out the damn thing costs 1000 yuan...Mr Pan is likely to fall over when he sees this figure..but it is highly worth it. Keeping in mind 1000 yuan is not even $200, but it seems a lot when you put it into perspective of other things.
Anyhoo, I'll leave it there for now before my fingers get the better of me ;-)
Perhaps it's time for another glass of wine?!
1 comment:
The massage sounds good but why not learn the words from Mr Pan before you go " gentle, not so hard" and aren't you the clever girl working out the chinese words were telling him the time!
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