Warning: This post is mostly about food and complaining. My experience here has been mostly positive so far, and I love what I do, but sometimes writing things out makes me feel less bitchy and overwhelmed.
========================================================================
On Saturday I had the food-going experience of picking pieces of sushi off of a conveyor belt at my whim and not caring about the price or what I was eating (I have no idea about a few of the choices of fish I made), only that I was enjoying myself and trying new things.I’m sure I looked gluttonous and strange with my wide array of plated sushi and my JK Rowling-style method of writing (yellow paper menu and the pen provided to mark it), but does anyone really care?
Interesting sushi tested: Corn with sweet mayo, a “fish” which may have been bacon (although they also had bacon sushi, so maybe this was just delicious smoked fish), and what turned out to be just a ball of rice wrapped in a sweet, soft, honey/maple dough.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Monday after school I went to a restaurant with the best dumplings I’ve ever had. I tried three types, and my favorite was filled with “Chinese Chives”—chicken and chives and everything good, packed into the softest, steamiest dumpling casing. I almost went back to get more, but then remembered I had the rest of my dinner to contend with for the remainder of the night.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh god, Tuesday involved getting a health check. That was my task for this morning, and it was a lot easier than it had to be, but it was still such a hassle. I can still feel the needle-mark in the crook of my arm—I wish they hadn’t used my right arm, but I guess using the dominant arm is important; my veins are ridiculously tiny in both arms so it doesn’t really matter. Oh, and in the ultimate baby move, I definitely gave a little yelp when poked with the needle. Part of the check involved a chest x-ray, which meant I was asked at least five times if I was pregnant, just as a precautionary measure. Fun! My first response was “Oh god, no!” Pretty much sums up my stance on children (for those of you who are unaware, I love children when I can give them back at the end of the day). My students and my campers are “my kids”, and I am so happy with that fact.
On Tuesday I also realized that I probably need to pass over the “draw your class” sections of the workbooks for my Starter A classes, because I have now seen at least three anatomically correct drawings of myself from my 7-9 year old students and would rather they not continue.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Wednesday I got my own desk,w hich was exciting. However, I was also ordered (strong language, I know, but it was delivered that way) to spend more time in the lobby when marking books and writing my lesson plans in order to interact more with the students. This should be fine, an IS fine, but when I am doing work like that I prefer to be alone, or with a few quiet people, rather than in a room full of children running around and yelling. There is a time and a place for being boisterous, and I would rather not mix that with the "work" part of my job (writing that out showed me that I don't consider teaching to be "work", because teaching is the fun part, and constructive/organized chaos has the ability to work well in a classroom setting).
A big reason for working in the lobby was stated outright--to put the foreign teachers on display. The better reason provided was to give the students more opportunities to practice their English and to know their teachers and for us to better know them. I know I should not resent this as much as I do right now (which will definitely change, since working at my desk in the office is quite nice--Note: I am typing this out a week later, and now see this as a positive change), but I would prefer to mark tests and worksheets in my classroom, where I have easy access to all of my and my students' books, tests, and papers. I am sure that I resent it in part because it gives me very little time to decompress before and after classes, since I already participate in student pick-up and lunch hour in the morning, and in parent pick-up at least twice per week (all of which I love even though they are so awkward, but wonderfully so because they are rife with smiles), and that in time it will prove to be better than being alone in an empty classroom, dancing to music while performing my teacherly duties.
I heard a knock on my door on Wednesday night, only to find my landlord and next door neighbor in the doorway. My landlord immediately handed me a Moon Cake and a package of “12 grains crispy roll”. She and my neighbor made sure I was doing alright in the apartment and at work; it was one of the sweetest encounters from semi-strangers that I have ever had.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest of that week was fine. I didn't sleep much because I didn't feel like it. Over the next few days I took a few buses and explored different parts of the city, which was fun. I found an Outback Steakhouse and a Coldstone (and the day I found that Coldstone, a cookies and cream milkshake cured all of my emotional issues and silliness). We had a nine-day workweek, broken up by a one-day weekend, because of Moon Festival, but now we have four days off for Moon Festival, and it has been refreshing thus far. Oh--at one point this week I was referred to as "mean" at least twice by two different teachers. Victory! Also on Wednesday we went to the park by school, and I got to play tag with my students. SO MUCH FUN. I must make sure to get through all of my lessons' content by Friday at 3pm so that we can go to the park every week. The best.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moon Festival!
Moon Festival, or Mid-Autumn Festival, fell on Thursday, September 19th, 2013 this year.
What I have learned about Moon Festival so far:
1. Women power: Another culture with a feminine connection to the moon, which I love.
2. Chang'e either stole or was given the drink of immortality, depending on who is telling the story. She then flew to the moon and became the Moon Goddess.
3. There are lunar satellites named after Chang'e.
4. Chang'e has a rabbit companion.
5. Sailor Moon is named after that rabbit.
6. There IS a man in/on the moon, but he is there as punishment, and is doomed to attempt to chop down the magical cassia tree for all eternity.
7. Mooncakes and pomelos, two traditional Moon Festival foods, are delicious. Also, mooncakes were used to establish the Ming Dynasty, and in Vietnam, pomelo pieces may be shaped into unicorns.
8. It is a courtship holiday. Ignoring that.
9. This exists: http://www.southstreet-themusical.com
10. Buzz Aldrin said he would keep an eye out for Chang'e when he went to the moon in 1969.
10. Buzz Aldrin said he would keep an eye out for Chang'e when he went to the moon in 1969.
My experience with Moon Festival so far: Tonight i walked around my neighborhood eating meat, fish (which I originally thought was tofu and which I don't really enjoy, whoops), and veggies on a stick, drinking peach juice, and moon-gazing.
Signing off with these two wonderful moon-related videos:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrb4K3-DJQE
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwQ_eyLLIKE
Signing off with these two wonderful moon-related videos:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrb4K3-DJQE
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwQ_eyLLIKE
No comments:
Post a Comment