Friday 19th October, 2012       1630

Now that was a tiring day. I actually went to bed before midnight for once and set my alarm for six-thirty. The problem was, I woke up at four and try as I might I couldn’t drop back off again. It’s damned annoying when you have six lessons and you were very tired when you went to bed, and of course I am taking the freshmen out for their second lessons so that involves a lot of standing and walking about so the knees are creaking a bit this afternoon.

I also have three lessons in town tomorrow starting at 0920 but not finishing until 1540. A bit of a pain, but as I intend to have lunch and do some shopping I will fill the break. I was a whisker off telling them that as I wasn’t notified by Thursday night as I asked for that I had now made other plans but I will go in. I will certainly have words and point out that the next time this happens the reply will definitely negative.

Sunday 21st      1145

A rude awakening yesterday well before I needed to be up ensured my feeling like death all day. If I could identify which cat sank its claw into the soft under-pad of my left middle toe I would string it up.

Mercifully, the two morning classes of kids were behaved, although how I am supposed to spend forty minutes running through six types of fruit heaven only knows. Needless to say my picture team game was used extensively. “Lunch” break turned out to be four hours, fine normally but bear in mind all I wanted to do was curl up and sleep somewhere. Two hours is bad enough, but four is just silly, however I did my best. Ke Bi Wang for lunch first to say hello to JinJun and Khaleja and as I ordered my plate of sweet pork I scanned for ideas for a second dish. My eyes lit upon a tray of fatty pork pieces accompanied by big potato chunks in what looked like it could be a really tasty glaze.

When I managed to find a table (amazingly at 1115 it was very busy) I sat down, opened a bottle and savoured the anticipation of beautifully soft but intensely satisfying potato chunks. I should have known better - it was winter melon.  The only way you get spuds here is stupid little French fries, thin matchsticks that are cooked so little they are still crunchy or as thin slices to put in a hotpot which once cooked are impossible to retrieve from the liquid. To be fair, the dish was in fact quite tasty, but disappointment damages your taste buds!

Now the only free table I had been able to find was a large round one which seats six. The place as I said was busy and on many occasions someone walking forlornly with a tray of food either alone or with a partner would come searching for somewhere to sit. I was beginning to think that perhaps I had unknowingly broken wind because there I was with five spare spaces yet loads of people eschewed it and continued in their quest. Feeling a little (unnecessarily) guilty at being the singleton at the joint biggest table I then took to gesturing to people that they were welcome to sit at my table. Nothing doing. I had almost got to the point of sniffing my own armpits to check, when a solo man finally plonked himself down, to be followed shortly by another chap, but by this time I had long finished eating and was simply drinking and having a cigar.

Afterwards I went shopping and collected the balance of my smokes, then went to another restaurant to have a leisurely lager and wrestle with my crossword book. By now I was so sleepy every now and again I had to get up and go and stand outside. The wait until three was interminable.

But it duly came and buoyed by the knowledge that after forty minutes I would be free to hop on my bike and go home I entered the classroom. My heart sank when I realised this class was naughty. Actually, on this occasion the vast majority of naughtiness came from one boy. There is no malice in him I think, but he is extremely disruptive and he started early. First off I caught him with a comic concealed in his text book and so confiscated it for the duration. Then I had to send him to stand in the corner for incessantly shouting “laowei” at me. Unbelievably I was also given the same lesson I had already taught twice that day, so a game was absolutely essential. I let bad breeches sit back down so as to take part.

No sooner had I chalked up team A versus B on the board than he started again! Tired and irritable as I was it would have been an easy feat to throw the boy out of the classroom window. We are on the sixth floor. What I actually did was to pick up the blackboard duster and very deliberately look at the boy before rubbing out the start of the game and instead started running through all the fruits again with them. There is nothing quite like peer pressure, because 22 others knew without a shadow of a doubt that he alone was to blame for not having a game. He stopped his antics and eventually I relented and told the class we would have a game provided they behaved. The way they made him the focus of their attention (and accusatory pointed fingers!) was wonderful and the rest of the lesson passed enjoyably.

Annoyingly, about ten minutes from the end my phone rang. I cut the call off without answering and a few minutes later a text came in. When I finished I left and, thinking it had been Kiki calling I duly called her. It hadn’t been her, I had misread her name when it was Kid - in small print on the screen the two look similar and indeed once I mistakenly invited the boy instead of her for dinner. The text was from Kevin, asking me where I was so I replied to it. It emerged that the call made at three-thirty was to invite me to a graduation party for Kid’s class. I then got told Kevin was taking some of them in his car downtown at four-thirty so they were effectively giving me just one hour’s notice. Couple that with the fact I wouldn’t get home until quarter past four, the bike wouldn’t have enough juice for another return trip to town meaning a bus trip (no thanks) and - more importantly - I have never taught that class, and you may realise why I declined the invitation. I am not sure I would have felt right anyway having never had them as students. As it stands, I had assumed that Daisy’s class wouldn’t invite me to their dinner seeing as Kevin taught them for two years and I had them for only one term, however last night four boys (who I think are from that class!) came and invited me for sometime next month. I said I would be delighted to go and told them about this afternoon which they seemed to have already heard about. At least they are quite clear that I need at least a couple of days notice!

Summer is certainly over now. The days are fluctuating between pleasantly warm and cooler and needing a light sweater but the nights are chilly. Soon I will have to dust off the little heater I put in the bathroom in winter and dig out my gloves for riding the bike.

2015

Time to wrap this one up I think. I have been out with the mutts already and came home early because I want to cook for myself tonight. I have a tenderloin steak that was in my freezer for about a year which is awaiting grilling and once I have boiled the pigs trotters I can get my potatoes boiling. I will have it with fried eggs and would have liked some vegetables with it but of course with only one hotplate something would go cold before another was cooked. But hell, I will enjoy the spuds after yesterday’s let-down!

And for the first time in a few days - probably because she knows it will rain tonight - Robin is here. Later I will test the muzzle. Oh, and here are a couple of photos I pinched from the uni website showing our battle-ready freshmen who were simply taught songs and how to march!