Wednesday 24th October, 2012        1715

Unbelievably, now the temperature has dropped to 21C I regard it as cold! I am really dreading the winter now and can see me sitting at home with all my heaters going and still having to wear a sweater. I hope it’s a bit warmer tomorrow because I do need to take Pepsi for her jabs and also to buy pet food.

My two classes today were good and it is safe to say Wednesday is going to be my best day this semester - apart from Thursdays which I have off of course. They put a lot of effort into the bank robbery sketches that one class overran by five minutes, which no doubt went unnoticed, unlike the other day and a minute early. I arranged to see Happy again after I finished this afternoon and rather than work on past papers she just wanted to talk. Surmising there may be something else going on, my suspicions were confirmed after half an hour of idle chat her problems started emerging. Fine by me, Chinese students will very often confide in us westerners when they wouldn’t dream of discussing such matters with Chinese teachers.

Yet again I find myself tired, so although I will go out soon to shop with the dogs (well actually Pepsi will just hide under e-bikes for the duration) I will eat a hotpot for my dinner, come home early and I think I will cave in and drag out my quilt again. Last night I just wasn’t quite warm enough under the quilt cover and it will be colder too. And raining. Robin might even come home again, she did last night.

Thursday 25th     1500

I never went to town after all. I still have knee problems and it was far too cold, both for me unless I put on plenty of clothes and for Pepsi, who doesn’t have much fur seeing as it is still growing back after the mange.

Friday 26th    1045

Well I’m certainly not blogging much lately! Last night when I came home I met my neighbour from 304 just outside. I had just baked a loaf of bread and knowing most of it would end up going to the birds, I asked her if she would like some. She would, and also asked her to teach her how to make it! I laughed and told her that for 400y she could buy a machine like mine. She came and I cut half the loaf for her to take away, but moments later she returned with a gift of a bottle of baijiu. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I couldn’t stand the stuff. There was good news for Kevin though, she told me soon they will be moving to a place downtown. I actually like her a lot and often chat (indeed she said she would invite me to dinner one day although that could mean nothing) but her husband never smiles and although their kid is fine they allow him to scream and shout in the alleyway. I don’t know how they have managed because they have a grandfather living with them as well in a one-bed roomed place!

I have a long break today from 1000-1330 so soon I will take a nap - why is it always when you HAVE to get up that you want to sleep longer?? I have a class later followed by the language society’s inaugural (for this intake) bash. Kevin and I will attend as I hope will Ollivier. This time there is no native Korean teacher here so it will at least be two nationalities instead of the usual one up on the top steps. And why do they always pick on me to make the big speech??! I have a sneaky feeling perhaps they asked Kevin first because the president is one of his students, and he neatly suggested that I would be a much better choice………

2245

The nap was a mistake, I felt five times worse when I woke up, having simply dozed rather than slept. Still, I knew I only had to teach my class and then attend the event from half past three to half past five. Or did I? Oh no, at the last minute they changed the time to five until seven! Great, not only did it mean a later finish but also it starts to get dark before six now. Worse, Kevin could only have stayed until five so now he wasn’t going to be there at all. Olivier and I did our duty, as I believe did the Chinese Japanese teacher although if I am correct she disappeared after thirty minutes. Yes, fine, speaking to and winding up two hundred Chinese students is grist to the mill for me but tonight was an unmitigated disaster!

I cannot in all fairness call the organisers incompetent because I confess it never occurred to me either that from five thirty until six thirty the school radio broadcasts through outside speakers, two of which are located twenty feet above where we were. For an hour they futilely carried on but nobody could hear what was happening on stage. Personally, I would have abandoned the entire thing but they wouldn’t out of fear of losing face or whatever. From a planned two hours we had half an hour at the start and again at the end where people could hear but by the time the station ceased broadcasting the audience which had been two hundred strong at the beginning had diminished to about fifty. It was a shame really because last years was a debacle because they were too ambitious, this year it was because of something which couldn’t be stopped and wasn‘t foreseen. If only they had scheduled it for Saturday or Sunday morning  it would probably have been a success. Ho hum.