Thursday 12 December, 2013             1830

Sadly, although our chap went through to the second round with the second highest score, that round seems to be more brutal and hit and miss because he will go no further. I can only surmise that he was pitted against two of the best in his group of three (only the top can go through from each three) - indeed Kevin informs me one of the others attended high school in America before returning here to university so he had a fair advantage in having been immersed in (a vague form of!) English for a couple of years. Still, he can hold his head high for he is still in the top 20 of millions of others AND he still gets an achievement award. Kevin is glad of that - I thought maybe it worked like the World Cup where if a team goes out they go back home but they will stay for the final which is good.

When I finished class yesterday I wondered what the hell was going on. During my class I had heard a commotion outside and, thinking it was students, opened the classroom door to remonstrate. The racket was coming from outside the building so not a lot I could do about it. When I left to go home I discovered what it was.

With the normal Wednesday afternoon teachers meeting plainly having been cancelled the teachers from the foreign language department had decided to hold a skipping competition! I instantly regretted going to investigate this madness for Prof Fang’s assistant held out a skipping rope and asked me to have a try! Forty years ago? I may have won - I did my share of boxing and associated training in my youth - but with a lightweight plastic “rope” and at my age and weight? Forget it!

I got stung another way though.

“By the way, Prof Fang is going to ask you………….”

Later this month there is to be a concert/variety show held by teachers, for teachers - the entire university. Ok I thought, I’ll happily be Santa or act in a playlet but no, she wants me to recite a poem, which one I have no idea. Boring but well within my capability. Except she wants me to recite it in Chinese!!!!

I should have simply sloped off home while the going was good.

Saturday is my last day at the little school until after spring festival so I won’t be back there again until February or March (I get my weekends back for a while!) except perhaps if he does the usual of rewarding all his staff with an end of term evening meal -  usually a good bash at which he gets drunk on two bottles of pijou. I am glad because I have been becoming increasingly averse to riding downtown in the cold. In the past I togged up with long johns, hat, earmuffs, gauntlets etc but now I just don’t want to. In fact today I took the bus to go shopping - I am trying to start accumulating pet food food in the freezer plus stuff for myself so as to avoid a great many trips in the holiday, even though the buses are virtually empty and are now heated.

One of my computer chairs arrived last night (why they didn’t both arrive together I have no idea)  so Ollivier chanced by and offered to assemble it. I have to say it is quite comfy and for fifteen quid apiece I am very pleased.

I forgot to mention that last Thursday after the meeting we were informed that the local government has decreed that (finally) all schools should have air conditioning in the classrooms. Whether it will be man enough to keep us warm in winter and cool in summer remains to be seen but anything has to be better than teaching clad in a thick coat breathing out frost to students doing likewise. Apparently it will be soon so my guess is it will be installed during the holidays.

Ahhhh, holidays. Three weeks to go and then about seven weeks off. It’s a hard life!