Last night was the last western Wednesday of this term and was attended by the three usual foreign suspects accompanied by Maria (Kevin), Charlotte (Ollivier) and Dumpling (me).
It was a fondue more in keeping with those I used to have back in the eighties, using oil and red wine to cook in. All the teachers bought their own meat and all brought far too much - in fact I had that much that I left two steaks in my fridge and still had enough to choke a hippo. Considering our situation I think the dips passed muster, one was shop bought (salsa) and the others were mayonnaise mixed with mustard, ketchup and chilli powder. The garlic bread wasn’t too hot though, even though Ollivier had bought the baguettes that morning I think they were stale even before they went into the baker’s oven. Some salad plus boiled spuds with salad cream made for a nice repast and Kevin had cooked some potato fritters as well. I think he was slightly miffed that I wasn’t keen on having them with a fondue. Ollivier has been working out at the gym for a couple of months, presumably because his wife remarked he was getting a bit porky. Now he’s a beefy sort of lad who you would naturally assume had a bit of grunt about him but after the fondue when the pancakes were being served, besides my maple syrup he produced his father’s home made jams. He couldn’t open one of the jars. He is thirty-five and works out, rides a bike and does all the things expected including eating his five a day like a good boy. The one who opened the jar without too much trouble was Kevin, who will turn sixty in two months!
I think it was nearly ten before the girls left - they always seem to leave en masse - and at that point Kevin departed in anticipation of a Skype call from his father. Quite an amazing chap being able to use a computer given that he is 97 years of age. I stayed long enough to see off the remnants of the bottle of port I produced towards the end and then took Pepsi out into the cold before calling it a day myself.
It was a struggle to lever myself out of bed this morning at six-thirty, in fact it was seven before I groaned my way into my clothes to let the dog out for her morning wee. I was heartily glad when I finished the exams at ten and could come back for a nap. Just an hour but it refreshed me a little for the afternoon set. When I awoke I found an email with a translation of 1100 words they needed by four! Assuming I would be finished by three, I accepted it and later I was well on course to be home by three, let alone finish. That is, until eight more students who had changed major turned up looking to be examined! Unbelievable. I did however manage to do the translation just before four so everyone is happy. I have one more extra tomorrow but she will come early and I will get her out of the way before I start on my own classes. I can only hope there won’t be hordes more students sent to me tomorrow because I am really looking forward to exhaling a huge sigh of relief at noon when I can start my holidays.
Tonight Ollivier and I are going to have another, less elaborate fondue in an attempt to dispose of the meat that was left last night. Joan and Anna are joining us but because they both have evening class it will be nine before we actually start to eat. Far too late for me seeing as I have an early start but of course I can sleep to my heart’s content after I finish tomorrow.
Saturday 10th 1400
Never got around to finishing that entry.
Yesterday I breathed a sigh of relief at noon as I watched my final examinee depart the classroom. No more alarm clocks for seven weeks unless I want to get up early for a McBreakfast or someone has invited me somewhere. All I have to do now is put the scores online and I am done.
Last night Joan and I dined on the last two Aussie pies I had (need to order another 500y worth after Monday’s payday) and then Anna came. She was very late, well after ten, and she asked me if I had anything to eat as she was starving. I had sod all besides frozen sausages so the best I could come up with was cheese and biscuits, which seemed to satisfy her. She won’t go hungry tonight as both she and Joan are joining me for a Bolognese this evening, the makings of which I bought this morning.
However, after Joan left (having completed the nightly torture session which really is yielding fantastic results, wish I had inveigled someone into doing this three years ago) Anna sat watching my computer downloads with me. I made some remark to her which prompted a light punch on my right shoulder (the good one) and I thought nothing of it. Moments later I shifted position and thought to myself that the left arm of my computer chair was a bit sticky. I lifted my arm to see a stream of blood issuing from my forearm. I must have inadvertently picked a small scab (injury doubtless inflicted by a certain baby cat) and as I take aspirin to thin my blood it was in no hurry to congeal.
I showed Anna the gore and said, “Look what you did.” She actually believed she had done it! Gotta love her!
This morning was an early start for breakfast and a shop for the Bolognese. Breakfast done and a jar of pineapple jam left in McDonald’s for future supply problems, I went to RT Mart. On the bus back I suddenly realised my wallet was missing. I couldn’t believe I had lost it twice in such a short space of time when in my entire life I had never lost one before other than in a burglary! The money wasn’t an issue because there was only about 90y in it but again it was the aggravation with the cards and other effects together with the hassle of having to change bank accounts. In China, if you lose your card you don’t get another one, you need to open a new account and that would mean trying to tell the school payroll department to divert the money - and payday is Monday, plus spring festival holidays are looming. Getting a replacement UK debit card would be at least 6 weeks and probably longer given that the school will be deserted until the beginning of March.
Texts were sent to Kevin who very kindly drove me back to town (and was rewarded with a Big Mac for his trouble) when I hoped against hope that all that had happened was that I had missed the bum cheek pocket opening when trying to put the wallet in. I am pleased to say that is precisely what happened and someone was very honest, for customer services had it when we went back. I really don’t want to make it third time unlucky.
Ollivier left this morning for Huimin and a reunion with his wife and children which means I can nick his radiator to keep my guests warm in the spare bedroom and also use his dinner service and table to entertain girls to dinner - a bit like having a little country cottage to use as a retreat!
The weather at the moment is gorgeous with sunshine and figures just into doubles during the day but of course dropping like a stone at night. My prediction of a hard winter may well prove to be erroneous (I certainly hope so) which would make my first bitterly cold, snowbound winter here the exception rather than the norm.
I can’t believe I forgot to mention before that I have been invited to a party on the 11th February. I will be the only foreign teacher here then otherwise perhaps all three of us would have been invited. It is for Chizhou city’s Chinese new year party. I can only assume that the various mayors and dignitaries will be present along with the captains of industry and other masters of the universe (somehow I can’t see Xi Jinping putting in an appearance though) and it would seem I am required to wear formal clothes (that means putting together the mismatched suit or having one made pretty sharpish - there’s a thought!) and there will be a rehearsal some days before. Ever get the feeling I might be required to do the “friends, Chizhouans and countrymen” thing?? I’ll bet I don’t even get to see the TV broadcast either.
Sunday 11th 1230
I really must post this today, it’s becoming an epic.
Last night I showed Anna how to make Bolognese and we, along with Joan, sat down at Ollivier’s table to eat it. There was plenty left for freezing so nobody went to bed hungry. I decided that today I would sleep as long as I wanted but sadly it was the usual round of waking and dozing off then repeating same.
When I did finally rouse myself I checked the internet and when I’d read the world news I decided to get stuck in and enter the student marks on the school website because once done it meant I really am on holiday. The job is a bit of faffing around because it is structured so that they get two marks which average out to give a final score. Admittedly it is a lot easier than previously as before one mark was 70% and another 30% of their total. Now they have changed it to 50/50 so I can just put the same number in twice to achieve the score I want to award, before it was trial and error and took forever. However, 228 of my students and 21 additional ones took me two hours and sent me cross-eyed and now my brain hurts. But it is done so all I need to do today is wash up last night’s dishes and ponder over what to have for dinner tonight. Joan won’t need feeding as she will come after ten but I have very little money in my wallet (payday tomorrow hopefully) and I don’t want to raid my UK account. I reckon I will have to raid the coin jars, which will please wherever I buy the food from!
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