Friday 28th August, 2015                    1415

Bloody hell, a lot can happen in less than 24 hours!

Yes I went to the “gathering dinner” although true to form I could happily have spent another half an hour at home because I ended up cooling my heels at the little school. In the end it was a rather subdued affair and to be honest I have no idea why. One teacher is leaving to teach at a public school somewhere in the outlying countryside (she didn’t know where, she told me she would be making her decision today) but that can’t have been the reason the evening was so muted. Maybe the collective charisma of the people there simply wasn’t enough.

Anyway, usually at these meals I am lucky to find two or three dishes I like, last night was an exception. There was but one and as always, everyone else liked it too. Slices of pepper pancake encrusted with sesame seeds. I think I owe a debt of gratitude to the girls who have been at dinners with me because I ended up with four small slices of the stuff (which really was quite nice) - I am sure whispers went around that I am a fussy eater. I am certain that had I asked I could have had fried dumplings but I hate doing that because then they expect you to eat plateloads of whatever it is you expressed a preference for.

I normally leave these dos hungry but last night was special! I left feeling as if I hadn’t eaten all day.  And they asked me if I wanted to go to Karaoke. Needless to say I declined and took a taxi back, thus my free meal cost me more than I received! No matter, it was an evening out with not exactly close friends but all the same…..

This morning I got up early, having decided to get a McBreakfast to make up for last night. That and a bit of shopping comprised the only routine part of the day up to that juncture.

I got home, whacked the aircon on, got comfortable in shirt, boxers and sandals and heard a knock at my door. Going out I found a male Chinese teacher who informed me he was my new co-teacher. Cinny has deserted me over the trifling matter of advanced pregnancy after I expressly forbade her having a baby. She was terrific and I think I will miss her help.

However, after my new aide de camp Anthony opened proceedings by mentioning my age, health, e-bike and beer (to which I responded with a retirement age of 66, I am not ill, I have survived every accident and I have drunk beer for 45 years respectively) I then informed him that if the school is considering making this coming year my last then I would fight them and I expect him to be by my side.

We didn’t get much further than that, for while I was stood outside clad basically in underwear (didn’t want to invite him in seeing as the cat litter needs changing - almost every day now we have a full house), a man and a woman came down the stairs. I had to look twice. They were foreigners!

They are in the flat directly above me and just my luck, she is a looker and they are an item. Life can be so unfair.

He is Andre, she is Juliette. He is Romanian, she is a Parisian. At first knockings they both seem very pleasant. She of course will teach French but he, in order to teach English, must first pass an examination in front of the other English teachers here so they can gauge his competence in the language. I am taking bets on whether the only native speaker on campus will actually get a say in the selection process - any takers?? Of course he has a Slavic accent but the Chinese teachers have a Chinese accent and from what I have heard his English is fine - and he’s NOT American!

I am taking them to dinner tomorrow night, looks as if Anna is available to make up a foursome so I will try to get her to book a room at the place which turned us away when Kevin had his last meal with us. It seems they have not been given the welcome by the school that I was and to me that feels atrocious. I may of course be wrong but they never mentioned anything. Nobody appears to have shown them around and in fact they arrived last night but no-one saw fit to inform me. People here can be incredibly kind one minute and inexplicably thoughtless the next. I recall when I arrived I at least had a welcome dinner, was taken shopping for essentials and given advice on how to get to town. I’m not sure they have and Kevin was of great help when he finally turned up (if there is a long holiday he is in another country!) and so I will try to emulate him for the newcomers, it is their first time teaching and first time in China, as it was for me.