Monday 30^th October, 2017 2230

Well that will teach me to prattle on about croaking it. When my alarm went off this morning I certainly felt like death.

On east campus my campaign paid off, apparently tonight they were replacing the computer in my classroom so on Friday I can go back to using that room. A tad annoying that they only told me this afternoon because when I went for my McDonald's big breakfast, on the way back I paid to have a key cut for the training room to prevent a recurrence of being locked out again as happened on Friday. At least it only cost 7y.

I really think I was tired enough today to have grabbed forty winks during my long break but I was foiled firstly by the music announcing the start of class, then by the students filing past my office chattering and finally at lunchtime proper by piano practice in the classrooms either side of my bolthole. I tried. I really did. I failed.

Once teaching was over for the day I went to the office to kill time before the school bus left and just as I was about to lock up and leave to catch it the phone rang. It was the vice dean from Peili campus. I guessed she was calling to inform me she had secured us a room for English corner but I guessed wrongly.

She asked me if I would consent to being a “judge” for the provincial finals of the FLTRP Cup – the national English speaking competition. Hell, I've never even BEEN to one before – Kevin always did that in Chizhou and I was hardly going to try and take that away from him. Now here I was, being asked to do it myself and until this year Kevin himself had not been invited to do it (and he so badly wanted to!).

By “judge” it is meant “question master”. I will not award scores, merely ask each contestant a question about their speech. Terrific. I don't have a suit that still fits me, although I was told smart casual is fine. It will have to be. With no iron or ironing board I have had to despatch two shirts to the campus laundry to be sorted out (yes, amazingly we have one, I found out tonight!).

It is actually quite an honour I think to be invited after merely one year here. Every university in Gansu province will send competitors and teachers, deans etc and as far as I know there may only be two question masters chosen from the foreign teaching contingent.

Honour it may well be but there goes my weekend! I am being collected at 1600 on Friday to be taken to another university (my guess is Lanzhou university, not too far from east campus), for training. With eight local finals under my belt already I am intrigued as to what form the training will take or how it will tell me anything new but I do know I just lost Saturday and Sunday to an endless litany of homogenous speeches on the same topic. I feel I will experience first hand the reason why many MPs and Lords nod off in the various houses. Except of course, I will be expected to be alert the entire time. I expect two full days of “belt and road” orations.

Unlike Kevin who had to be in Hefei for the Anhui finals and will have been put up in an hotel, fed and watered, because ours are being held here I will be taken back home far too late to cook. I can but hope I will be feted to dinner. The plus side is that apparently I will be paid for my trouble. Although I reckon I will earn it, if I get the same as Kevin did last weekend then it will soften the blow of the missing weekend.

I did try to shame Annie into coming along as a spectator seeing as Pat is taking part and she teaches her as well as me but she suddenly developed a very busy social schedule! I can't say I blame her – she can't sit with me as I will be up on stage I assume.

So I may be meeting a sizeable number of laowei in a few days time. I wonder if I will be the Grandad.......