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And its round to Sunday again...
I actually didn't end up working much at all this week. I was told that I would have Friday off because the kids were doing military training which I was ecstatic about, but then I ended up being extremely ill for all of Thursday, and then could only spend Friday resting. I did however for my first meal after the starvation go to a lovely Russian restaurant where the carnage that was my birthday occurred in October. Of course Russia= vodka. And copious amounts. That night I was topping peoples shot glasses up throughout the meal and I think we drank at least 8 bottles between about 16 of us. Anyway, one of the crowd thanked me for my plying her with alcohol- 4 of the group decided to couple off with each other on that evening! (All are still together). However, Friday involved no vodka for me, due to said illness.
I woke up on Saturday at E's house to the sound of a marching band. It was her schools 250th anniversary and they were having a celebration thing with old teachers and stuff. Its so China to have something like this at 730am on a Saturday morning. After much cups of tea and reading of recently acquired Cosmo, I managed to sneak out and home.
The rest of the day was spent preparing for the arrival of JimmyK! Since he can't stay at my school, I had to find an appropriate hotel. I've decided not to inform the school of his visit after the debaucle that was last time. Just think more lies, deception and dinner with the headmaster. No thankyou.
Mainly did lesson planning today and had a fun lesson with the 7 year olds. They are really sweet. Then I called one of my best friends from Uni (C the musical genius), who the other one- S was visiting for the weekend. And due to the musical fusion that has occurred, JimmyK was there too. I was so jealous the three of them there together without me. But it was so ace to chat to them all. I can't wait for me, C and S to be reunitated again, and hopefully it will be in July in CHINA!
Its all teaching, teaching, teaching until Friday when I am giving up all the extra work and concentrating on having fun and most importantly eating good food with JimmyK. Its gonna be like a holiday for me too!
Thursday Schmurzday
Well its safe to say that I am absolutely confused and disorientated by the new format. I'm sure I'll get used to it though, and learn to love the new features.
Today has been a long day, as Thursdays are. I had a Teacher's lesson at lunchtime today which is supposed to involve a large number of teachers coming to my lesson to prepare for an exam that they all have to pass before the end of 2005. What it really involves is my coaching one music teacher who really wants to pass the exam. This is preferable for me, of course.
She started off the lesson by telling me that she had had no time to prepare any answers because she bought a new horse. 'A HORSE?' I said. Who has the time, space and money to keep a horse in Beijing? She meant 'house'. Her and her boyfriend queued up for 4 days to get their new apartment. Yes, this meant they ate, slept and did everything else in this queue to buy a relatively cheap apartment (Y380,000= GBP 25,000). She has got a 30 year mortgage and will end up paying an extra Y280,000 in interest. And I know for a fact that she earns less than Y3000 (GBP200) a month.
She has decided that her and her boyfriend are going to buy the house on their own without any help from their parents. Her parents divorced when she was 4 years old. The grandparents of her parents were related, and decided her parents would get married. She said they never grew to love each other. They both now have other families and she has lived with her grandmother.
Then the teacher who helps me with the teachers lesson and most of my Grade 1 classes started telling me about her living situation. She lives over an hour away from school and she was really disappointed that she didn't know that these cheap apartments were selling, though she admitted she would never have time to queue up for that long. Or the money to buy the house. She takes on as much extra work at school as she can and she spends all the money on her son. She has just paid Y200,000 (GBP13,000) for his primary school, because she wants him to go to a good one. She told me she has just spent 4 days preparing exam papers for the final exams- they are paying her an extra Y50 (GBP3) a month for this.
She works all of Saturday in another primary school for extra money. Every day she looks so immensely tired. She doesn't like the school and thinks the pay is shit. She has been offered a job at a school she used to work at, which she says is really good and better pay. However, its too far from her house and there is nobody to pick her son up from kindergarten. If she moves to that area her husband with either have to commute across the city or take a pay cut by half if he works in that area. She's stuck. She says she's gonna stick it out and retire in 10 years.
All this gave me something to think about anyway.
Long time no write
In case anyone at all (other than Pete, cheers!) is wondering where I have gotten myself to over the last week, I have been entertaining what appears to be my better half JimmyK. Its been all drinks, and dinners and sightseeing.
His friend has arrived from Chongqing today, so the weekend will be filled with Acrobats, Beijing Duck, the Great Wall, a XinJiang restaurant, the Forbidden City, Beihai park, a mass Tai Ji lesson, Hot Pot and the Summer Palace. Phew. That should give them the proper Beijing experience! Oh and some drinking and Western food.
Can't chat. Must go. I have the children of China to educate you know.
Phew!
Its certainly been a busy two weeks. I'm happy to say that I had a fantastic time and if its possible to fall in love with somebody all over again well then... you know. Although I'm back at school, even that can't dampen my spirits as I only have two more lessons to give before I am finished for the holidays. The kids have exams so I don't have to teach, only mark papers, which isn't nearly as bad. And thats not till Wednesday so I have two days off. Hooray! Then I am off to what is known as the hawaii of China- Hainan Island. So its all sun, surf, and sand for me. I'm going with Chinese-S so i'm determined to come back fluent in Chinese too. Shut up... its possible.
All this going to airports and talking about flights home has made me realise that my time here is really slipping through my fingers. Its weird but I feel that if start to write more again then maybe I can hold on to it somehow. So expect more bloggage.
For my dinner today I went to 'Staple Food Kitchen' on my road and pointed to a variety of pancake/dumpling/wrap things to eat. My favourite was an omlette thing filled with potato. Very yummy. Then I ate half a pineapple before the acid started to eat my tongue. Nice though. As much as I would have loved to know what stuff was before I bought it, it was kind of freeing to just point to stuff and see what happens. And whats the worst that can happen when you only spend 30p.
This week I have been educating the children of China about the environment. Since, as many/none of you may know today is actually Earth Day. Who decided that I don't know, but any excuse for a lesson plan. Actually, I really do care about the environment and try to live a 'green' life as much as I can. So people, when you go to the supermarket today, take some of the carrier bags in the cupboard with you instead of getting new ones. There! I'm helping to save the planet.
Expect more soon....
CORRECTION: If at any point, on any blog the partner of emma_in_china was referred to as sub-standard due to withholding of comedy cartoon family dvds, apologies will henceforth be given. It is noted that emma_in_china is now happily in possession of all three series of said comedy cartoon family show. Thats love for ya.
I did it!
I am now the official owner of a place on a Masters course starting in September. Which means I will be sharing a house with my best friend and following my career dreams...
*takes a bow*
The story of how a 26 year old lab worker ruined my friends holiday...
Once upon a time two friends decided they were going to go to the beautiful island of Hainan, off the south coast of China, during the national holiday in May. They were both very excited and were looking forward to the sea, sand and surf. A few weeks before they were due to go, one of them, let's call her S, started to feel ill. Nothing serious, just a nasty cough that was persisting. Only a few days before they were due to leave, S decided that there was no way she could go to Hainan. 'Why? Was she feeling worse?' No, in fact she was feeling much better with just a niggly cough that would sometimes creep up on her at night. 'So why did she cancel?'
Ah hah! This bring me to the 26 year old lab worker, from Anhui province. During two weeks in March, this laboratory worker got what she probably thought was excellent experience, working at the Chinese National Institute of Virology in Beijing. This institute is known to be engaged in research involving the SARS coronavirus. On March 25th she became ill. 'Oh my god, did they isolate her, what with the chance of SARS?' No. They sent her to a normal hospital. She was attended by nurses and her mother.
Her mother then returned to Anhui province. 'What? They allowed her mother to travel to another province at the risk of infecting other people?' Yes. She later died. Then, surprise surprise, a nurse who was attending the lab worker became ill. The WHO have classified the nurse and the researcher as probable cases of SARS.
Another lab worker, a 31 year old, was hospitalised in isolation last week as a suspected case of SARS. Not before however, 300 people who have possibly come into contact with the disease, have been identified and put under medical observation. Which brings me to my friend...
She is worried that when she goes to the airport she will be put under medical observation for 2 weeks without being able to see her family and friends... because she has a cough. 'Thats a bit crazy isn't it? Just because of a cough?' You might say that, especially because she has been checked out by a doctor who has confirmed that she does not have SARS. Her reasoning? The same thing happened to her mother during the last outbreak of SARS.
Actually, it's not right to blame the lab worker. Did the doctors and health authorities not consider that a lab worker with similar symptoms to SARS, who is working in an environment where it is possible that she could be exposed to it, should be placed in isolation just in case? Perhaps if they had, they could have saved the life of an innocent woman and the possible life of a young nurse in intensive care.
And my friends' holiday.