When I was doing Psychology A Level, we breifly studiedI a fatal illness known as Fatal Familial Insomnia in which, people usually around the age of 40 or so, will suddenly stop sleeping with no explantation or understanding or why. Due to lack of sleep, the body ceases to function adequately after a hwile & so they die. It's very sad.
I appear to have developed some kind of inability to sleep untill the wee hours of the morning which is not helpful when your alarm goes off at 6am that morning for Medical College! I'm not suggesting I will fall down dead tomorrow - I sincerely hope I don't I hasten to add - but I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that it may be the level of dusgust with my bed! Chinese mattresses are, in a word, upsettingly crap. I can feel the slats in the bed it is that thin & thus, sleeping, what was once one of my favourit past times, is no longer quite so enjoyable. It also doesn't help that Habby & I sit on our balcony gossiping about the day till 2am or so some nights... But that is hardly the point now is it!
I'm planning an early night tonight so that for once I don't feel like I'm a walking Zombie at Shhui Yang tomorrow... yet here I am writing on my blog at 9:30pm.
Speaking of the rural school which sits in padi fields, last week we did a geography lesson where they had to name flags & find a country for every letter of the alphabet (in English of course) & such like. Was remarkably successful which was great & the students were really into it. However, I noticed that they all reached for their dictionaries for the country ABC task, which I would not have minded had they been looking up country names as this would have shown that they already knew something to begin with. However, I was not happy with them turning to the bag pages where every country, with its flag, was listed! I conviscated many dictionaries & electronic dictionaries last week! i Also learnt the word for cheater: "qi pien!" [chee pee-en]. This made them laugh.
The delights of Medical College...
I started teaching Medical College Freshers last week too. They are by far the best classes I've had at M.C. They are so enthusiastic, ready to listen, despite being unprepared in some cases as one guy didn't have a pen or paper... This is the same guy who told me he loved me but hey! Comes with the job... I think...
My lesson plan for M.C. goes something like this:
1. Question Time - ability to ask me anything about myself or my country, etc etc. (I have ability to refuse any questions).
2. If you had Y10, Y100, Y1000 or Y1000000, what would you do with each some of money?
3. What is your dream? What will your life be like in 2020... etc etc
4. Text Language & Tongue Twisters.
Topic 1 I've spoken about before, having questions such as;
Do you like China... yes, yes I do.
Do you like Chinese food... most of the time, yes, yes I do.
Where are you from?
What do you do in your spare time?
Do you have a boyfriend?
Do you like Chinese boys?
I have also spoken before about our 'faux profiles' that we all have fabricated for this job, Neil & I inparticular as we teach people either our age or older. Today, however, mine was given a bit more colour. One girl asked me the usual, 'do you have a boyfriend,' which I replied 'yes, but he lives in England' which usually suffices. 'What is he like' she asks. I laughed, as did the rest of the class but they stared at me - it was a nursing major class so all female - waiting for any morsel I may let go about something as juicy as 'my English boyfriend'.
Apparently, he's about 5ft 8", my colour hair but wavy with bright blue eyes, he's smart & very funny. Was wondering, if anyone sees someone with this description, could you snap a photo for me, email it across & then I'd have the whole package to display for them!
In Topic 2, on Friday, with my freshers though, the guy without a pen or paper said that he would spen Y10 on a bunch of flowers to give to me, because he loves me. I was someone stunned, ratehr embarassed & the class roared with laughter! Keep in mind, I have never met this class before & won't see them again. Then, in the break, he comes to the front & asks me to sign his report slip (yes, exactly, he's on report - at Uni!?!? - I do attract the gooduns don't I!) & then offers me a present which was his canvas, relatively ordinary looking wallet. When I said, 'no, I can't accept this I'm sorry,' he thrusts it forwards saying, 'but Y10, Y10! This is how I would spend Y10!' I refused again politely & he hung his head & went back to his seat after saying, 'ok, ok'. I felt quite bad but I couldn't take the poor guys wallet!!
Chinese Lessons
Due to a change in Andy's teaching timetable, he is no longer able to be with us during Chinese Lessons, therefore leaving Neil & I to our own devices. Our teacher has also changed to Vicky who was apparently very nervous as she had never taught before... comforting. (Mind, I hardly havea leg to stand on on that note as I myself am new to this malarky!)
Nevertheless, she has truely surprised us & I feel as though I am actually learning now. We've done a colours & numebrs lesson & have used this successfully to buy "yi ge huang se, yi ge fen hong se he yi ge lan se" cotton candies from a cart Neil found down Restaurant St (which is aptly named). This translates to, 'on yellow one, one pink one & one blue one" - we didn't know the word for 'cotton candy' sadly. We've also covered greetings & such like but this was more difficult & I'm not going to embarass myself by getting it wrong in writing on the blog! All I can rememebr is, "Ni che le ma?" Meaning, "have you eaten?" which is an informal greating between friends here. (They like food... it's the centre of their lives here... my kinda place!)
I wouldn't say I would be able to have a conversation by any means, but my vocab is slowly (slowly being the optimum word there) growing & I'm able to read a few character such as beef, fish (so I know what to avoid) and such like which helps somewhat.
What's going down on a Saturday night? Pins!
We have discovered a very small but perfectly formed bowling alley not far from Aston. So Andy, Habby, Neil, Shining & I trooped down on Saturday night as we were in lack of anything to do & some of us didn't feel like going clubbing after Friday night's, how shall I put this, 'heavy outing'.
Shining had never been bowling before & so we taught her how to play & she actually ended up beating Andy who didn't appear best pleased by this - especially as we all found it so amusing! There was a bit of a tadoo about payment as they had said one thing when we first started then changed their minds afterwards, but in reality, it was still only 1quid a game per person.
Turned out to be a really good night, even though I came home with a cracker of a bruise on my knee after falling down twice as I went to bowl. (The floor was exceptionaly slidey in my very stylish bowling shoes) & really, at least I didn't get pulled down the ally by the ball as I have been in the past! So I'm improving! I actually came second as it happened, so my 'release & collapse' technique must have some use even if it does mean that my knee clicks each time I bend down now... Niiiice!
That's about it from this reasonably uneventful week I'm afraid. We have made friends with a Russian who is learning Chinese at Aston, Demitri & Speila, a woman learning Chinese here who lives in the apartment below him. They are very nice & a good laugh, though Speila leaves in a month which is a shame.
Oh! How could I forget, Kalie, aged 26, the new arrival started on Wednesday. She has arrived here from teaching English in Vietnam - where is sounds like she had a pretty sweet deal, teaching & living on the beach! - & before there, Peru. She is rather cool with us which we were a bit miffed about I suppose as we had been ready to bring her into the crew & stuff, but she lives with Speila & Demitri off site so perhaps she is happy to just hang out else where. We will see, it has only been a week.
Other than that, nothing much else going on so I will leave it here. Hope all is well with all of you; I think about everyone at home reguarly, especially this week as I became somewhat disechanted by it all after coming back from holiday, wishing I could just travel round China instead or come home for a bit & then jet off again elsewhere. But all is well, still having fun - most days when we aren't creeped out by someone for some reason!
I'm off to bed now I think - what a joy. *sigh* how I wish I could fit my bed in my suitcase. Or even just my lovely cushioned mattress on the floor with my cozy duvet would be good.... ok, I'm slowly driving myself into a downard spiral of depression here so I'll stop before I cry for my bed. Because that would just be sad.
Cheese & crackers beckons; much love & hugs & all that jazz
xx
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