Hello Out There!

March 9, 2012

I am fighting what feels like the worst cold in the history of colds, but then I remember the swine flu, and food poisoning (which I know is not a cold) and realize I am doing pretty well after all. But, I actually used a sick day and that doesn’t really happen in my world, so it still must be a bad one.

I know it’s been weeks since I last wrote you, there has just not been much going on around here. The weather is blah and makes me not want to go outside and play. I had big plans for last weekend, but when the time came, it was raining. Rain below 20 C isn’t fun to play in! I had Joy (Dave’s “Chinese teacher”) tell me what else was on the school park pass that I can visit and she told me of a couple of places, along with how to get to them. Now, when the weather improves a little and my cold is gone, I can go explore again.

A couple weeks ago the grade 1 and 2 classes were visited by a lady in our curriculum development department, to see how we were teaching and how the children were responding to it all. I know she was all of my classes at least once, most of them twice and the other girls said the same – she must have been so tired of the lessons! After she watched class seven she told me that there didn’t seem to be a lot of teacher control – between me and the resident teacher. I was like, I know. It’s not like either of us just sit around ignoring it either. I am probably guiltier of that, and that is because sometimes, ignoring it makes my class run smoother. If one kid wants to play in his desk and not pay attention, but isn’t bothering me or the rest of the class, go for it…. I know that’s not really the right attitude, but it’s the one the class and I adopted at some point. In one of our staff meetings I complained about class seven again. I told Paul that I have four boys that if I lose anyone of them, my class falls apart. They are so loud and so stubborn (I think the classmates are a little afraid of them), that if they decide they are mad at me for not calling on them often enough, they will ruin everything. I hate letting four nine year old boys be in charge, but that’s how it was. This week Paul came to watch the class with them (and of course, they were what I would define as good for them while Paul was there). He then had to teach them while I was at home sick. He said it was a constant battle even for him (which a strong, loud voice, and being a good disciplinarian) and that he has some ideas. We have a meeting next week to talk about it, since I am still sick today.

On Wednesday, the school celebrated International Women’s Day. This meant that all female teachers received a gift from the school. This year we all got matching bedding. I haven’t opened mine yet, but it looks like a sheet (Chinese only use one sheet), a pillow case, and a duvet cover. They are hot pink with flowers! Awesome! They are not cheap sheets either – the price tag is about $100 CDN. Being a man in China on International Women’s day must be a bummer. Not only do they not get any gifts, but our men had to perform in the Women’s Day performance as well. So Wednesday night, all the teachers headed to the theatre to watch. The Chinese teachers did a great job with their stuff – but since it was all in Chinese, I have no idea what happened – but there was a play that was about 20 minutes long, and people laughed the whole way through! The International Men also did an amazing job – Patrick organized them and when Patrick takes control, things happen! Mike came on stage first, dressed as a Whitney Houston – complete with hairy armpits, a goatee, and army tattoos. As he was pretending to sing along to “Always Love You”, the music suddenly changed to Natasha Bedingfield’s “Pocketful of Sunshine” and Chance comes onto stage dancing. Mike shoes him off stage and his song continues. Bring on Lady Gaga (Paul) to interrupt again. As Mike continues, Brittney Spears and “Hit me baby” starts with John. Whitney and Brittany have a bit of a scuffle deciding who gets to stay on stage, and Brittany goes down (hit me baby?) with a baseball hit to the back. Satisfied, Whitney goes back to her song. Leaping over Brittany’s unconscious body comes Justin Bieber with “Baby Baby”. Dave played Justin and he had made a Justin mask which looked really good. When Mike has the stage to himself again (minus unconscious Brittany), he starts singing again, only to have his music fade out. At time point, Mike actually sings and everyone laughs… It was a good show. The problem was…

I was so dizzy with my cold/flu thing that I could barely look at the stage with the flashing lights the Chinese like so much! Angel wanted me to go on stage to get a rose at the end of the performance (somehow, the sick girl was the only girl left at the show…) but I told her I was dying and couldn’t stand that long. I then shuffled home holding onto George every third step when the world floated away. With Wednesday being my easy day, I had already slept for most of the day. I slept Wednesday night, and most of Thursday as I could still barely stand. I was in bed last night by 9 pm (even with sleeping all day!) and woke up this morning feeling a little alive. I decided to go to work today. Class 8 (which I didn’t have today) and class 6 were both very concerned about me being there, and several of the kids put their hands to their heads in a question. Typically, I think for a fever, the kids get a patch of something on their heads – my guess is a cooling patch and then they sit in class miserable. Knowing this I agreed with them. They gave me hugs. What sweethearts. My voice was a little scratchy and squeaky this morning, but we made do. With it being Friday, I like to make sure the kids can sing all the songs – we are about half way to a midterm, maybe less. This meant that I just did TPR (the actions) while they sang, and this worked well for me. I had planned to go with Dave to Gloria’s tonight, but when he woke me up at 6 pm I decided that wasn’t such a good idea. Now that the crazy headaches, fevers and dizziness seem to have passed, the actual cold is arriving. I can only hope that two more days housebound will cure me!

Every year there is a speech competition on CCTV (the TV station) and two kids from each class will perform. As their English teachers, we will help prepare them. There isn’t a lot of information out to us yet, but we have had to pick the students. I was not happy, but I put Toby from 2.7 on the list because his English is pretty good, I just don’t like him. I guess my liking him shouldn’t play into it… but I do hope that his head teacher says no too… Class six is already working on it – I think she is making them do tryouts in the classroom. I had given three options and she brought me three others….

I think that’s all I know. Next time I do something entertaining, I will be sure to update you!

Much love.