I believe the honeymoon is coming to a close. Today was a pretty frustrating day. For all of the wonderful experiences there are definitely some things that are tough to deal with...like the staring and pointing for example. I feel like a celebrity without the benefits. I swear Chinese people don't think it's rude to point and stare. I had to physically force myself out of a childish staring contest with a 40 year old woman at 30 yards. We were both standing still, me with a briefcase in hand like Michael Douglas on the cover of Falling Down, her with a slack jawed expression straight out of the Clampett family. I was just so sick of people staring at me I started staring back, you know?
But I'm determined to stay positive...so...tonight I head to the airport to meet my boss. His visit last week was delayed by, get this, the NDP government in Nova Scotia. Haha. Thy arm is long Darrell. My co-worker, John, and I are both hoping he'll be suitably impressed with the amount we've accomplished so far. With it being a new program very little was actually in place when I arrived. Since then we've made the learning environment a lot healthier, made big strides with the students (including adaptations for one of our 5 students...I know the teachers reading this will love to hear that!), made the staff office bearable, found a printer (a HUGE victory, believe it or not) and the coup de grace...acquired a coffee maker!
Also exciting is that I found the ingredients to make homemade garlic cheese bread...damn it's tasty after a day of Chinese noodles and tofu!
Pictures to follow before too long.
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Hang in there buddy, don't go all Michael Douglas on us :) Good to hear you are making strides in the teaching world though. That must be pretty satisfying.
ReplyDeleteDon't think I'd ever hear of you eating Tofu. It must be like tofu hotdogs or tofu hamburgers (ketchup only - no cheese). Hey - when you get frustrated with China, just remember the time you tried to order a cheeseburger at McDonalds with no cheese, and they wouldn't let you. The world is a strange place. Keep your stick on the ice!
Great stuff Duncan. Certainly proud of you.
ReplyDeleteI think you need to work on leveraging your celebrity status. Not sure exactly what that looks like, but figure out something. When I went to the Taj Mahal I milked it for everything I could.
Nice work on the garlic bread. Take care.
You realize once you start a staring contest you CANNOT lose. Otherwise no one in China will respect you.
ReplyDeleteAlso, what do you keep in your briefcase?
Duncan, you don't want to be disrespected in two countries. And...what you got in that bag?
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