‘My China Daily’ Archives
My Birth month with no blogging…
I have a group of friends that coined the phrase - 'birth month'...cause you can never celebrate enough of "you"...well one friend in particular - who I miss terribly. I'd like to say that my lack of posting in May was due to whooping it up for May, my birth month -- and I did - there were 2 trips to Beijing and then one long one in late April [...]
Welcome to my office…
Please note that there are no less than 4 calendars in some form seen here on what is a half view of my desk. One of said calendars is NOT the brown notebook lying on the desk. They are as follows: One day planner in the foreground for both personal and school-related items. One flip calendar seen on the left given to all teachers by the [...]
80 days…relief if not resolution.
Sleepy Sundays are great. This tiger just wants to take a long nap...wake me up when I'm home Toto. That is all.
88 days to go!
8 is a lucky number in China...it is time for some of this luck, coupled with the fact that it is indeed my year - The Year of the Tiger roared in this Valentine's February 14th - to rub off on me! On that day I was sitting in a hammock on Koh Payam beach...which seems very, very far away now. I am reticent to say that [...]
TEDA = Vegas?
As I walked home from our hump night dinner at the Dublin Irish Pub a few weeks ago - yep, you heard that right. Irish Pub - they are everywhere in the world and they are really homogeneous. As Roland said, Ireland should really have franchised the concept - that would have kept the country in the black forever! Anyhow, that is not what this [...]
Ba-da-ba-ba-ba…..I’m lovin’ it!
Last Monday - our first successful take-out order! Not saying it did not take a few tries...but the motor scooter man made it to my front door in CHINA! It started with a phone call to the equivalent of a 1-800 number - "press 2 for English" - which gets you an operator in Shanghai who will then reroute your order. Well...this did not [...]
Today is one of those days
that I am definitely developing a intricate plan for my escape - out of China! The kids are handing in really shitty homework with no effort the week before their first term exams - so why should I be putting any effort into something that I never intend to make a career out of ? I am busting my butt marking and preparing 4 Level Exams by [...]
Day 38: Friday September 25, 2009…H1N1 threat-down
Home sick with the flu today...the school is all but closed down with an H1N1 threat (surgical masks, ear temperature readers, and unidentified liquids being sprayed in the classrooms were regular sights in the last 3 or 4 days) which means I did not have to get anyone to cover my classes...I don't have that flu ....but whatever I have is nasty [...]
Post #1, 5 Days in China, 23rd August 2009
Ladies!! and gents...a little update: First off Facebook is officially blocked in China so you won't be seeing me on there anytime soon...apparently there is software you can download to bypass the censors that helps you piggyback IP signals from different countries ....uh....but right now, not a big priority for me with everything else going [...]
End of September 2009: 33 days in China To summarize in a word: leftovers…of belongings, of fears, of patience, of food, of propriety.
Roland’s arrival was as anticipated it was surreal – I felt that I had already been in China for years, not 2 and a half weeks! Was I going to make him relive my first 2 weeks here by locking him out of the apartment and making him argue with the school for help? My fellow teachers prompted me to do so…but no I was not so cruel. It turns [...]