the power and the glory

I have it all now. I have had another lazy day and still managed to get many things done. Planned almost all my lessons, did the laundry, made banana bread, and went for a run. If I were any more productive it would hurt. Though I do have a bit left still but I have all day tomorrow to do that. If I get a chance I will invite the french student and the turkish one to a game of soccer. It could be a good time. I havent played in a really long time and I want to get out there and kick a ball around. With the weather being so nice it is hard to stay indoors and work, lucky for me this week I get to spend a rather good deal of the time explaining basic concepts like citation for papers and how to do a presentation. I know it sounds like the simplest of tasks but if one has never been taught how to do it I can understand why it would seem difficult. Now my only choice left for the day is one beer with dinner or three?

last night

I went to a bar with some friends and a really strange thing happened to me. I was standing by myself watching some people play pool. I wasnt interested in the conversations that were happening nor did I want to play pool just wanted to stand around by myself for a little while. A bit anti-social I know but hey. Anyways this guy comes over and asks if I want to join his friends to talk. I told him thanks but no I was happy standing around without anyone. He said ok and left. Then 2 minutes later a girl from his group comes over and asks the same thing. Again no thanks. OK so sorry. I stand around for a few more minutes and then the guy comes back with a beer to give me. And again asks me to come join them. Now it is probably pretty clear at this point that I dont want to and my friends are literally like two steps away so it isnt as if I am the only white person in the bar and am alone, I just happen to be standing outside the circle of those I came with. I try to refuse the beer but to no avail he insists and then leaves me alone. Thank god that is over I think. How wrong I was a minute later both he and she are there together and I have to explain again that I really dont want to join them finally they leave and I go back to talking with my friends. For the life of me I cant figure out what they wanted from me. Were they just kind folk who saw a person alone? but why insist 4 times? Did they just want an american at their table? Why not ask some other schmuck to join them? What was going on? at any rate it was fun to go out and today has been lazy and unproductive. Perhaps I will plan some lessons then take another nap.

party

I made it through another week at the old job. It seems that the days go by so fast now. It is already the 6th week of the semester and I only have 10 more weeks of work then I am done. I feel like some of the classes have been good and productive and the students have learned somethings from me but the class I teach about reading is really hard to judge if they are getting it. I know they are college students and they should be responsible for their own learning and it isnt the job of the teachers to care if they pass or not (my teachers never cared) but still it is nice to know that you are doing your job well. The house has come along nicely all unpacked and settled in. I was wanting to go back this weekend to my old town to see some friends and celebrate but with mid term exams and grading and planning it isnt going to happen which bums me out. Perhaps after the mid terms I can find a weekend to go visit. Other than that I am deciding if I want to go meet some friends out tonight for a drink and if I do where should we go?

T T T oh my

The teachers class that I have to teach here at the school is really quite interesting. Today I started with a topic on the death penalty and asking about why have it so on. The conversation was going well until....there is little room in china for individual thought and less room for a devils advocate. Not that I advocate the devil(I know him hes an ass) but I actually had on of the teachers tell me in a none too subtle way that "most of us here are party members" I informed her that I was aware of that and though they were party members I was still interested in what they thought. The party can tell you many things but can they tell you how to think, I inquired. That didnt go over too well. I may be reading too much into it but, right now I am a bit concerned. If suddenly this blog stops being posted or disappears send help fast. I am just kidding. Dont send help, I can take care of it. Anyways the rest of it was them trying desperately to set up a "the United States is not perfect so blah blah blah" and I find that the best way to stop that nonsense is to tell the that first. Somehow the people I meet have gotten it into their heads that we americans believe that our government is infallible. I tell them straight up some of the things I think were wrong and that those things need changed. It freaks them out because if I can admit the wrongness of my country why cant they? You can see their brains trying to process it. We ended up talking about some more safe topics. But the safe topics are boring. Who really cares about TV? Or the movies? thats shit I dont even do at cocktail parties with people I kind of like . Why have small talk for an hour every week when it is a chance to explore the vast chasm that divides our ability to see the world through each others eyes. Some people will never get it i think. It is a shame though, because I miss out on an opportunity to learn from them. Ah well if they want safe and easy I can do that too.The Ts are T aiwan T ibet And of course T ienanmen not allowed to talk about them.

getting old

I must be getting really old as I thought that I put up a post yesterday and then when I checked to see it today it is not here. So as I believe that google is infallible it must be me that made a mistake. The funny thing is II can convince myself that the post I wrote was about a few different things. Maybe I had intended to write and never got around to it or perhaps I thought of some clever things and then thought I had already shared them. At any rate it makes me feel even older. This in addition to the fact that I now wake up exactly 5 hours after I go to sleep. It doesnt matter if I go to sleep at 10 or at 1. 5 hours later I am awake. I usually try to go to sleep again but it is getting harder to do that as the mornings get brighter and brighter. We shall see where all this leads. By and by I found some lotion so now I just hope that it doesnt have whiteners in it.

while it lasted

Well spring slipped away here. It has gotten windy and cold and rainy. Not too much fun for me. The thing is the other day I went to a bar for some cheap beer and to chat with friends and it is about a 15 minute bike ride to the bar, drank a few paid my tab and as I left it began to rain. Now I must confess that I am not the best prepared for the weather when it happens. I typically wear the bare minimum of clothes. If I could be naked year round I would. So I was in shorts and a shirt even though it was cold when I had left for the bar and the rain was freezing. I made it home without incident just soaked to the bone , pulled off my wet clothes and took a hot shower. All is well that ends well. I am getting ready now for a new week of classes this is week 5 just 10 more then I am on a long summer holiday. I still havent figured out where to go. I will keep you posted.