Temper Tantrums and Other Things

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I was dripping with sweat in the subway today. It's a terrible feeling to be squished in that cramped space, armed with bulky backpack and computer, hair plastered to your forehead, and trickles of sweat tickling you as they crawl down your spine. Blaaaahhhhhh. Showering is rendered useless as you feel disgusting within three minutes of stepping outside. There are certain streets in particular that seem to just suck in the heat to blast you with as you trudge through. I miss swimming. The building complex I'm in has a giant "sprinkler-style" fountain in the courtyard... I am seriously considering running through it on my way back, but perhaps that would be a poor example to the many children in the area. The fact that I've never seen a pack of kids race through makes me wonder if it is REALLY against the rules to play there. Hmmmm. Temptation just might get the better of me.

I've been sick this week with cold and fever style symptoms. My nose is still pretty congested and I have a pretty deep voice at the moment... the sound of which really amuses my students. I had to apologize to them and beg their patience if they didn't understand me this week, as the husky "sexy" sound was more difficult for them to understand. They were good sports and just would giggle over my "seexxxxyyyynesss". (They are very immature). I feel as if I am on the mend however, and very glad to be feeling better. Emily and I caught a bug at the same time and both missed a few days of work. I should be fine though, so don't worry Mama!

Temper tantrums seem to be the only way to get through to Chinese bosses. I am not proud, but I royally lost it on my boss this week regarding pay day. For starters, they were three days late paying us (which apparently is quite common) and then when we did finally get paid they tried undercutting me a gross amount. When you sign a contract here your employer takes about 1000rmb as a deposit from your first paycheque, so I had expected my paycheque to be less than usual, but they were about 780rmb short of that. So I begin calmly explaining that I was very concerned over the accounting departments abilities to perform and asked the translator to go to the boss to get the payment error rectified. After many back and forths the boss said no. This is where I begin to scream and bang on things and generally lose it to the point where I scared myself. The response I next get is that my boss will split the "extra 780rmb" with me. I certainly wasn't about to share the money that was already owed to me, so my screaming hit an even higher pitch and my slammings about got to a wildly embarrassing level. Somehow this disgusting display convinced my boss finally to be fair and pay me what was due. I was exhausted and overwhelmed. If this kind of crap behavior keeps up I will certainly not sign on again. That was a real eye-opener as far as business goes and the cultural differences between Canada and China. I have really never felt so powerless.
... but I'm paid, thus all is well.

Happy news is that we have begun to meet friends! Real local friends!!! Hurrah! For the longest time it truly seemed as if we had the worst luck ever, and were simply homing beacons for tourists to befriend. Last week the winds changed and we finally encountered some friendly locals. We were so overjoyed to meet people that would not be leaving in the next few days that we spontaneously bowed to and grasped this unfortunate fellow after we discovered he was an expat. Lucky for us he did not run away horrified, so we made a friend! Later we were at La Bamba for the free wireless and reasonably priced coffee and Rob's football team entered and sat down with us. We met them and some of their girlfriends and exchanged numbers and promises to hang out. These two french brothers have vowed to take us out and teach us salsa! I am really quite excited about that. What a random set of skills I shall accumulate here!

Emily and I recently discovered that we both were introduced to the Proclaimers as children and, giddy with that discovery broke out into spontaneous and very poor renditions of the songs and lyrics we could remember. We sang these songs at the top of our lungs and skipped madly about - generally scaring the populace and horrifying our neighbors. Another ridiculous adventure was when we returning home, after a dinner out and came upon a group of Chinese listening to one man make noises through a blade of grass. Emily plucked a blade for herself, and amazed and delighted the group with her skills. This amused her so greatly that she tried to scare pedestrians during the rest of our walk home, but honking away on her grass to startle or provoke humorous reactions. (I nearly fainted for laughing!)
... perhaps there are VERY good reasons why it took so long for us to make friends! (It may be harder keeping them).

Sink and bathtub have been giving us troubles, and we have had a series of repairmen come through. I must say I have not been impressed with the quality of work. They have tried to ask for money, left without accomplishing anything, showed without tools, and nearly always leave with massive leaks remaining in the pipes. It's been aggravating, but a little funny at the same time. Our poor property manager must hate us by now with our endless issues.

Go swimming and think of me... here. Sweltering.

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