Thunder Sweat and Hot Chick Soup

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Beijing is so overcast right now... every morning upon waking I am encountered with this blinding greyish-whiteness that is so thick I can barely make out the buildings opposite my apartment. The heat and mugginess has not been very motivating. One can usually forgive the heat when the outdoors provides brilliant sunshine and a blue sky... somehow you feel it is all worthwhile. This weather however... blah.

I have begun recording again. I was surprised early on in the week with a telephone call from the lady I did some work for previously. Now this particular woman is so unbalanced that every second you spend with her, you cannot gauge whether she will be pleased or angered by your performance. Truth be told, the last time I encountered her she was so rude that I supposed I would never work for her again... about a month ago I did receive these apologetic and fawning texts from her so I suppose I should have guessed she was buttering me up to agree to work with her again. Luckily for her, the money is too grand to refuse and a couple of hours with her is nearly the same as four days of work at school... so really - I will grin and bear anything. When we were discussing the job (recording lessons again) she asked how much I wished to be paid, and I responded by asking for the same amount I was previously given. Her one stipulation before agreeing to that amount was that I was to promise not to discuss payment with my voice partner, as she had managed to convince him to work for less. Being the terrible human that I am, I agreed. It really is scary that I am becoming so immune to such requests and practices. There really is no line here of acceptable/unacceptable... it's whatever you can get away with that day. While this is occasionally entertaining, it works against me so often that it exhausts me. On Wednesday I took the instructions that my students had kindly translated for me and found the place easily enough. Hu was overjoyed to see me and complimented my navigational skills endlessly. My partner arrived a little later and we settled into the tiny studio to begin our work. Now, because we are working on a recording with highly sensitive microphones there can be NO background noise... this of course includes air conditioners and fans. Yes - Beijing was roasting that day. So there we are, enclosed in this small sauna-like area with no possibility of cooling ourselves. We immediately begin to bead sweat, which then begins to run down our faces and and eventually drip onto the pages we're reading off. (Lovely!) Of course the mikes being so sensitive can pick up these disgusting "plip" "plops" which results in us being yammered to in Chinglish to, "please stop that racket". (How?) Zach and I had a good laugh about that predicament and then even more so when my stomach began to growl and I was requested to stop that as well. Upon leaving Hu quickly paid Zach and ushered him out and then "secretly" doled out my requested cash... making sure to extract my solemn pledge to not share this information with any other voice partners. She then presented me with these treats "The Fashion Taste" and booked another recording session for next week. (I guess she liked me that day). The texts I have received since have all been dotted with smiley faces, which is always a good sign, right? Regardless of her emotional drama, she is quite amusing and I am always glad for more opportunities to record. The money is glorious, and the work is quite interesting and fun... so I really can't complain. My students like to hear me describe my recording experiences and laugh at my "recording voice". It is a bit surreal to hear the recordings played back. It's a lark to listen to yourself sounding so refined and professional.

A group of students took me out for dinner today between classes to a very famous fast food chain that cooks traditionally. You wouldn't guess it from the outside as it is a stencil of Bruce Lee and the english name for the place is "Kungfu" but inside it's all traditional delicacies. I sat and saved a table while everyone ordered and then braved my way through a pork and rice dish (which was nice but full of bones) and then the real test was the crushed baby chick soup. My students giggled that it was "hot chick" soup as during our lesson I had explained 'hot chick' to them. Yeah... couldn't think too much about that one... just slurp away. I wasn't able to finish it, but I did give it a fair shot, which is the important thing. One of my students brought her young son (who also attends the school) with us and he was very eager to tell me how "nice" everything was to eat. "Teacher this", and "Teacher that"... pretty cute. I have won his respect by beating him twice at fooseball. He is the school champion and is used to winning every game. Somehow my mad flipping of men and frantic pushing and twirling granted me supreme power over him. Muahahahaha! I beat an 11 year old.

Time is passing by so quickly I can scarcely believe it! I really need to figure out if I can extend my visa or what my options are past September 15th. Where did August come from? Seriously. This really needs to be dealt with, so I shall try and motivate myself to get the required information by next week. Pray that I can find a cheap way of doing this! Visa agents charge so much flipping money.

I have an interview with a possible tutoring student through another company tomorrow... curious to see how that goes. Hopefully his English is at a high enough level that I can help him.

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