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Published: August 17th 2007
my work
we work on the sixth floor.Hey folks,
Been a little while huh?
We’ve been sooooo busy at the school, we’ve had the summer school, which is just about to finish, yay!!
Yeh, just in case you don’t know, B n B are in China now, we’re both teaching English to the best of our ability, but it can be a little tricky at times. The city we’re living in is called Guiyang; it’s in the South West, small city, not as developed as some in China.
The reasons for coming here? The countryside surrounding the city is that kinda romantic, poetic, cloudy, hilly terrain that I’ve always pictured in my mind when I’ve thought about China. It’s like something from the Monkey TV series (which, by the way is based on a real Chinaman going to India and back to bring Buddhism.)
Also the food, Kung Po Chicken anyone? Or Gung Poa, or summit, there’s a slight language problem down this way...they don’t really speak standard Mandarin, so you think you know how to say a thing, but then quell surprise you get this look, the “ting bu do!???” look (my Pinyin is none existent at the moment, we’re working
on it slowly), then they say what they thought you said, and they say it in exactly the same way.....arggh!!
We would have ideally liked to go to Kunming in the Yunnan province, but there are no jobs there. Not with English first anyway, the school there was closed for some reason, I guess everyone was mucking about.
Ok intro over.
First impressions.
I was quite impressed, modern city, nice flat, cafes, cooler than India, impressive thunder storms, spicy numb food, taxis with AC, BMWs, AUDIs, Mercedes, flat screen wide screen superdooper deluxe teles, fast net, cheap DVDs (ropey), chilled out friendly people, crisps, Diet Pepsi...the list goes on.
However, as much as these things all help to make life easier, there’s a lack of the real China (will the Real China please stand up!), (What is the real China? discuss, in 500 words or less?), but we’ve been for tea (char) in an old tea house, we’ve been to a wedding, we’ve seen lots of hats, taichi, and some really pretty parks. We’ve been to the temple, watched a man doing ink paintings, bought ink painting, and chatted about what we should
do next.
So the traditional China is still about, but you really have to look. Urban China is rapidly becoming urban anywhere, it’s got Beer and Coffee, Bars and Clubs, KFC, Pizza huts, supermarkets and clothes shops, mobile phones and laptops.....all competing away for the rich kids buck. My god, there’s even a Wal-Mart, with the only non-sugary bread in town.
One pisser...no Kung Fu...awwwww! I was so looking forward to that to. Thai chi can be done, but this involves getting up at 5ish and hanging wid de old fowks. As I have been told by some of my students “taichi is for old people” dang.
So we joined the local gym.
We’re living in a sort of gated community thing, its easy going tho, no guys with guns. Supposed to be one of the best places to live in Guiyang. It’s got most things, Shops and stuff. You can get a massage or your hair done, all within a couple of minutes walk.
Unfortunately it’s a good 30 mins by bus to the school.
The school we’re working at is located right in the middle of the city, 6th floor,
no view. Modern enough, a few mice and roaches, but we just scream and leave these things to the cleaners. The loos pong a bit, and the AC never works, but all in all not to bad. We have just about enough teaching resources, although we need more copies of teachers’ books and it would help if the IT guy wasn’t such a nugget. 2 hrs in the morning before the viruses take over and the net goes down, just what you need when you’ve got 1hr to invent a lesson.
The new boss, same as the old boss!!!?
Sounds like anyhoo, typical profit driven business man, capitalism runs wild here, little rule of law, little thought towards growth. This could go a couple of ways....but this blog is not for office politics....if you want the dirt, email.
The other foreign teachers are a nice bunch, listed as follows:
Lindz- The only other female in the gang. She’s kinda S. Africa, Aussie combo, good laugh, dry, loves the kids.
Steve- Big strapping Manc lad. Likes a beer or two, apparently a very good cook, straight up guy. Has a Chinese girlfriend Lucy, there’s been unfounded
gossip......cabin fever, small group....sheeesh!
Aaron- Canadian bacon, The Bear, loves the ladies and meat, wants to be strong, and so spends his free time in the gym. I’d say he’s one of the best teachers to be honest, slightly abrasive personality, likes to start arguments in class.....but hey if it gets them talkin!!
David- Macroboss, D.O.S. A traditional Englishman (sorry Dave), with associated guilt, self deprecation, and L.S.E. Hehe. However he’s tryin to turn this place around after the previous administrations balls ups, so he’s got the job that no one wants. Likes Pop will Eat Itself, looks like a Mod.
Cosmos- The hip hoppyest hip hopper in Guiyang, not the only man of colour, but still rarer than Pandas. Married, has a house, and a garden and a Smart car......think he’s here for the long run. Cosmos and Aaron probably have the best Chinese.
The Native teachers.
Poor buggers, not as much pay as the foreign teachers and not as much free time (that’s that guilt thing). They’re really good teachers, and they tend to like to deal with the technical grammar, however sometimes spoken English gets tough for them.
Gogo- (all names
must be assumed to be fake) Cool hair. Has a family, not really encountered her professionally so can’t say much more.
Mary- Started at the same time as B n B. She shares a lot of our classes, so I haven’t seen her teach, but judging by my students’ development I’d say she knows her shit. Does a good turn on the dancefloor.
Julia- Helped us get Mobis. It sounds like she may be quite traditional Chinese, has arguments with Aaron. She can’t say “orange” which is funny. The story goes that she has a degree in Acupuncture, but went into nursing and saw people die, so now she teaches English. We love her for her Dictionaries!
Michelle- haven’t seen her in a while, hope she’s ok.
Ok support staff.
Kate- Really nice, a little bossy, but got me through the hospital palaver. I think we owe her some chocs or summit soon.
Kelly- Macroboss(2). Centre manager, sarcastic, quite funny as long as the jokes on someone else. We went to her after wedding party, she looked v pretty, in that weddingy way.
Grace- She’s a little scary, late at night she haunts
the halls.
Jessie- Nice girl does a good job in admin.
Garath- Ah poor Garath, the man of many talents. Officially he’s dogsbody. Really he’s the accountant, marketer, fixer, degree maker, hand holder and chopstick distributer. This man needs a holiday!!! Badly, man he even had stubble the other day.
The legend of the lump
"Once upon a time there was an itch. This itch lived in a nice place on Bob’s back. He liked his home, especially when he got to fly. So happy in his lot he grew big and strong, until he became a most virtuous boil. In his anger he raged, throbbing, aching. Then one day he grew too big, and his most benevolent host became aware of his strength and rage. So thinking first to dispel the aching raging redness, Bob performed a magical ceremony to bring the rage to the fore in order to better see the truth of the matter. The boil was angered by this presumption and raged on. Many cures and remedies where attempted for the evil contained within, but all failed in the end.
Eventually after some time a physician was consulted, a man of craft and guile, he said unto Bob, “we shall cut and reveal the truth of this evil”, and cut and cut, and patched with cloth and glue, until the itch become boil was no more.
However a gap was left in Bob, a missing place, a hole in his strength. Over the duration of a whole moon, through the purification of his body through wholesomeness and mystical potions, as well as the service of maidens pure and virtuous, the hole became whole once more, returning to an itch, to become flesh new and pink. Bob scrapes at the detritus of a month of pain, wishing to wash away the grime and stench of old skin, becoming anew, boiless” (so ends the first and last Book of the Abscess)
Yuck that’s disgusting, sorry bout the style, but thought I may as well make this a bit more interesting. Blooming hurt like hezzmana, but it’s almost gone now....then I can go swimming, yay!
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Devin MoHonglei
Devin C. Mawdsley
beautiful mates, beautiful. thanks for enjoying my observations thusfar. i'm just done being a teacher and will actually be putting me learning hat back on, continuing my studies here at Shida for the next half a year. rock on!