"And the Wheels of Life Go Round & Round..."

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My "Life Soundtrack" has now completely shifted to be set to children's songs... I find myself wandering about my pit of an apartment, muttering tunelessly, "It's time to clean-up, it's time to clean-up..." to myself until Simon pokes his bemused face out to mock me. I don't even notice anymore. Why, you may ask, have I regressed to such infantile music appreciation? Could it be that life has become that much bleaker that I have had to escape to happier, younger times, before life and responsibility rested on my shoulders? No, quite the contrary. As I had initially suspected, the Tiger had good things in store for Ms. Bristow. I am proud to report that this little lady is once again, well on her way to becoming an established personage in Beijing society and at the very least, a functioning human being.

I am employed! I wake up at an ungodly hour, transit to/from work, and earn a regular salary... it's incredible how the simple fact of an established routine is such a novelty in my life. I still giggle as I get ready to hop into bed around 10:30pm, as I can't remember the last time I was required to enforce a bedtime on myself. Taking the bus is something I've never done regularly here as most previous jobs were located near subway routes, and I must say that the bone-breaking sensation of being crammed like sardines into the bus and having your face crushed into someone's butt, crotch, or armpit (though occasionally amusing) isn't the most pleasant way to begin/end your day. However, I focus on the humor and don't let it detract from the joy I have over my job. I now work at IVY Bilingual, which is an international immersion preschool/kindergarten. Each class has a Chinese and English teacher, and I am the English teacher for the two-three year-olds. Emily (the Chinese teacher) and I have had great fun decorating our classroom and getting to know our children. We have a class of around 10 half day students, and only one full day student currently. We begin work at 8:00am and go until 5:00pm, but actual kid time is only for about five hours of the day as there is a long nap in the afternoon. (Which we teachers are welcome to take advantage of!) This job is really quite interesting as the school is Multiple Intelligence based, so the amount of observational paperwork required as well as the class and student notes home to parents really forces you to analyze the development of each child and your own curriculum. As our kids are the youngest of the school there are no real learning objectives besides development of fine and gross motor skills and learning to play well with others. Our class is a bright and cheerful place where the kids largely have "free-play" and sing songs which "Lǎoshī Jennifer" warbles along to. . Over a week has quickly passed by, and I really couldn't say enough good things about this school. Not only am I well paid, but I also get all school and National holidays... so finally I will be making enough money to travel aaaannnddd have the time to do it. The first week of April is the Tomb Sweeping Holiday which I will be spending in Hong Kong, as I have to do a visa run to stay in China another year. Hurray for a mini break!

Emily and Fabien have vacated Beijing and I must say that their presence is sorely missed. They were one of the first connections to this city I made, and the multitude of memories gathered over the year feel the absence of their compatriot. I've spent quite some time musing over who I will be able to unleash my "crazies" with... and I'm still at a loss. Alas! Here is the rub of living in an expat world. The ebb and flow of peoples doesn't get easier, though it be the most common and natural event here. It was nice to be able to host a "Bon Voyage" party in their honor and once again fill my house with an excellent variety of people. It was a fair mix of western and Chinese (most of whom had never been to a western party!) which was quite good fun.

It snowed again! I swear it feels as if spring will never come. We keep getting teased by a couple days of warmish weather and convincing ourselves that "the air has changed" and begin to consider chucking out the winter shoes and jackets... but then! All freezes over and down the snow dumps. I tell you, shoving two year-olds into and out of snowsuits quickly loses it's appeal. Plus the endlessly dripping noses from abrupt temperature changes are truly an unnecessary mess. Haha.

In honor of my newly elevated status, I am firing myself as the household ayi and meeting a prospective one this weekend. One of my friend's has an excellent ayi whose sister is seeking some extra households, and my friend's ayi has promised that her sister is an even better worker than she is... so I am eager to meet this wonder woman! I hope to have her come twice a week for laundry and cleaning so that the house will remain pleasant and under control, now that I no longer have the time or energy for it. However, I will have to find some scraps of time this week to get a key cut for her and get our washing machine fixed. It's been broken for over three weeks now, and washing clothes in the bathtub has quickly lost its appeal.

Well off for an evening voice-recording session!
Zàihuì.

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Photos

Cooking Class
Lǎoshī Jennifer taught the kids how to make fruit wraps. They had to cut the fruit, spread the nutella, and roll the wraps. It was a delicious/messy time!

Footpants...
Black pants + babies who think it's great to walk on you = "yucky" teacher.