Airplanes and Arseholes

Right, sorry for not posting for a bit. Been on holiday. More of that to come. But first I wanted to make a comment on today's events...

So, this weekend was my first at home and relaxing since I went away to visit friends in Liuyang. Saturday was great. We didn't have to go anywhere. I spent the day in my apartment just chilling. I watched some DVDs, wrote an email or two, and got down to learning some Chinese. Fantastic.

Sunday started off a little worse. We got invited out to dinner with a teacher and her husband. Not what we wanted, as it would inevitably end up with us getting drunk, and I wanted to call my family that evening (and be able to remember it afterwards). So I politely declined and offered that as an excuse...only for her to come back and say we'd go out for lunch instead.

What could I say to that? I could only say yes, knowing full well that it was even worse than going out for dinner as it would mess up the whole day and I'd get nothing done. As it was, the drinking was mild, and was balanced out by a nice foot massage afterwards. It was a good time. We were satisfied. Unfortunately the day was marred by some bad news for Anthony. He found out at lunch that one of his best friends back in Wisconsin had died in a car accident. The kid was only 19, and a really good friend to Anthony. It's harsh. He spoke to his friends back home but has no real chance of getting back home for the funeral. It's 2000 dollars for a return trip and he wouldn't even make it back in time for the services. And that's before all the hassles with visas. We can't leave the country and return easily because we never got given medicals to enable us to qualify as residents... Bit of a downer.

It was in this atmosphere today that we were told by Mr Lei the annoying English teacher that we were going out to a restaurant for lunch. Worst news in the world. He's the guy that forces rice wine on you, and today he was on form.

The occasion was to celebrate the performance of a student from his class in the recent exams. I've been to these deals before. I went to one last week with a student from one of my favourite classes. It was pleasant. She even told me her dream was to become an English teacher, so of course I'll now do everything in my power to help her achieve this. Thumbs up all round.

Today the student was again from one of my classes, but one of the dullest and least contributory that I have. I didn't even recognise him as being my student so was far from enthusiastic about events...

It started off slowly, and our hopes were raised, only to be cruelly dashed when a well lubricated Mr Lei appeared with a whole kettle of rice wine. He took away the beer we'd been drinking and told us we were to drink rice wine. 'No beer. Just rice wine. He is my student, so I am the host. You must drink rice wine with me.'

Ok, one cup. Whatever. But it kept on coming. Bear in mind that this is lunch. I had one class straight after lunch and Anthony had two. Two bad ones at that. You need your wits for this kind of thing. Besides that I find it completely unacceptable to be drunk and in charge of a class of 60-odd kids. Mr Lei couldn't care less. After two 'last' cups I plain refused. I had to cover my glass with my hand to stop him filling it up. I drank with anyone else but him. The guy was pissing me off so much I was ready to throw that wine right back in his face. I was as rude as I have ever been here, and to other teachers it was clear how I felt, but the man is so oblivious. Arsehole.

I felt even worse for Anthony. He's too nice to say no. He likes Mr Lei more than me and just can't refuse. And after his mate died, and with 2 classes straight after lunch, God I felt bad. I was so angry I could barely keep my chopsticks steady. They just don't realise how unpleasant this is for us. Anthony shouldn't even have been there in the first place!! This kid was my student, not Anthony's, so why should he be there too? Mr Lei answered that one for us. He actually said, plain as, 'For you know, you must not be separated'. We were gobsmacked. We know they treat us like we were one person, but here he even said it! Jesus!

We ate as fast as we could and escaped relatively unscathed, but bloody hell. Just when things seem to settle, there's always something to rock the boat.

Thank God for good students. I had my 'nice' Junior 2 class today, which has the girls we always eat dinner with in it. Their topic was on following instructions and the lesson I came up with was pure enjoyment. First we played Simon Says, with plenty of silly actions like 'pretend to be a cow'. This was really good fun, and so useful as they all had to take part, listen carefully and process the language quickly to respond in time. After a few rounds I handed it to the students and had them come to the front and read out instructions, while I took their empty place at the desk. They all found this hilarious, especially when I got it wrong... Faked, of course... ;)

Then I gave them all a piece of paper, taught them a few useful words, and instructed them on how to make a paper airplane. I didn't tell them what they were making until they were finished, when I held up the plane, said 'Finally, hold up your paper airplane and let it fly', and watched it glide across the classroom accompanied by all the kids gasping 'whoa!'. Cue a frenzy of airplane throwing which lasted a good five minutes!! God knows what other teachers passing by must have thought, but it worked so well. It made my day 100% better and I'm thankful for that.