I have been rubbish these past few weeks. I've been ill 2 times (about to be 3), I've been behind on marking these oral exams, haven't done any work on my Chinese or Japanese, haven't finished knitting my Christmas presents, haven't written any blog posts, haven't read the Economist... I'm a hot mess. And I need to get back on top of things.
Especially with my *drum roll please* holidays coming up! Yes, China has finally relented and told us when we're on holiday, and it's a looong time. But that doesn't mean I can just lag behind on stuff because I'm chillin' in London. Oh yeah, I'm coming back for a while. Thank. God. So I need to get on top of things.
First of all, I need to do some more applications. This is probably the most pressing thing for me at the moment, mainly because I currently have no future, but also because it encompasses a lot of other things I need to stay on top of. I need to keep up my languages so I can take some exams, but also because I have a nagging paranoia that I'm gonna get to one interview and someone's gonna break into Chinese and I need to not look back at them like a child that has no idea what's going on. I also need to stay on my reading, and therefore the law blog.
Secondly, I really need to book my flights. Getting the holiday is only half the job, and now I know that it's so much earlier than I thought it would be, flights are that much more expensive. My parents are making out like I'm going to have to pay for the flights, but to be honest they're the ones who want me, and if I tell the truth which 'I don't earn enough money for round trip flights to the UK' (my mum keeps talking abou Premium economy as well, like, what planet does she live on), I'm sure at least half the fare will sort itself out. So I need to get on that ASAP.
You may (or may not) be wondering about the double title. This is kind of a personal funny for me, because one element of the oral exam allows the students to pick an English name for themselves. Now, there are gender confusions all around, but the girls tend to be pretty good at it (except for a few stripper-esque names that I'm gonna have to let slide and hope they never leave the country).What I have discovered is, boys pick 1 of 3 names:
- Mike
- Bob
- and, of course, Jack
The boys aren't doing as well on the girls in the exam in general, but you can tell when someone comes out with an original name that they're probably gonna be slightly ahead of the game. Although, 'Macbeal' and 'Insert-a-series-of-indiscernible-syllables-here' were probably just as average as the other 800+ kid that did OK.
And that is the update. That, and Chinese medicine tastes a.w.f.u.l.
Wednesday 18 December 2013
Thursday 5 December 2013
It's December? What?!
OK, so it's been a while since I posted anything. Not just because it takes some mad skillz to maintain 2 blogs on 2 completely different topics (as well as maintain a job, apply for other jobs, keep up with the world and just generally be amazing), but because time has really been flying here. I intended to write this post on Monday. It's Thursday. See what I mean.
Of course, time flying is a good thing. No one wants their weeks to drag, and by the time I'm complaining about Monday, it's already Wednesday. Also, teaching the same lesson 16 times a week really starts to take its toll by Thursday morning. Friday's classes are also not my favourite bunch, and poor class 11 has had to deal with more than one seething burst of impatience. The weekends make a nice escape - I usually go into Chengdu city (or 'town' as I like to call it, cos I is from London) for my business Chinese lesson and to attend some sort of social event with the help of my life-line, Charlie. We do have some fun. I also get to eat Western food on these occasions, something that my Xindu counterparts don't seem to appreciate/ relish the opportunity to do as much as I do.
One such event was a Christmas party held by the European, American and British Chambers of Commerce. That was great - there was Turkey, imported wine, a cake in the shape of a train and (wait for it) a Dessert Buffet. Yes, buffet. There were also musical performances, dancing performances, an auction for a very tacky pair of earrings, and an absolutely sickening amount of networking going on. I stuck to the wine. *As I type this, I was going to add some very charming photos of myself and said train-cake, only to accidentally delete them in the process. I apologise for my stupidity, and I will try and find a suitably funny gif to makeup for this lack of photos*
Other updates....I'd like to say I'm progressing with my Sichuanese, but that would be a lie. Oh! The oral exams are coming up, yes that's right. It's going to be....hard. For me, I mean. The students only have to give a very basic speech of about 20 seconds and then answer a couple of questions. "So easy!" they exclaim. I have to sit through 900 such presentations. Joy. Of. Joys. Everyday I understand better and better how my teachers felt.
I've made my first law training contract application, and now have to prepare to take an unnecessarily challenging and pointless verbal reasoning exam, for which I actually have to study. Because if you don't study, you won't pass. Because the exam doesn't make sense. So in order to wade through the nonsense, you have to study. You see? No? Neither do I. Needless to say, it won't be my excellent essay question that lets my application down. That's it really, sorry for making you wait so long for pretty much nothing. Nothing really changes in the village, though maybe that's a good thing...
And finally, that funny gif as promised:
Of course, time flying is a good thing. No one wants their weeks to drag, and by the time I'm complaining about Monday, it's already Wednesday. Also, teaching the same lesson 16 times a week really starts to take its toll by Thursday morning. Friday's classes are also not my favourite bunch, and poor class 11 has had to deal with more than one seething burst of impatience. The weekends make a nice escape - I usually go into Chengdu city (or 'town' as I like to call it, cos I is from London) for my business Chinese lesson and to attend some sort of social event with the help of my life-line, Charlie. We do have some fun. I also get to eat Western food on these occasions, something that my Xindu counterparts don't seem to appreciate/ relish the opportunity to do as much as I do.
One such event was a Christmas party held by the European, American and British Chambers of Commerce. That was great - there was Turkey, imported wine, a cake in the shape of a train and (wait for it) a Dessert Buffet. Yes, buffet. There were also musical performances, dancing performances, an auction for a very tacky pair of earrings, and an absolutely sickening amount of networking going on. I stuck to the wine. *As I type this, I was going to add some very charming photos of myself and said train-cake, only to accidentally delete them in the process. I apologise for my stupidity, and I will try and find a suitably funny gif to makeup for this lack of photos*
Other updates....I'd like to say I'm progressing with my Sichuanese, but that would be a lie. Oh! The oral exams are coming up, yes that's right. It's going to be....hard. For me, I mean. The students only have to give a very basic speech of about 20 seconds and then answer a couple of questions. "So easy!" they exclaim. I have to sit through 900 such presentations. Joy. Of. Joys. Everyday I understand better and better how my teachers felt.
I've made my first law training contract application, and now have to prepare to take an unnecessarily challenging and pointless verbal reasoning exam, for which I actually have to study. Because if you don't study, you won't pass. Because the exam doesn't make sense. So in order to wade through the nonsense, you have to study. You see? No? Neither do I. Needless to say, it won't be my excellent essay question that lets my application down. That's it really, sorry for making you wait so long for pretty much nothing. Nothing really changes in the village, though maybe that's a good thing...
And finally, that funny gif as promised:
WHEN I ANNOUNCE THAT WE'RE GOING TO PLAY HANGMAN
WHEN I ASK 'WHO WANTS TO COME UP AND WRITE ON THE BOARD?'
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