China Christmas

My first Christmas away from home was very interesting.  Not like anything that’s I’ve experienced before.  Thursday was a shortened day at school.  In the afternoon the students put on a Christmas concert.  The teachers opened the concert singing ‘Must be Santa.’  We all danced around wearing Santa hats.  It was pretty funny.  It was a really neat experience to see a lot of my students doing some pretty amazing things.  One of them played this traditional Chinese instrument and she was amazing.  Again, just nice to see the students out of the classroom to see their other interests.  

That night we had to finish our Christmas shopping.  Well, I had to buy for Robyn and she had to buy for me.  So we split off into partners, I shopped around with Mike and Robyn shopped around with Tara.  We set a limit of 200 quai on each other, which in China is quite a bit of money.  I was able to buy her a lot of stuff including some hilarious Chinese ear muffs with bunnies on them, and a huge foot warmer for under her desk.  After that Tara showed us to this Thai restaurant that overlooked the city circle.  Following dinner we went back to our apartment and got Christmasy.  Mike came over, we put on some Christmas music and proceeded to wrap our gifts.  It was a fun night.

The next day we were pretty lazy getting ready.  Did some skyping in the morning and then we were off to Hankou in the afternoon.  It was FREEZING though.  Snow was blowing sideways and it just chilled you to the core.  There were six of us girls planning on going.  In the end it only ended up being 3 of us.  The other girls couldn’t find a cab to take them all the way to Hankou and after 45min they gave up, as they were icicles.  We wanted to take this 1 quai ferry to Hankou, which probably ended up taking us longer to wait for the ferry, but it was an experience.  We missed a ferry by a couple minutes so we were right up front waiting for the next one.  It was freezing cold, that’s besides the point, but once the gate opened to let us in everyone started screaming and pushing.  So Robyn and Laura started screaming as well as I ran ahead to get seats, which is what everyone wanted to do.  They ferry wasn’t more than five minutes, so it was funny that people were so concerned about getting seats.  Once we got to where we wanted to go we went to a nice Thai restaurant, haha, yes, again, different one though.  The owners sister was there helping and she spoke English, so she kind of watched over us the whole time, it was pretty cute.  Once dinner was over, we headed back to Lindsay’s house where everyone was.  It was very festive, she had a nice big tree and lights everywhere.  We had some Christmas drinks, and had a big countdown at midnight (I know, it wasn’t new years….but whatever) and then we sang Christmas carols together.  It was really fun.  I know it wasn’t the traditional Christmas that I am used to, but it was so nice to be surrounded by friends on Christmas eve. 

                The next morning we woke up and did some skyping.  Then the boys came over and we opened presents that we got for each other.  Once that was all done and the tornado had come through the living room I got started on breakfast.  We had a nice, civilized Christmas breakfast with the four of us around the table.  I couldn’t have asked for more.  Had a great morning with my ‘China Family.’  By the time we were all done trying to talk to everyone back home we had to start cooking for Gail’s house.  She was having all the staff over for a big Christmas dinner and a present exchange.  Dinner was amazing.  It was potluck and everyone did really well.  After dinner we continued with some drinks and the yanky swap Christmas exchange began.  There were so many of us fitting into her living room, which I think made it even more fun.  Everyone was pretty into it and there were some great steals going on around the room.  We left pretty early that night and came home to skype again.  Haha, it was just one of those weekend when you really felt you needed to talk to people back home.  It’s great that we are able to do that instead of having insane phone bills trying to talk to people back home.  It was really cute though.  I still got to be part of our family tradition at home reading Twas the Night before Christmas.  I read it over skype to my family all sitting on the couch.  It was pretty cute. 

                Sunday was a very lazy day for us, and again talked to people at home, as it was Christmas for them.  Once we were done we made a nice dinner, put on pretty woman and sat in front of the TV.  A well deserved long weekend.  It was nice to have a good group of people around to enjoy the holidays.  Definitely one that I will always remember, that’s forsure. 

                This weekend coming up will be another eventful one I am sure.  We are heading to Hong Kong Thursday night.  There is a huge group of us going there to celebrate new years.  It should be pretty fun.  Mike got us tickets to this fancy night club there, so this way we know where we are going and we won’t have to stand in line anywhere. 

Anyways, I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas back home!

-Taryn

Snow,Ugly Christmas Sweaters and Baking

The last week flew by again after the whole power fiasco.  It ended up being an ok week.  Wednesday we experienced our first Wuhan snow which was pretty exciting for all of us.  The students asked me if it felt more like home for me, haha.  I said yes, a little.  It got so cold here though all of a sudden.  We were in 18 degree weather one week and then -5 the next.  Not quite like home in that sense.  I told the students that back home it gets gradually colder, instead of all of a sudden being colder. 

                We had a very good Christmasy weekend.  On Friday night the government put on a show for all of the foreign teachers that work in Wuhan.  We had a bus pick us up from the school and take us to the venue.  Traffic is so awful here though that it took over an hour and a half to get there.  It was ridiculous.  The concert was worth it though.  They had some pianists, violin, dancers, Peking opera, Acrobatics and these crazy hat throwing people.  We were all really impressed by the show.  It was also nice to kind of dress up and have a civilized evening out.  After that I was pooped as I didn’t really have time to eat dinner before the show and we had quite a busy week. 

             

   The next day I was up and ready to do some marking.  I was a little behind due to the power outage on Monday, as I had already sort of pre-designated this evening in my  mind for marking.  I did my best until the sun set, and marking by candle light and flashlight can only be funny for so long.  Anyways I was able to get quite a bit done, go on a run, cook some dinner and then head off to Laura and Emily’s for our own ugly Christmas sweater party.  It was a really fun night,  Everyone enjoyed the Bailey’s that we made and everyone was able to find some sweet sweaters.  Robyn and I went all out, of course, how could I not?!  So we had matching sweaters which we added some Christmas bling to, funny glasses, and I made some bows to put in our hair.  It was a good night and we ended up just staying there the whole night until 3am.  Not really what we expected, but it was a nice change from going out to the bar. 

                The next day the girls had to pick up their new year’s dresses from tailor street.  They are amazing.  I think after seeing those I’ll get some fitted dresses done before I leave.  Spending New Years in Hong Kong is going to be an amazing experience and I can’t wait.  I can’t believe it’s only next weekend.  After that it was off to Gail’s for some Christmas baking J  I was so excited for this.  I was able to make my favourite cinnamon cookies.  We did a little swap as well so we were able to get all the goodies that everyone had made.  There were 7 of us girls there, so it was a fun little afternoon of baking.  I was so exhausted though that I came home and just crashed.  A very busy weekend, just as this weekend will be.  Thank goodness we worked that Saturday earlier in the year so that we were able to have this Friday off.  Gail is having the staff over at her house for Christmas (it’s massive) so it will be nice to be around everyone for the holidays.  I believe on Christmas eve a bunch of us are going to head into Hankou and hop on a ferry and have a little adventure.  A very different Christmas for sure, but I know that it will be one that I always remember, no doubt about that. 

Merry Chirstmas!

-Taryn

Wine, Bailey's and No Power

                This was yet another great Wuhan weekend.  Friday came very quickly again and we had a fancy event to attend, hehe.  The wine tasting was awesome.  Mitch is so great about putting on events like this.  He reminds me of Brad and the Silly Hat Party’s.  He takes it all very seriously and makes sure that everyone is having a good time.  He was very organized with worksheets for us beginners who didn’t really know what was going on.  He had a very descriptive list of the wines and then you had to guess which was which and then rate them from your least to most favourite.  There was even a good spread of cheese and chocolate as well.  Good times.  After that we went to Claires for a bit, and then everyone wanted to go out, but a few of us tried to sneak out just to hang out…well when we got there Laura discovered that she left her purse at Claire’s with her keys in them…haha, yes, so we had to go meet up with everyone so that laura could get into her house at the end of the night.

                The next day was a very busy day on the bus.  Instead of making our two usual stops we took three stops: Computer city, Tailor Street and Metro.  I got a new mouse at computer street…a cute pink one J and then the mall by there has the only grainy bread that I’ve found in china that doesn’t have a sweet taste, so I stocked up on that as well.  After that we went to Tailor Street.  The girls we’re going to Hong Kong with needed dresses for new years, so they got those all measured and ready to go.  I’m getting my Aritzia blazer copied in a light grey colour with a super cool striped lining, so I’m pretty pumped about that.  After that it was off to Metro to do a quick grocery shop. 

           

     Later that night we met up with Laura and Tara in Vanke.  Ann and Matt were having a housewarming, since they just moved into Vanke and had a pizza making event to celebrate their new oven as well.  I was extremely jealous!  I want to bake so bad right now!  It’s killing me!  But it was fun, I got to make my own pizza.  After that we went to Tara’s to prep for next weekend.  We made up some home made Baileys for an Ugly Christmas Party they are hosting.  Once I saw how she made it…and we only had one blender…and a huge mess was being made, I took over.  Haha, as per usual when it comes to anything with cooking involved.  They didn’t seem to mind, as there was only one blender.  It was a fun night.  At one point Laura just looked at my face while I was putting one of the batches together and goes, “you really love this, don’t you?”  and I simply replied, “yes, just ask Robyn.”  Haha, but really, it was a lot of fun for me, and the others enjoyed being the testers of each batch that I made up.  Good Girls night.

                Sunday was a really lazy day.  I actually slept in.  I went to go on my run but it was pouring rain out, so I kept putting it off.  Eventually I went out around 4:30, by the time I came in just after 5:30 it was dark out.  It was really rainy too.  I think that’s the first rain we’ve had in at least 3 weeks or so.  Apparently the weather is supposed to drastically change this week.  Last week it was up to 18, next week it’s supposed to get down to -5, BRRR!!!  That is going to make for some unpleasant runs in the morning, I’ll tell ya. 

                So, this is a two day blog since I could not post my one from yesterday due to lack of internet connection.  So today I wake up for school when my alarm goes off, I go to turn on my nightlight…doesn’t work, try again, still doesn’t work.  Oh fun, the power is out!  Thank goodness I bought a flashlight the other day and remembered where I put it (that’s the key) and checked it out.  I look across at the school and all of the power is out at the school and the cafeteria as well.  So, we call the principal and he says he’ll be down in a bit.  Well everything looks like normal except for the fact that there are no lights on.  The funnier thing was the cafeteria.  They needed to cook breakfast for the students so from our apartment you could see the candle light flickering and the flashlights. 

                We walk up to the school, greeted by Darrell, we chat for a bit, and then I ask him what’s up, and he simply replies, “Welcome to China” with a big smile on his face.  Haha, so the headmaster didn’t cancel school and we are to spend the day teaching in the dark with no heat.  Oh what fun it is to work in the dark.  By the end of the day my students were so sleepy…so was I, so I couldn’t blame them.  Luckily we had the day planned out and everything photocopied so it didn’t really ruin the teaching day, besides the fact that the students couldn’t see. 

                All of the people living in Vanke had power so they offered hot showers to us, so we took them up on their offer.  So Robyn and I took a lil’ walk over there….since we didn’t really have anything to do at home other than sit in the dark :S.  Laura and Emily we great hosts and let us get all clean.  The funny thing though is once we were all showered Emily gets a text from someone on campus saying the power was back on….always happens that way.  Oh well, we had a good little night and got off campus.  Anyways just another days to remind myself that I am not in Canada anymore!

Later for now J

-Taryn

Deck the Halls

On Sunday we finally decorated our house.  It didn’t take long, but it was pretty fun.  We bought some fake snow to spray on the window along with some window stickers.  I bought a little tree at the store and strung some lights up on it.  Not anything like at home, but it does the trick for sure.  I was also able to find a snowman wreath, which resembles something that I would have at my house, along with a few snowmen to make my own makeshift snowman village.  In Beijing Robyn and I also bought little stockings to hang up.  I bought one with a snowman on it and she has one with a little Santa on it.  When I get home from school tonight I will post some pictures up to show a little glimpse of our Winter wonderland in our apartment.  Speaking of which, it’s still not very winter wonderlandy over here in Wuhan.  It gets very cold in the morning and in the evening, but in the day the temperature is still up around 15-18.  Not quite the winter that everyone is having back at home, I know.  I miss the snow though.  Even though it is a pain in the but getting around it’s still always pretty to look at for a few days before you get sick of it. 

                A group of us have booked our flights to Hong Kong for New Years Eve.  We have a three day weekend so we are taking advantage of it while we can.  I really want to check out Hong Kong Disney, but we’ll have to see where it is in reference to where we are staying.  If not I will have to make a special trip just to go back there J.  For Christmas one of the staff here have a house and she is going to have us all over for dinner.  She has two ovens so I believe that she is going to cook a turkey for everyone and then we are in charge of bringing the rest.  It won’t be like the Christmas I am used to, but at least we’ll all be together with our little Wuhan family.  I think that’s the thing that I am going to miss the most.  Making all of the Appy’s for Christmas Eve dinner all day, then lounging out by the tree and watching all of the moving parts, hehe.  Not being at Popos the next day is going to be different as well, and lastly my traditional Boxing Day shopping with mom will all have to wait till next year, or we could do a Christmas in July or something like that, haha. 

           

     Our long break is coming up soon and all of the staff are getting excited about it and planning where they’re going.  We go on break January 15^th which is about a month away.  A month flies by here.  Especially when we are busy.  That last week before the break will be filled with Finals and marking those finals.  So our break will be well deserved.  I think I have my holiday figured out for the most part.  I am spending the first week in Hawaii with Robyn and meeting up with Riley.  After that week I’ll be headed back over to Asia to Bangkok to meet up with Caitlin and we’ll travel around that area until I have to be back in Wuhan to finish up the year.  I’m already counting down the days till the trip (not that I hate my job, but I’m just super excited to see other people than Maple Leafers).  It will be nice to talk to people who are not teachers.  It seems that a lot of the conversations that we have always come back to teaching, which is great, but it will be nice to be around different people. 

                Tonight Mitch and Annali are hosting a wine tasting, so that should be fun.  The bus is going to Computer city, Taylor Street and metro on Saturday, so I think Robyn and I will be going on the bus.  Robyn wants to get a dress made to wear for new years.  Last night we were looking up different things that she could wear.  I think that’s one of my favourite things about living here.  If you want something, you can just get it made for pretty cheap.  I also love the fact that you can make something that you know no one else will have, like my pink peacoat! 

That’s all for now, I'll give an update after the weekend as per usual. 

Happy Friday!

-Taryn

December?!

Well first off can I say that I am still in shock that it’s already December?!  On Wednesday we were all kind of in shock that the year is almost over.  The time has gone so fast.  We keep busy and I think that’s why the time goes by so fast.  This last week as school was really good.  We’ve cut down on the marking which has made everyone in the English office slightly more sane.  There was a while there where we were all staying at the school really late just to get some of our marking done.  It was getting a little ridiculous. 

                This week in Mandarin class we learned a lot.  We’re learning a lot in a short amount of time so we’re doing our best to keep up with what we are learning.  It was pretty neat on Tuesday though as we were able to write a paragraph about ourselves and read it to the class.  I was pretty proud of it J  I even read it to my classes.  They were pretty impressed.  My drama students were the most impressed though, as I’m still getting to know them more than my other students.  Speaking of my drama class.  This week we’ve been continuing our unit on Emotions, so their project at the end is to create a commercial on their own.  So on Thursday I did a lesson on commercials and showed them all of the different types of commercials.  I started off with infomercials and showed them ‘Oxyclean.’  Well, they were absolutely amazed by it.  They also loved how the price kept slashing at the end of the commercial.  Next, I showed them the ‘Slap Chop’….and they were even more amazed, lol.  It was too funny to watch their faces while they watched these things.  It was really the highlight of my week at school.  It’s fun to see someone so amazed by something you saw all the time at home.  And Mom, I showed hem the Excel gum commercial with the little doughnut and they thought it was so cute!  I showed them the Knorr salt one, and they thought the same thing.  Haha. 

                This weekend was pretty jam packed.  Friday the principal and his wife had a little Christmas party at their house for all the staff.  We all brought an appy and I was able to make a semi-7 layer dip.  I was pretty impressed.  It was also Darrell’s birthday the day before so we bought a cake for him as well and had a little celebration for him.  It had been awhile since we were all together as a staff, so it was a fun night.  Of course our night ended up as Vox as it always does, but most of us were there so we got some pretty good dancing in.

                The next day Robyn and I were pretty lazy.  Spend they day Skypin’ and lounging.  In the evening we headed to Lu Xiang to grab some dinner and a Movie!  Yes, English movie J  we went to go see the new Harry Potter movie!  I was so excited.  It was really neat.  When you buy your ticked you actually pick your seat as well.  So instead of people coming to the theatre early to save seats, you come to the theatre earlier to buy tickets and reserve your seat, which was nice, because we bought out ticket before dinner and didn’t have to really worry about getting to the theatre early to get good seats.  It was pretty exciting for us to do something that we would do on a regular basis at home.  So from now on I think we’re just going to go to the English movies that are out.  It was way cheaper than back home too.  For the two of us it was 70 kwai, which is about $5 each.  And the seats were way nicer.  All and all, good experience. 

                The next few weekends are booked up.  Which will make December fly by, and soon enough we’ll be on our long vacation!  Robyn and I bought some Christmas decorations and a little tree, so we’re going to decorate today J  I’ll post some pictures of it when we’re all done.  We told the boys that we would have Christmas morning at our place so we’re all going to buy gifts for each other, so it should be a fun little morning.  That is all for now!  I’ll try and write mid-week.  I’ve been really bad for that the past couple week :S

Miss everyone,

-Taryn

Oh China

                Looks like I was unable to do a mid week blog.  Once we get into the groove of the week it goes by so fast.  We all say that once Tuesday is over it’s suddenly Friday.  This week I did the planning for grade 10 and it was absolutely awesome.  We’re doing poetry, so I decided to make it a very musical week.  I picked fun terms like lyric, allusion, rhythm to focus on.  They had a lot of fun with the week.  And their assignment for the week was to take their favourite song and change the rhythm of it and perform it to the class.  Some of them were amazing.  They were kind of afraid to perform in front of the class, but I tried to compare it to KTV which they do all the time.  This week the grade 11’s were doing a dialogue in relation to Romeo and Juliet.  They were supposed to approach their parents about their love life.  It really gave us a perspective on what their parents think of them having relationships at their age.  It’s also probably the most effort that any of my students have put into an assignment, so it was good to see them really focused and doing well in class. 

                Fun China moment:  The bamboo structure outside of the school.  I always tell people that during the week I often forget that I live in China since I work at a school with all foreign teachers.  Sometimes I am reminded that I am not in Canada anymore :S  There is a bamboo scaffolding structure outside of the school.  It is literally bamboo sticks tied together with plastic pieces.  It looks so sketchy.  To top it off the workers are just up there on the 4^th floor without any sort of safety gear.  We all thought it was hilarious and would never see something like that back home. 

                The other thing that is kind of nice about living in Wuhan is the lack of cold weather.  I’ve heard all of the complaining about it being so cold back home.  Apparently next week it’s supposed to be around 19 every day.  Haha.  And the kids, including myself are dressed for winter.  I guess I’ve become accustomed to the climate here just a little.  Today I did notice it being a little bit warmer though as I did a nice run outside in shorts and a t-shirt…haha, I know you hate me because at home there is snow and negative temperatures at the moment.  It really don’t seem as if winter is on its way at all. 

                This weekend was pretty tame.   Since so many of us went away last weekend we were all pretty pooped by the time Friday came.  The school was also hosting a university fair and the teachers were ‘encouraged’ to go check it out.  So, we did that, and then spent the night in watching movies.  Saturday we took the bus to tailor street to pick up my pink pea coat!  It’s so cute!  I love it.  It’s exactly how I wanted it.  So that was the exciting part of my day.  We went to metro, did some grocery shopping, did some cleaning around the apartment and then it was off to Aloha for an American thanksgiving J  It was so good.  We had turkey, stuffing, yams, veggies and pumpkin pie…mmmm.  So mom, don’t worry, I did get some pumpkin pie!  Haha.  I told some of the staff how I had pumpkin pie for my birthday cake one year because I love it so much.  It was a very comforting meal to say the least.  There was a big group of us as well, so that was nice to have a semi-‘family’ meal for thanksgiving. 

                Today is going to be another loungy day.  Already did my run.  I have to get all my binders together since the inspection team is going to be at the school for the next few days.  Robyn and I are also going to try and see the new Harry Potter at some point this week….yay!  I’m excited.  Haha.  They play it in English here. 

                Alright, that is all for now. 

Miss everyone lots!

-Taryn

               

Beijing :)

So the perks to living in China are pretty awesome.  We can do things like decide on Monday that we are going to go to Beijing for the weekend.  There were 10 of us girls that went.  It was a great group of people, drama free.   And thank goodness that I have a wonderful best friend that was able to hook us up with a sweet hotel room at the Fairmont Beijing!  Thank you fwiend!  It was probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in.  It was so nice to sleep in a nice bed and super awesome sheets. 

                The trip didn’t start off on the best foot though.  We left the school super early to take a cab to the airport since we’re not paranoid of missing transportation.  So we took a black taxi from the school with two other students from the school.  They were on their way home, so they were just going to get dropped off as we went to the airport.  It was good to have them because they were able to barter with the driver and translate for us.  So we drive for about half an hour and then the car starts to slow down.  Then he has an argument with the student, and then the car stops and we ask her what just happened, she says that he went the wrong way and we have to get out.  He was also going to wrong way to drive her home as well.  So we get out, get a new cab, and then she helped us tell the taxi driver where we were going.  So, we drive on the highway for awhile, and then come to a complete stop.   All the cars turned off their engines and we were sitting still for an hour.  The whole time we’re starting to stress out because we need to catch this flight.  We were also worried that we would get left behind because the other girls were coming from Vanke.  They ended up calling us and they were stuck in the same traffic.  It also turned out that they were only two cars beside us because 5min later we saw them walk by to go pee on the side of the highway, haha.  Anyways, once we got to the airport it was a mad dash to the emergency check in and rush to our gate.  Our flight was boarding when we got to the gate, so we just made it on time. 

                The next day we started off with a delicious Western style breakfast with eggs, bacon and French toast….mmm!   Hehe, it’s funny how you miss simple things like that. Once we were all fueled and ready to go it was off to the market to barter and shop the day away.  It was a fun experience but you really have to be in the mood to barter with these people.  Some of them can get super aggressive if you try and walk away from them.  I had some of them call me crazy girl, or hit me if I tried to go too low on price.  It was pretty funny.  It really gets exhausting by the end of the day though.  We bought lots of stuff, and I was able to get presents to send home for Christmas J  Fun fun!   To relax after a long day of shopping we went to the pool at the hotel and hot tub.  I really  miss being at the pool sometimes.  The little fish inside of me just wants to get out and swim!  Hehe.  I really wish that we had a pool here.  That night we went out for some wings and beer because we aren’t really able to get that type of food around here.  We wandered around in some pubs.  It was so weird to see so many foreigners though.  And this time we found ourselves staring at anyone that spoke English since we are not used to seeing that here.  We were not in Wuhan anymore :S

                The next day was a little bit of a later start as we needed to pack up all of our loot.  We headed to the silk market which was just across the street from the Fairmont, so we were able to walk there.  We bought some more stuff, checked out, and then headed to the forbidden city.  It was a super cool experience.  I had another one of my ‘I’m in china moments’ as we were walking through.  I just get so amazed that I can do things like head off to Beijing for the weekend.  The joys of living in china is just crazy sometimes.  It was sooooooo cold walking around though.  We were able to get some pretty sweet shots and had a great time walking around.  As we left we got some pictures of Tianamen square, got in a taxi and left.  What a packed weekend!

Office Pranks

So the weekend was pretty short considering we had to mark provincial exams all day.  We did  pretty good though.  We marked over 500 paragraphs and essays in 4 hours between 6 pairs (we had to mark in pairs).  That night we went over to Lindsays house for a celebration and it was super fun.  Mandy had brought plastic beer cups from home so we were able to play REAL been pong this time.  Robyn and I were pretty stellar as a pair.  People didn’t expect much from us, but it was always down to 1 cup on either side whenever we played.   The next day was a little rough and we spent it in our matching pajamas watching TV and having naps on the couch, haha, it was our laziest Sunday here yet.

                This week started out pretty funny, and today escalated to another level!  It all started with Mitch putting fake poop in Robyn’s desk last week.  We decided he had now declared a little bit of a prank war.  So, on Monday I took a roll of plastic wrap and a little stuffed pig and wrapped up his office chair with the pig hidden in all the mess.  We thought that was a harmless cute prank.  Not going to do anything to really disrupt the work environment, we made some ground rules at the party on Saturday.  Anyways, so when I come into the office for exercise break this morning Robyn is standing 5ft away from her desk and everyone is looking as me as I enter the room.  She tells me to look at my desk, there is a little note on it that says, “Hey, I heard you were feeling crabby this morning, so I left a treat for you in your bottom drawer.”  Bah!  So I carefully open the drawer with my foot and sure enough there is a LIVE crab in my desk drawer!  I screamed and jumped back.  The people who were in the office when all this happened told me that he actually lost on in my desk because it climbed over the back of the drawer, so there was a crab stuck in my desk!  Mitch came over and clawed it out, after I freaked out at him for putting living things in my desk.  Oh boy, look what we’ve started :S.  So, we made another ground rule that all living or dead things are not allowed!  Haha.  Too funny. 

                Anyways, we have had a really relaxed week of marking in all my classes so I’ve really been into planning for my students.  I made the most awesome powerpoint, and keep playing around with it everyday.  I know that sounds so lame and dorky, but I’m so proud of it.  Haha, I just hope the kids enjoy it next week. 

                There are also a bunch of us headed up to Beijing this weekend.  Should be a fun weekend, 10 girls getting together on a trip could be trouble, but I think it should be pretty fun.  Lots of shopping I’m guessing J  It will be a good time for me to pick up Christmas presents to send back home…which I should probably do soon!  

Ok, that is all for now!  I will write and post pics from Beijing!

-Taryn

Busy Week

Well hello again J  the week has just flown by yet again.  This week has been really busy for me though.  I’ve been stressing for my grade 11 students.  They had to write their grade 10 English provincial exam yesterday.  They do it online here.  So, they write an exam administered by the government and we invigilate and mark them.  Fun fun.  The theme of the exam they wrote yesterday was technology so I’m hoping that it worked out in their favour.  I feel like I haven’t really done any work this week for that class though.  As I gave them time to study on Monday  and Tuesday, they wrote yesterday and then our department head said that we should be giving them a rest since they had midterms last week and then had to write this exam this week.  So, I’m going to tell them a little about remembrance day, as they don’t celebrate it here and then we’ll proceed to watch Sherlock Holmes.  I know, it’s like I’m not working, but trust me, these kids deserve a little break.

                Since we wrote report cards and it was midway through the term, I got a new set of Drama students and my old drama students are now doing Info Tech.  I love my new class.  Not that I didn’t love my old class, but these students are much more outgoing than the last bunch I had.  I had way more boys in the other class and I feel like they just felt like they were too cool to be silly in drama class.  So I’m really excited for this term, as all the activities that I’ve done the same as last time has turned out for the better.  A lot more talk, a lot more laughing, and a lot more fun is going to make for a very pleasant end of the term. 

                This weekend is going to be pretty lame, as the entire English department is going to spend Saturday marking all of the provincial exams that the grade 11’s wrote yesterday.  Hopefully it goes over smoothly and everyone is working to get the job done, so we aren’t stuck here for too long marking papers. 

                Yesterday we took the shopping bus to Lu Xiang.  We had a nice Japanese food meal and did some shopping.  I bought something that has made my day so great today.  I know it sounds funny, but it’s a squeegee.  I can’t believe I didn’t think of buying one before.  As I mentioned earlier I shower over my toilet, and the water is just on the floor all day long and never dries.  Well this morning after my shower I squeegee’d the floor and it was DRY!  Haha.  And I was able to go in there with socks to blow dry my hair and not with rolled up pants and my flip flops on.  It was a good day, and discovery to improve my China life, haha. 

                Anyways, that is all for now.  Nothing too exciting.  I really need to start planning my trips in January as it’s only 2 months away now!  Like I keep saying time is just flying by. 

Miss Everyone J

-Taryn

Midterms and Colour Party

So as I mentioned before the students are writing midterms this whole week.  They started yesterday and finish up tomorrow.  The English teachers only had to invigilate two exams since we have the heaviest marking load of all the departments.  I had to do a 2hr one in the morning and then a 3hr one in the afternoon.  All the teachers complained about it being so boring because you literally sit there and watch students write their exam the entire time.  You’re not supposed to do any of your own work as these kids are experts on cheating.  I had to check all their pockets and sleeves before the exam to make sure that no funny business was going on.  I really didn’t find it that painful.  I thought that it would be bad, but I kind of went into ‘lifeguard mode’ (not in the saving lives sense, but the blanking my mind sense…not that I’m saying a bad lifeguard…but you catch my drift).  Anywho, it was actually a nice little rest from teaching. 

             However, last night was spent marking :S.  So fun, right?  I am again reminded why I wanted to become a Math or Elementary teacher.  I spent the morning marking as well and was finished just after lunch time.  I’m ahead of the game right now so I’m feeling pretty good about myself.  I have to have all my marks in for report cards and all the comments done for Tuesday so that is my project for tomorrow.  Brianne and I are also planning the grade 11’s first week of Romeo and Juliet…which should be totally interesting to teach to these kids.

A few days later….

             So it’s Sunday now and I am done everything that I needed to get done last week.  We weighted all of our marks together on Friday which was a pain.  Grade 11 was the worst because we didn’t do all of our planning together at the beginning of the year so we all had different assignments for the first month of school.  What a mess!  Now that we’re all on the same page the second term report card will be a lot easier to do.  I had all my comments for my report cards done, all I need to do now is double check my marks that I have entered and fill them into one column, which will take no time. 

             It’s been a long week for all of us teachers.  So, Thursday Robyn and I really needed to get off campus and take our mind off of school for awhile.  We went to the night market down the street for some gan mian (noodles) and search for some stuff for our outfits on Friday.  Mitch was throwing Annali a ‘Colour Team’ birthday.  I was placed on team purple and Robyn was placed on team red.  We were able to find some pretty awesome accessories  to go with our team colours.  We both found some glasses that we ended up wearing to school all day on Friday.  People were jealous of us for sure…at least that’s what we told ourselves. 

             Once Friday night came we went into Wanke to the Jeep bar with the boys for dinner.  After we ate I hate to head over to Lindsays to finish up some accessories for our team purple outfit.  She had gone to town and was on a whole royalty theme, so she was making septors and crowns for all of us.  Ewan, the vice principal was on our team and he was totally into everything.  We had all been sending emails back and forth all day thinking of ideas that we could do.  Ewan ended up making  a purple playlist.  So, when we walked into the party on Friday we pumped up Purple Haze and made the best entrance of the night by far.  Mitch had done an awesome job and set up 5 different games which included:  Big 2, suck and blow, bean bag toss, beer pong and dancing wii.  The dancing wii station was by far my favourite and the most entertaining for everyone at the party.   People were getting really into it, so it was pretty awesome.  In the end I have no idea who ended up winning, but apparently everything will be tallied up and told to us on Monday.  Robyn wasn’t feeling that well and I was uber tired so once it was time to head out to Vox we slipped away and headed home.

          

   Saturday we took the shopping bus to Tailor street.  I had to pick up my pants and skirt, and Robyn had a couple dresses she needed to pick up.  They did a great job.  I’m getting a really cute pink pea coat made.  I know it’s not practical, but when will I ever be able to make anything I want which is custom made for my body?  Robyn got a green coat made and some other shirts for school.  After that it was off to Walmart and Metro for grocery shopping.  These trips on the bus really consume your whole day.  We were gone at 10am and weren’t back until around 5pm.  So it’s a real commitment when we take the bus on Saturday.  The morning did start out a little bad/funny though.  The bus always leaves at 10am, so at 9:55 we were just about at the top platform as it drives away!  So Robyn and I run for a black cab, and Paul another guy who was also on time for the bus gets in with us.  Our secretaries who live on campus hadn’t even left their building yet, so we had to turn around once we got to Wanke and get them back at the school.  Darrell was not impressed, as he is the one who books the buses and knows that we were not supposed to leave the school until 10am. 

             Last night was low key.  We’re catching up on our episodes of biggest loser.  Today we’re going to head to computer city.  Robyn needs a new battery for her laptop and I need and external DVD drive, as my little netbook doesn’t have one.  We’ll have family dinner again.  We are cooking tonight.  I think we may have some extra guests as well, so it should be a nice Sunday dinner.  Next week is going to be another crazy marking week as the grade 11’s are writing their English provincial on Wednesday.  I’m very nervous for my kids, so we’ll see how they do!

That’s all for now

-Taryn