All Quiet on the Home Front
Not too much is going on right now. Classes have been more or less the same. Either the kids are great and it is a ton of fun or they are misbehaving and I am thinking “get me out of here.” I have come to the realization that the kids misbehave for one of two reasons. One, they have no idea what I am saying and therefore are bored and frustrated by what I am doing. Two, they are very smart and find what I am doing boring. The worst classes are the ones where the class isn’t too bright and I am just unable to communicate enough to them to maintain their interest. Those ones are a real struggle. But most of the classes are going pretty well, hopefully the other ones will improve.
Shanghai is supposed to be great for shopping, but after 6 weeks I still haven’t found a clothing store I like. I have a pretty limited rotation right now that lasts about a week. Wearing the same stuff every week really contributes to a feeling of working life monotony. There is tons of nice womens clothing but it seems there isn’t much of a fashion scene for Shanghainese men. Everything is cheapo conservative, boring stuff or Hugo Boss or Gucci. There seems to be a serious lack of stylish, reasonably priced clothes. The quest continues, but my optimism is starting to fade on this front.
Next week I am going to visit Hangzhou, which is a city about 2 hours south of Shanghai. Mahta introduced me to a friend of hers from high school and U of T, so I am going to go and visit him. Hangzhou is supposed to be one of the prettiest cities in the country. The West Lake area is probably one the most famous tourist spots in China. I then have to decide what to do for the National Day holiday, which is about 1 week, starting October 1. I had thought about going up to Beijing, the only problem with travelling then is that I’ll be competing with 1 billion Chinese people for train tickets and hotel rooms. So we shall see, still not sure.
Lastly, I am happy to say that the Photo Gallery is working again. It seems I need to periodically relearn the importance of the saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
September 19th, 2005 at 10:36 am
Ok so the kid thing becomes a challenge to create something interesting, e.g. how to make saturnonium out of common kitchen elements. We are gearing up for the 24th in Port Hope to do a combination birthday for Nana and Monica “Happy 107th”.