Nov 11 2013: Decency

Another Monday!

We’ve been planning to use our Monday mornings to head into town for a while now, but we’re always tired after the long weekend and want some more time to relax or chill out, so we never really do it. Until this day! Yay!

We narrowly missed a bus and stood around in the drizzle for a while before getting onto the bus, and going all the way to the back [best strategy ever]. The day was cloudy and only promised more rain. Monday, we were heading out to our infamous spot: The Corner. And yes, we have yet to think of a better name but with only 7 weeks to go, I think that name is sticking!

Anyways, we finally got off there. The rain was a bit more sporadic and free falling as we haphazardly crossed the street and began looking around. The drink shop wasn’t opened yet, and today we were looking for a USB for Katie and shoes for each of us. For a while we wandered around- we got Katie a USB drive. Nothing flashy but it works, thank goodness. We went through a lot of shoes, and since we had yet to eat, we grabbed some dumplings.

Took just a moment to get it translated, although we did accidentally order some sort of watery porridge for another 1.50 but with some sugar it wasn’t too bad. Still, together with my 10 or so personal dumplings and the porridge, it was definitely too much! But it was delicious! We took our time, got some change back, and continued walking. Katie and I want to get converse like shoes, hi-tops, but we have yet to find them in her size, a 38 here. Mine is still okay, 36-37. But still, it’s a little weird and I feel like that should be okay, you know? She wears a 7.5 in the states, at the biggest, but then again, the Chinese women are pretty darn thin with tiny hands and feet!

I decided to yes, get a certain pair of boots- furry inside with thick soles on the bottom- for 50 RMB, so we walked back to pick those up. I tried on a pair, totally perfect, bought them, and we walked out. By that time, the boba drink shop had opened!

Their word for chocolate is similar enough to our English pronunciation that by saying it up to three times in different ways, they get the idea. Or at least he did, which is the important thing, haha! Then he was asking us about something else… we just said yes. And pointed to the medium sized cups. He made the drinks, but forgot the boba. We still paid 5 RMB [best price ever], said it was okay, and walked our merry way.

Rain was slowing down as we finally decided to go, although it took a while, as usual, for the bus to arrive. All the same, we boarded and rode back to the school, and got off there. By that time, it was barely 11 but we didn’t want to keep walking around in the wet streets so we decided we would be staying at the school for the day.

We grabbed some lunch although we weren’t even that hungry after such a delicious breakfast. Then we began preparing for our lessons. Our server had some issues and it’s been slow, but we managed to make enough of the internet cooperate to prepare for our lessons and such.

Grade 3 Class 1 came first after those few hours. They were a good bit crazy as every Monday they are. I worked on just their books, and since most of them weren’t doing too much, I gave a sticker- which I rarely do- to the kid who had it all done, the adorable Leon, and slowly began giving out a few.

However that did take up the rest of the time, basically, because the kids turned crazy, rushing about and trying to get a sticker and I know up to three kids got two stickers because they were smart and moving into the next pages and doing those right, too! It was madness, and totally my fault. I learned my lesson! Haha, but it was pretty funny and it actually did keep the class down to a quiet buzz which was nice… But still, I learned!

Then to my crazy Class 2. There was more mayhem! I tried a bit more of a fun lesson on my slide to start out with, and that kept them pretty enthusiastic for a bit, thank goodness. They like fun pictures! Though I had one of my cocky little boys grabbing me every time I passed by, pointing to his nose and saying hospital. There was nothing wrong, though, and he was fine- he just wanted to get out of class, trust me. He’s one of those boys. So I had to try not to laugh and told him he’s okay, and he can go after my class if he still needs to, then.

There was a little squabble or two which I had to cut short. And I realize now what all the adults deal with, the things that happened when I was little and was confused why adults weren’t fixing everything like they were always promising. It’s about impossible to sort out the truth, especially if most of the parties are in tears. I mean, the language barrier is definitely part of it, but still. I don’t really blame the adults too much, seeing as I’ve definitely become one of those. I try, but there’s only so much that can be fixed.

Anyways, class ended finally, and I hurried out of there. I said hi to Katie as she passed to her classes, and sat at my computer, already bored. So, I began writing! I began a brand new story and got a full chapter written up before dinner time!

Which was good. We were there with Abby and Greg, planning on going back to Coffee Time for the English Corner with all our new friends from last week, but the timing was super bad and a few other things popped up. We couldn’t work in Coffee Time, unfortunately, but we did manage in a few minutes at our new favorite DVD store before retiring to bed.

Us three girls walked over before it closed, and definitely brought too much money because we spent it all. It was ridiculous, I’ll admit. But they are legal international copies [at least that’s what Greg decided on and we are more than happy to believe him], with special features, more language options, and lots of casing to protect the discs. I bought quite a few specials, fun recent ones and some old Disney ones, before we ran out of money and went home.

A decent Monday all the way around!