Wednesday 13 May 2009

Ask the magic 8 Ball - Less Than Jake



Who ever thought that not working was a good idea?


Man I can’t begin to say how bored I am, the only saving grace is that I don’t rely on day time TV to get me through the day. For a start I don’t know if Chinese television has this and then I could understand about 1 in 20 words. Right now even playing on the 360 is not doing it for me, back in the frame of mind when I turn it on then off almost right away. I need to get some more hobbies, today I shall have my first ever lesson in Chinese language, after self learning without too much conviction for the past couple of years. I am also wondering the city, checking out new areas even this only holds my attention for so long. There is only so much to see before it all becomes the same, so with this in mind I think I need to keep myself busy more often, my students do help with that, learning more about teaching and the exams which some of them are taking has given me something to work towards, providing me with goals to achieve. I still need something more than that, maybe a full time job would be the best idea, I know it makes sense and all that. I know that I can’t let myself become a house husband that would be so sad.
So what kind of sports could I get myself involved with again, I did always like canoeing, cycling, even kick boxing sounds interesting right now but that would be a temporary fad and could just be a change to let out my anger without much fear of punitive action against me. It would also be a good idea to get to know more people here other teachers however seem to be very odd people I guess if someone is prepared to live in any country then they aren’t the kind of person who is looking too hard for more friends, it’s not as if we come here in large groups of teachers is it? It is also difficult to start talking as people are always busy, so it’s actually quite a lonely job. Other teachers that I have been chatting with online have said the same thing. So it seems that apart from a few examples to the rule meeting people at the tutor job is not that easy how else can this happen. Starting a new hobby like some of the ones mentioned above would be a good place to start.
I could start taking part in long distance bike rides, but where is the fun in all that? Its al about the speed and trying not to be killed on the well organised roads in Beijing.
Well I think now it has taken me about 2 weeks to finish writing this post, I haven’t been in the mood to write recently, the last few days have been good for me, lots more students and money for me, although other parts of my time here may not be so good at least I have been keeping busy in some aspects. A lot of my time has been taken up by going to the gym almost every day then working and also meeting teachers for once, speaking normal English too, always find it difficult to speak quickly. I am so used to keeping it slow for the students and for abby, so it is refreshing to talk with a native speaker for once. Even though they are Australian I won’t hold that against them. I am slightly ashamed that I had to mention the clichéd, all Australians are criminals. What was I thinking!!!

Today is another fierce day, the sun is very strong its not too hot but you can feel it on your skin, I will not be spending too much time outside today.
Dude its been almost a month since my last post
Also why has it taken me 27 years to finally eat a mango, so nice but there is not easy or clean way to eat them, that’s all part of the fun!
Here is a photo to cheer people up:

1 comment:

Liz said...

How do the Aussie’s get by teaching English? I mean, I would expect the Chinese to want to learn UK English and I’m pretty certain Australia leans more towards American with some of their spellings and words.

It’s been wonderful weather here recently, with yesterday being very hot – hotter than I expected as there’s a strong wind.

Perhaps there are facebook groups for teachers/tutors in Beijing? There must be groups like exchange stuff like Louise is on where you can get to know people and they seem to have a riot, perhaps try to find some of them??