Time to Rest

I went for a run this morning around the lake near the hotel - it was unbearably humid at 6 am - and after one lap, I returned my body a bit sapped by the humidity and allergies. Anyone who thought I might actually lose weight on this trip is sadly mistaken. I eat three very large meals each day - I try to stick to veggies and soup - and the exercise I get is walking up and down the steps everyday to two different classrooms or the walking around town. Most of the food is very oily, which I am not used to, and there isn't a whole lot of fresh vegetables. I miss salad. We did manage to solve to the coffee problem, which was a bit of hilarity. Another woman from Chicago and I were desperately craving coffee (yes, my parents did tell me to bring it) and in Hangzhou we actually located a Starbucks where I had a cup of coffee even though it was 10 o'clock at night - I wanted it bad. It never occurred to me until spotting the second Starbucks in downtown Nanjing (near the WalMart) to buy a press and some coffee there. The other woman was smarter. At 6:30 yesterday morning she called me up to her room with a surprise of French pressed coffee. Its really the little things. I am typically pretty adaptable when I travel, but I have also always travelled to places that have coffee.

Our school days are utterly intense. We start at 8:30, which is actually a reasonable time for me, but are on the bus at 7:40. My morning flies by, but the afternoon group is a little more challenging and kind of drags. In the states, I have a lot of picture cards, realia, books, etc. and it is very easy to ad-lib. I have managed pretty well, but it is certainnly an exhausting day. The morning group is from 8:30 to 11:15. We break for two hours for lunch and the students eat and take a nap during that time. We have scheduled Chinese lessons during our lunch break, but I was craving contact with friends and family and decided to skip it. I am not really sure how much I will learn in forty minutes a day and there really isn't other time to use the computers or do lesson plans. We got here on Friday, started planning for a few hours, attended a celebration in our honor and started school on Saturday. No rest for the weary. We have taught three days already and will teach until Friday, break Saturday and begin again for Sun-Fri. I guarantee no a single teacher in the U.S. would survive a teacher's lifestyle at this school. The teachers work from 7:30a.m. into the night and sleep in a teacher dormitory here six-seven days a week. I think if I had to see my students six days a week, I might not stay in teaching very long. Talk about burn-out. In the evening, we are on our own, but last night I could barely function, so I took a nap, got up to finish my lesson plans, watched a little T.V. and fell asleep at 9:30.

There was this competition on T.V. that I found quite interesting. A line of about 20 kids, standing shoulder to shoulder, loops their arms around each other. Their ankles are all tied together, all the way down the row, so that unless you are on the end you are connected to a person on both sides. On your mark, get set, go. They ran as fast as they can, then collapse on mat after crossing the finish line. They are timed, whichever team is the fastest, wins. The kids were probably 10 to 13 years old. Very interesting. After that I found re-runs of the new Sci-Fi series Battlestar Galactica - which I had become addicted to through another friend.

So those are the mundane details of my settled in life here. I think I will go in search of an accupuncturist tonight, as my allergies are getting bad and someone suggested I try that.