It's yet another festival this week here in China, which means yet again I'm off work (from the public school I teach in that is) but the classes keep on coming in the training schools. Will these parents ever give their children at least one day free from eduction and homework (and spare a thought for the suffering teachers!)
However, despite the fact that I'm again wasting my potential holidays by earning some extra 'yuan', I've been getting really excited at the year to come. In the next month or so (most likely around mid November at this rate) I should be jetting off, or maybe even attempting to catch the 24+ hour train, to Hong Kong. I was gutted that I didn't get the chance to visit there previously, so hopefully that will change in the coming months. I'm weirdly looking forward to the fact that the lifestyle in HK is apparently more "cilvilised" there, or so I've been told. (You've got to thank the good ol' British Empire for that surely? They do drive on the correct side of the road in Hong Kong for starters!)
It'll be a little treat from home not having to worry that I'll lose my life by merely walking on a pavement there. Whereas here in mainland China, it seems every man and his dog (usually crammed on a tuk tuk or a motorbike) are practicing their best Grand Theft Auto impressions.
(As a side note, I ought to mention that I saw a whole family balancing on one motorbike today; mother, father, grandmother, a little baby and a chicken, all snuggled up together, driving about 60mph down the main road. Oh and they were driving AGAINST traffic I must point out!)
That's just an average sight here and I'll never get tired of seeing things like that. It makes the world a more interesting and amusing place.
I ought to create an extra blog or feature showcasing crazy stuff my students bring into class, or get up to when I'm trying to drill into them that they don't need to add an extra vowel onto words (my name is not "Samu", it's Sam!)
So we've had a turtle previously, now we can add to my ever growing teaching Noah's Ark; a crab!
A grade 5 student was happy to stop my lesson to show me a crab she'd caught. I have no idea where she got it from, and I think she tried to mime to me that she would eat it later. Or maybe that I should eat it instead!