Settling In

Well its been one month since I arrived in Hefei, Anhui and so far so good.  Teaching is like second nature now, so a lot of the planning I do for my classes aren't needed as much as before.  I enjoy all my classes a lot and my schedule is perfect.  I love my job, I don't think I say that enough, even to myself. I haven't done much in the way of fun, but I've just now gotten my first holiday vacation. I was originally given 5 days off, but due to another teachers laziness and the schools lack of communication, I worked for one extra day (yay overtime pay!). 

I always set high goals for myself during holidays, meaning I plan every day out to a T.  I usually stray from the plan because I like sleeping and/or I found something else to do.  Tuesday I went to Swan Lake, which is very beautiful.  It even has a fake beach, but too bad the water is like toxic (yet I did see some swimmers!).  This trip took all day and I got a lot of exercise by walking through the whole park and around the lake.  



The next day I received a text saying it would be great if I could take out the new foreigners for dinner since they had just arrived yesterday.  My plan for that day was to visit the Hefei Botanical Garden, which is quite far, so I crossed that plan out.  I did some research and asked around to see where I could buy a kitten.  It's lonely here in Hefei, especially at night, so I really wanted a cat for myself.  I am a nurturer by nature and I have always had cats in my life, I mean for god's sake my nickname is Kat, so I wanted a cat.  

I found an open street market and looked around.  The open market had quite a variety of animals, cats, dogs, turtles, fish, guinea pigs, hamsters, bunnies, birds and even a porcupine.  Many of them were so cute and I wanted to take them all home, but I couldn't.  I was a foreigner, so I knew most of the prices they offered me would be higher than normal, but I didn't care. There were some kittens, but they looked older and I wanted a baby.  

Then I found Tiffa, buried underneath some other cats, sleeping.  I told the man I wanted this one and he fished out a bag to put Tiffa into and I said to wait.  I know the animals here aren't treated with compassion or kindness, usually, but I refused to put my cat into a bag to carry home.  I bought a carrier two stalls down and put Tiffa in it.  I didn't try to bargain the price down for Tiffa, 50rmb ($8) because I knew she is worth so much more.  I believe Tiffa is Tortoiseshell cat, beautiful coloring.  She is sweet and such a baby.  She loves to sleep on my face and neck at night.  She hates cages, probably because she has always been in one.  She loves to play and she is a natural at using a litter box.

I went out to dinner with our new teachers who just arrived on Oct. 1st.  Late arrival teachers are difficult because everything has already begun and training has already been completed.  Of course, since the teachers are new not only to China, but to teaching as well they need training.  Usually a manger would train the teachers, but our manager is on vacation, so as Senior Teacher it falls to me.  I'm actually not upset I have to do this because I know I am good at this type of thing.  I'm a meticulous planner and I know how to show others how to do things.  The teachers are from South Africa, two girls and a boy.  One has experience teaching, whereas the others do not.  I met them for dinner and we had a blast.  So far I have never met a South African that I didn't like which is still true.  I train them this weekend for 5 hours at two different locations, in order to train them properly as each school has different teaching methods. Hopefully my training will show them the seriousness of teaching and that this isn't just a paid vacation (not saying they are this way just that a lot of people who come here believe it's just a joy ride and that teaching is a joke, which is disrespectful).


When traveling or even working in a new place there are processes to go through in order to become more comfortable.  So that's what I have been doing.  I always try to keep myself busy because if I'm not then I get stir crazy or just watch TV/sleep all day. Deciding to go to a new place/job is always difficult because no matter where you were before you always compare the two and you realize the stuff you took for granted before, but you also realize some other things that weren't great their as well.  In life we always compare and it drives me crazy when other people do it, but I find myself doing it quite often.

I like being a foreign teacher and I enjoy working hard, but there are always some foreigners who come to teach for the wrong reasons; cheap country, booze, partying, laziness, etc. It's hard talking to people who don't enjoy teaching or the place where they are working.  It's also hard trying to work with others who are so lazy and take advantage, not only of the school, but of their co-workers as well.  Everyone has those days where everything is going wrong and they lash out, even I have those days, but in the end I don't hate this country and I don't hate the people.  It's hard listening to others talk so badly about China when, in fact, they chose to come here. Again I love my job, so I get defensive when others talk badly about it.

I also love getting paid for my work, so I can't wait for pay day (7,300rmb/$1,192 + overtime pay! - electricity, water and internet ;-;). This will be my first time paid in Hefei and my largest pay in China.