6 Months Down as a Senior/Advanced Foreign Teacher

It's March already, it's quite hard to believe that so much time has already passed all of us by.  I haven't written a blog post in quite awhile due to the sheer fact that I have just been too busy to even type for a period long enough to accomplish something meaningful and such.  I have been in Hefei for 6 months (in reality 6.5) and I still love it here.  I liked Xianyang (my old city) but Hefei presents itself with more opportunities whether they are simple or the more adventurous ones. Although most of my adventures will come in the Spring and Summer time. Hopefully it's a light summer this year.

Me in SanHe - The Ancient Town

I haven't had time to do anything on the adventurous side, so the simple things keep me happy.  Also realize that in winter there isn't much to do besides be cold and hide under your blankets with the heater turned up to high.  I have done a couple of kind-of adventurous things though.  One I went to an old park, got to see the Hefei Zoo and even went and saw the Hefei Aquarium with my friend. The cool thing about the zoo was it was quite big and had an amazing walking bridge, plus the zoo it on the mountain overlooking the city so the views were amazing!  The best thing about the aquarium was that it had dolphins.  These dolphins were in great condition (very rare to see an animal in China in even decent condition) so when seeing the dolphins up close and personal I was very happy. I have also been to Hefei's old city called SanHe which is about 2 hours by bus out of the main city. The architecture was stunning! My schedule is a doozy.  Every week I am at least two hours overtime and last week I was four hours overtime.  The money gained from these overtime hours help a lot because my original roommate moved out to help out our friend who moved in with me, then a month later went on vacation and never came back... Leaving me with paying for the utilities by myself and cleaning up all the shit they left behind.  The upside is that I now have an apartment all to myself and my cats!

Hallway

Recently my school, Aston 1 got remodeled (it really was overdue) and seeing the whole process was pretty cool.  It made the school a thousand times more modern and even created more space! The teachers we got a new office (although the glass wall is still there) and the school got Central Heating/AC for each classroom (thank god!), a new coat of paint (kind of reminds me of a giraffe) and new whiteboards. I had also requested that my school get at least one room with an electronic whiteboard in case a teacher had a higher level class and wanted to use media to help make the class more interesting (mainly me!).  To my surprise they did and now I teach both my C11 classes in that room and my students love it (why? computer games as a reward system).  Our school also ordered a lot of plants to help with the new paint smell in the school but I also think it adds a nice homey feel to the school.

My desk in the Teachers Office

Front desk area

My C10 class which is now my C11 class - Boys are doing the Koala pose LOL

The new term has begun so another six months of teaching before a new term begins.  Most of my classes stayed the same as I have a lot of NCE classes (New Concept English, apparently a very famous book used in studying for English Proficiency Exams... It's British English) and so those classes are in session for another three weeks.  It's hard for an American to teach British English because I think and spell differently than these books and the most important part is that these books are quite out-dated so the English used in the books doesn't always resemble how we speak today.  So explaining these things to my students is quite a challenge, especially Z being pronounced Zeee in America yet everywhere else it's pronounced Zed! Crazy right?

 

 

 

My C9 class, most are going to NCE2A and the rest leaving Aston ;-;

Most of the classes will usually just roll over, meaning that class that was let's say C3A will become C3B, same time and same students.  If you are lucky (thank god me!) one of your classes will stop or move to a different day or time so you can't teach them (not saying I don't love my students).  So example, my C9 class is going to NCE2A taught by another teacher, so that time slot in the morning is now open, meaning work for me doesn't begin until 9:30am on Saturday. But I will miss my crazy yet hilarious students in C9 because they are some of the best students, personality wise, that I have ever encountered.

I have two cats who live with me.  They are my children and I have been so busy lately I have neglected play time with them, especially my youngest, Tiffa, who is highly energetic and loves attention.  Recently I have been buying more toys to entertain them while I am working and perhaps also make them tired enough  so that they sleep when I sleep at night.  Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

This past week has been one of the most rewarding and difficult weeks of all time for me.  The highlight was being asked by my school to be the Foreign Manager next term! I was asked what I wanted and I said my own apartment (meaning I get to keep this two-bedroom apartment), higher salary than the manager now and a switch in working hours (more teaching time and less office time).  I don't think being a manager will be easy but I do think I can do it if I get good enough teachers and my school trusts me.







The difficult part was that my cat Tiffa had her first heat.  At first I just thought it was

because she was bored, so I tried playing with her for awhile before heading to bed, but no matter what I did she still yeowled when it got quite.  I started seeing more signs (never had girl cats before) and realized she was in heat.  I thought I could push through it but when doing more research I saw it was just gonna keep happening and in all honesty I wasn't sleeping very well.  I called my Chinese friend on Saturday night and I asked her to find me a good vet to spay Tiffa on Monday, as I couldn't take the yeowling, lack of sleep, and the fear that my neighbors would complain to building management about my cats.  My friend found a vet kind of close to my apartment but it was quite difficult to find because it didn't look like any vet place I'd ever seen.  I was already scared to death because China doesn't have the greatest medical record between dealing with foreigners, so I could only imagine how they treated animals.

The veterinarians were nice and for the most part helpful (they spoke some English), but the worst part was the fact that I had to help them.  I had to hold my poor baby while they gave her two shots, and then hold her right after she came out of surgery.  I was so scared of moving her the wrong way and opening her stitches.  Then Tiffa had to get two bottles of medicine through an IV, but she was waking up.  They made me hold her and try to keep her still, I had to keep one of her arms raised the entire time even though it made her uncomfortable.  My Tiffa was so brave and such a good kitty. She only meowed a few times, specifically near the end when she was almost fully able to move on her own.  I sat and held her for three hours. 


I've never been to a vet in America, but I have seen a lot of TV shows and never did I see

anyone hold their pet for three hours, sit next to them yes.  After that I was physically and mentally exhausted (I cried a lot) and so was Tiffa, so I said goodbye and told her I would come by and see her tomorrow as they are keeping her for three days. I gave them the food for her and left.  Aerri, my oldest cat, was looking for Tiffa after I got home.  She is very confused and sometimes I hear her meow for her sister.  I don't know if Aerri has been in heat yet, but if she has I hadn't noticed so getting her spayed wasn't in my plans until her heat becomes a problem.