Say What???

I got this email today from Christina who is our co-teacher in the Foreign Language College. This makes last semester's holiday explanation letter (which I thought, at the time, was humorously nonsensical) seem like nothing. Why, oh why, do they go through all of this hassle to pretend to have holidays!!!??? Katie and I spent half an hour with a calendar trying to "interpret" how this affects our schedules and our lessons. We're still not sure how this is going to all play out. Especially when I have 5 classes that all need to have the same lesson taught to them on 3 different days when some of those days are "holidays" that might/might not be made up. Good grief.

Hello!

I am writing to inform you of three coming holidays for celebrating some traditional Chinese festivals. First, we will have a three-day holiday for celebrating Tomb-sweeping Day; that is , from April 4th to April 6th, among which April 4th is a lawful holiday, and April 5th and April 6th are Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Second, we will have a three-day holiday for celebrating the International Labor Day; that is from May 1st to May 3rd, among which May 1st is a lawful holiday. On May 3rd we will enjoy our Saturday as usual, but if you originally have class on May 4th, then you need to come to have that class on May 2nd; meanwhile, if you originally have class on May 2nd, then you need to come to have that class on May 4th. In other words, if normally you do not have class on Sundays, then you will be free on May 2nd; but on May 4th we will have Friday’s classes for substitution.

Third, we will have a three-day holiday for celebrating Chinese Dragon-boat Day; that is from June 7th to June 9th, among which June 8th is a lawful holiday, and June 7th is Saturday as usual. We will have the previous Sunday( June 8th) on June 9th( Monday); in other words, if originally you do not have class on June 8th, then you will be free on June 9th. I hope that you may give me a feedback to show that you have seen it, otherwise you will be disturbed by me on telephone. Anyway, may these special days bring you great fun!

I'm A Bad Teacher!

This week I've been teaching my students a few slang words and phrases. When I asked for suggestions at the end of last semester, a lot of them said they wanted to learn more idiomatic, conversational phrases and words. So in an attempt to do that we've been practicing phrases like "I'm beat" and "bent out of shape" and "blow all your money" and funny expressions like calling someone an "airhead." At one point, I told the students that the word "bad" can sometimes mean "cool" depending on who says it and the context. No one had ever heard the word "bad" used to mean "cool" so we kind of laughed about it. After my classes were over today, I packed up and walked outside and waited for Katie to finish her classes. Today was a bright sunny day so I put on my sunglasses as I was standing there waiting. A few of my students walked by and one of them said, "Kim, you look so bad!"

Related to that discussion: try explaining the word "cheesy" to someone. I defined it as "cheap, silly or ridiculous" but that doesn't quite encompass the whole idea of the slang phrase and there's no good Chinese translation for it that I can find. It's hard to explain because things I would describe as "cheesy" are not at all "cheesy" to my students.

And last, Happy Pi Day . . . 3.14 today. I just found out about Pi Day. I'm kind of sad that I went all through geometry in high school and didn't know about Pi Day. I really want to make a French Silk Pie in honor of Pi Day so I just might "go and do it, please."

Schedule

First day of classes today. I'm teaching Sophomore Oral English and Two Plus Two freshman Oral English--classes I've taught before (the perks of being old and experienced now). Pretty much what I expected. The English majors are wonderful, as always. The Two Plus Two students are annoying, as always. My schedule isn't too bad. Fridays are going to be long days, but it could be worse. Whenever they give us our schedules (or more accurately, whenever we track down our schedules), we all have to sit there and do a fair bit of decoding to figure everything out. Schedule Decoding 101. It should be a required course for all foreigners in China. And, I also think that schedules should come with this disclaimer:

Disclaimer: All schedules are subject to change without notice. Changes to the schedule do not exempt you from your responsibilities even if it is unclear or indeterminable where you should be or what you should be doing. Further questions can be directed to the Office of International Miscommunication. If we do not contact you, you should know there is a meeting that you may or may not be required to attend. In case of change, the students will be notified first and are available to answer questions concerning your schedule. Days of the week are subject to change. Holidays will be announced the week after they occur. Please be prepared to make up all holidays the weekend before and/or after the unspecified day. Textbooks may or may not be distributed to the students and may or may not be the correct edition. If there are any conflicts please deal with them yourself. Classrooms are not guaranteed.

Sank you wary much and happy everyday.

(Humor is always born out of truth . . . )

Vacation . . . Almost

Classes are over. Exams are over. I listened to over 300 oral exams (my English majors gave two speeches each). I have 6 out 7 classes' grades recorded. I'll finish the last one tomorrow and turn my grades in Monday morning. My eyes are almost permanently crossed from staring at thousands of little boxes on my grade forms. I love Microsoft Excel. I only had to use Whiteout tape twice on my grade forms . . . not a bad record for as many boxes as I have to fill in, especially when you're having to deal with names in Chinese. Grades this semester have been relatively painless. I'll still be glad to be done.

It is true that teachers love vacations as much or more than the students.