Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Apartment Problems

I am tired of my apartment.  It's brand new and has so many problems.

Problem #1

The most annoying problem right now is that the apartment upstairs leaks into the apartment downstairs.  How is that possible?  Sometimes I get some of the water dripping into my kitchen but not always.  To make the situation more annoying the people downstairs won't talk to the people upstairs.  So every time it leaks I get the Chinese man (from downstairs) pounding on my door with a lit cigarette wanting me to call my landlord to talk to the people upstairs.
My last apartment was leaking into the apartment below.  So, this is a very common problem.  I know by now not to ask why in China.

Problem #2

The smell!  Every apartment / bathroom smells in China.  They have not figured out how to make the proper S pipe so that the sewer smell doesn't come back up.  It's gross.  But my apartment has extra smells that I haven't been able to figure out.  I think the other smells come in the window, mostly when it's open, but sometimes when it's closed.

Problem #3


The amount of dirt that accumulates even with the windows shut.  In order to keep up with it I would need to clean every other day.  It has probably been a month or so since I dusted my bookshelf and this is what I found when I moved the books.

Problem #4

The vent and light above the stove top only worked for 5 months.  This is actually the least of my worries but it just shows how cheaply made everything is in China.

Problem #5







The washer.  I HATE doing laundry.  The washer I have isn't quite manual but nearly.  You have to turn on and off the water.  At first I didn't realize this and had quite a mess on my hands.  After the clothes wash in the left side you have to drain the water and then put the clothes in the right side to spin.  Sometimes the washer goes crazy and jumps itself all the way around.  Now the tube to the water tap is broken and I have to hold the tube while filling up the washer. It still leaks all over the place and it's pretty boring standing there for 5 minutes while the washer fills up.

 

 

 

Problem #6

The walls are thin and you hear everything.  Even what people do in the bathroom.

Problem #7

This isn't actually a problem but it is pretty funny.  There was no room in the kitchen so the refrigerator is in the 2nd bedroom.  Good thing I didn't want a roommate.

 

Problem #8

I'm not sure what exactly this problem is but remember my mop??


Most of these are very small annoyances and hardly important.  My landlord is the kindest Chinese man I have met here.  He's so patient with my Chinese.   He has allowed me to rent an actually great apartment for an incredibly cheap price.  He didn't ask for a security deposit.  I broke my lease with no problems. He said I don't even have to clean when I move out.  So when I think about it like that I am forever grateful for this apartment - the smells, the mushroom, the washer, and all.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Teaching got easier!

I originally posted this on March 21st, 2011. I hadn't even been teaching for a month and I thought it would never get easier. I like looking back to see how far I've come.  Now I can think on my feet, understand my students when they speak Chinese, control them (sometimes), and most importantly I have a lot more confidence. The beginning was rough.....

I'm struggling a bit with this teaching thing. I thought every weekend would get better but as I found out yesterday that's not the case. I felt like Sunday was my worst day so far. It didn't help that I was being assessed in 2 of my classes. I know I'm doing something totally new that I've never done before in a completely new country where they speak a completely different language. I'm out of sorts in almost every possible way. Still, I don't like the feeling of not knowing how to do something.
A few things that frustrated me this weekend:

-Kids were just bad. I think maybe it had to do with the rain. (ha! I blamed kids behavior on the rain!)

-No one understood me. Obviously this happens a lot in class but this weekend I never seemed to be able to get my point across no matter how much I mimed or drew on the board. I got sooo many blank stares.

-I still can't remember student's names. I'm even struggling remembering faces. I don't recognize my kids in the hall before class.

-In one of my 2 hour classes I did my entire lesson plan in the first hour. On break I asked other teachers what else they do in this class so I was able to gracefully recover but geez. I spent time preparing! I guess I'm still getting used to how I actually need to prepare.

-I had to jump around like a rabbit with 5 year olds - while their parents were watching and I was being assessed.

-I had a class of 4/5 year olds that collectively went insane. The parents did nothing. It was like as a group they all linked together and decided how they could be as bad as possible. It was a ball of screaming, bad 5 year old Chinese kids. They were literally all on the floor fighting for toys. So much for the fun games I planned.

After a weekend like this it's hard not to want to throw in the towel. I have to remind myself why I came here. Teaching was a big reason. Sometimes I wonder if that's actually what I'm doing though. I teach about 300 students in one weekend and I feel like I don't get to know them.  Are these kids learning anything??

There's a girl in one of my classes that keeps asking for my phone number. I always forget to bring my phone with me to class and I don't know my number. She put this in her notebook for me to see when I graded her homework.
She asked me when she should call. Is she really going to call?! I mean her English is ok but what could we possibly talk about on the phone? ANYWAY - I need to walk away with something positive from a weekend filled with lots of frustrations so I think this is pretty good.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Update

Can't wait to see Linda in Thailand!
My time in Xi'an is quickly coming to an end.  I have three more weekends of teaching and then I will be on a plane to Thailand.  I'll be in Thailand for about 10 days with Linda - my Australian friend who I met in Xi'an.  I'll also be visiting my English friend who I met in Cambodia and traveled around Hong Kong with.   They both have birthdays during those 10 days so it should be fun!   I'm also hoping for some relaxing time on the beach, catching up with Linda (she's been in India for 6 weeks), reading lots of books, yoga, full moon party, good food, and some distance from China.

On November 1st I'll fly out of Bangkok and be home in time for my dad's concert on November 2nd.  I'll be back in Chicago for a couple months before leaving again for a yet to be determined destination.

It's hard to believe it's nearly time to go home.  I can't believe I've been gone for almost 2 years!