My Century

Einstein once made the observation that a minute spent on a hot plate could feel like an hour, while an hour in the arms of a hot woman (presumably looks and not temperature) could pass in a moment. I've now spent 100 days in China (not a cause for celebration) and it feels like an eternity. I'm not even 1/3 of the way through my adventure (roll on December 11), which is really quite depressing. I suppose I'll feel better when I get a small break - one of the major problems is that all of our classes are Chinese here - in the UK I would study maybe three or four different topics per semester, and I'd have a workload for each of them which would mean I'd be busy, but at least I could change subjects if one was getting a bit boring, or if I'd worked for five hours solid on it ... here though, what is there to do? Learn vocabulary (writing it out lots, looking at flashcards, etc), practice a bit of grammar, do some reading, but it's all basically the SAME - look at Chinese characters for EVERYTHING. No wonder I am suffering a lack of motivation and severe apathy towards my course.

Then there's exams coming up and I found out I at least have to PASS (that's getting 40 on a Newcastle scale which I think means getting about 47 on the Xinjiang Scale, at least if my maths is halfway correct) - so I've decided to enter myself for the lower intermediate class, not because I think I'm really that level but because all the exams here are based on the books we use, and I've only been in higher intermediate a week or two so there'll be loads I don't know. Also, because maybe, deep down, I think my level probably *is* closer to that of lower intermediate (I just don't want to go back in that class). So I don't want to do any work, but I do want to pass these exams / improve my Chinese (by osmosis?) - it's a bit of a Catch 22.

On the plus side I went out the other day - taught a bit of English in the morning, fun fun, I even have a job offer for my winter break, if I'm around I can have a class of my own in my friend's school, maybe 50 students he said, and he'll make sure I'm paid for this work. Hmm beats sitting around doing nothing else! I have other winter plans of course, so it all depends on availability but I definitely intend to take him up on this offer. After teaching, I went out with my friend Doris (I dont know where they choose their English names either), who is coming to the UK next year to do a MA in Teaching English (she's currently completing a BA in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language) ... we went shopping for flashcards and then some stuff for me to send people at home - I can't really say much more or it'll spoil surprises but I got myself something nice as well and I feel good about that.

Oh and I picked up all 4 seasons of Prison Break on DVD for a total of £2 - and even that was probably a rip off because we didn't haggle but hell if I'm complaining. So far, so good - perfect quality episodes and I'm kind of hooked, approximately three years after everyone else I know :P That's about news for now, I know it's not terribly interesting, but there ya go.