At a pretty high octave, that's as close as letters come to representing the sound I made in the hutong last night. Dan and I opened the door and were instantly appalled by what smelled like poop somewhere in the hutong. It is not a large place, but whatever the smell was coming from was well hidden (presumably behind the furnace since we still haven't found it). I walked in and flicked on the patio lights the doors to the bedroom and living room were closed, but the bathroom and kitchen doors were open.
Thinking, quite logically of course, that a poop smell might be coming from the bathroom, I stepped up to flick on the light when... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! I screamed like a little girl. Something rather substantial had run by and hit me in the leg just before I could switch on the light. Not having seen anything, I turned to Dan, panicked. He had this funny look on his face, somewhere between disbelief and amusement. At this point, I don't remember the words exchanged, but he did inform me that it was just a cat, with a look that said, "Why on EARTH would you scream like that about a cat!" Of course, I didn't know it was a cat.
In my life, there have been plenty of bats in the house, and mice and even rats, but never cats. I can assure you though, had I seen what it was and that it was coming, I wouldn't have freaked out like that.
So, the cat scared me. I think, though, that I just might have scared the cat a bit more. It ran for the door, which leads us to believe that's how it must have come in in the first place, but the door was closed. I went to try to open the door, but then, of course, the cat ran the other direction (back onto the patio). It stood for a few seconds on the table, beautiful orange and white hair on end, tail enormous and then whoosh, it ran into the kitchen and as far as possible under the cupboards where it would stay for a good portion of the evening.
At this point, I felt like a real idiot for not having shut the kitchen and bathroom doors before going to open the patio door. All of those times we had a bat in the house haven't prepared me for anything!! I still forget to shut the door! In the hopes that the cat would leave on its own during the night, we left the hutong door open a crack. I insisted on leaving it open because I didn't want to have to torture the cat in the morning to get it out (it had already been in our place for at least a couple of days without food). Unfortunately, I'm paranoid, so leaving the door open meant that I didn't sleep well at all last night. I started awake about every half hour or whenever there was any noise. At a couple different times I got up to see if the cat had left yet so I could shut the door. It wasn't the case.
So, today's been a bit rough. I sort of feel like I have a hangover or something. On the up side, classes were super easy and there were no major happenings after school. I came home, had two sips of red wine and crashed for about an hour. I'd like to just go to sleep now, but I have work to do :-(
So, until the next incident...
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Another busy week.
It's Sunday morning. The weeks are flying by now. Last Sunday, we went to brunch at Frank (the upper school principle) and Louise's (humanities teacher) house. I was a little nervous about it at first, because I wasn't sure who else would be there, but it turned out to be great. Dan spent a great deal of time talking to Delinda (a Chinese teacher) about the origins of French. She claimed French was influenced by Chinese and Dan argued stubbornly that it wasn't possible. For whatever reason, he was convinced (and wrongly so), that an alphabet couldn't come from a character based language. I'm really not sure who was right or who won in the end, but the argument lasted a while.
I spent some time talking to several different people and eventually, when most people had left, Dan and I stayed a little while longer to taste whiskeys with a couple of other teachers. It's odd, because I was convinced that I didn't like whiskey, but whatever Frank had was really good. They were all single malt and I guess that makes a huge difference and we tried three different kinds. I think both Dan and I were surprised that we actually liked it!
Tuesday, I had climbing club again. It's getting a little more interesting, but the kids are still kind of a pain in the butt. There is one child who cannot follow anything we're doing and neither Bruce nor I can figure out exactly why. When I tried to teach him how to tie the knot for his harness, I showed hime 6 to 8 different times, using different techniques. He still can't do it and this is the third time we've had climbing. Apparently he was no more of a whiz with belaying. It doesn't seem to be a language thing, but I have a hard time believing it's spatial either since he's in fourth grade.
Anyway, after climbing I went to the hutong. Dan and I went out for dinner and then to the police station. Apparently, letting somebody stay with us wasn't a great idea. A cop came by the hutong when just Peter was there and told him that we all needed to register (let the cops know we're living there). I had been under the impression that because we were registered elsewhere in Beijing, we didn't have to register there as well. I was wrong. So, we walked down to the police station and asked several different cops whether we needed to register or not. They were all soooooo nice and it is so painfully obvious that cops in China don't have much to do on a regular basis (aside from pushing paper work, anyway). They even had a sign on the desk that said, "Please speak nicely to us" in Chinese. Softies! Long story short, they didn't seem to think we needed to register, but they took my phone number and said they'd call me the next day. Imagine cops in NYC doing that. "Hey, I'm not sure, but I'll find out and call you, ok?" Yeah, right! They did call, though! Not the next day, but the day after. They told us we had to register and what we needed to bring. So, that's what we have to do today.
Wednesday, I had soccer practice. It was fun, and I have a great group of girls. They're really keen to learn and they're always willing to try something new. They had their second game on Thursday. They only played six on six, which was good because that's how many kids we had for the game. The girls totally outplayed the other team, but lost by one unlucky goal. We had more shots, but since we were playing with really little goals, it was tough going. I'm really proud of them! Our next game is Tuesday against WAB, though. They're supposed to be really good, so I'm just hoping we don't get creamed!
Oh, yeah, and this week I did something really cool. I figured out how to simplify the reports that we have to do for midterm and end of term. It took me all afternoon on Wednesday to figure it out (I had no idea what I was doing to begin with), but when I finally did, I was estatic! Basically, I created short cut keys for fillng in a grid. It isn't too complicated, but I got a lot of praise for it (and, more importantly, I was proud of myself)!
Friday and Saturday Dan and I didn't do anything other than exercise really. I made chocolate chip cookies to totally undo all of the good things that we did, though. Today, we're planning on going in to the hutong to register and then hopefully do some climbing.
I spent some time talking to several different people and eventually, when most people had left, Dan and I stayed a little while longer to taste whiskeys with a couple of other teachers. It's odd, because I was convinced that I didn't like whiskey, but whatever Frank had was really good. They were all single malt and I guess that makes a huge difference and we tried three different kinds. I think both Dan and I were surprised that we actually liked it!
Tuesday, I had climbing club again. It's getting a little more interesting, but the kids are still kind of a pain in the butt. There is one child who cannot follow anything we're doing and neither Bruce nor I can figure out exactly why. When I tried to teach him how to tie the knot for his harness, I showed hime 6 to 8 different times, using different techniques. He still can't do it and this is the third time we've had climbing. Apparently he was no more of a whiz with belaying. It doesn't seem to be a language thing, but I have a hard time believing it's spatial either since he's in fourth grade.
Anyway, after climbing I went to the hutong. Dan and I went out for dinner and then to the police station. Apparently, letting somebody stay with us wasn't a great idea. A cop came by the hutong when just Peter was there and told him that we all needed to register (let the cops know we're living there). I had been under the impression that because we were registered elsewhere in Beijing, we didn't have to register there as well. I was wrong. So, we walked down to the police station and asked several different cops whether we needed to register or not. They were all soooooo nice and it is so painfully obvious that cops in China don't have much to do on a regular basis (aside from pushing paper work, anyway). They even had a sign on the desk that said, "Please speak nicely to us" in Chinese. Softies! Long story short, they didn't seem to think we needed to register, but they took my phone number and said they'd call me the next day. Imagine cops in NYC doing that. "Hey, I'm not sure, but I'll find out and call you, ok?" Yeah, right! They did call, though! Not the next day, but the day after. They told us we had to register and what we needed to bring. So, that's what we have to do today.
Wednesday, I had soccer practice. It was fun, and I have a great group of girls. They're really keen to learn and they're always willing to try something new. They had their second game on Thursday. They only played six on six, which was good because that's how many kids we had for the game. The girls totally outplayed the other team, but lost by one unlucky goal. We had more shots, but since we were playing with really little goals, it was tough going. I'm really proud of them! Our next game is Tuesday against WAB, though. They're supposed to be really good, so I'm just hoping we don't get creamed!
Oh, yeah, and this week I did something really cool. I figured out how to simplify the reports that we have to do for midterm and end of term. It took me all afternoon on Wednesday to figure it out (I had no idea what I was doing to begin with), but when I finally did, I was estatic! Basically, I created short cut keys for fillng in a grid. It isn't too complicated, but I got a lot of praise for it (and, more importantly, I was proud of myself)!
Friday and Saturday Dan and I didn't do anything other than exercise really. I made chocolate chip cookies to totally undo all of the good things that we did, though. Today, we're planning on going in to the hutong to register and then hopefully do some climbing.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Being a busy bee...
It goes without saying that I have been busy since I got here at the beginning of August. The last couple of weeks, however, have been even busier. Dan arrived on the 26th, which was nice, because I missed him, and not, because his flight got in really late and we only had a few hours together since I had to work the next day. I had him doting on me for a full week before he had to start work. He brought me a couple of awesome presents, a necklace and matching earrings and a spice rack (really great because all I had in the apartment up till that point was salt).
This week was the first week both of us were working and it was a rough adjustment. We spent a couple of nights at the hutong, a night apart and a couple of nights at the Chaoyang apartment. Rough as commuting can be, it's totally worth it, I think, to have the hutong. I've had a lot of work to do, but I've been managing. I haven't relaxed too much though.
Last night was pretty cool though, and I'm really glad Dan was able to come with me. There was a dinner for work at the Landgent Courtyard. Basically, it's this enormous, beautifully redone courtyard that the board uses to wine and dine people. We left on school busses at 5:30 and got there around 6. There were drinks ready when we got there and they spent very little time making speeches, maybe 15 minutes. We met the founder of the school, Mr. Nee, a thirty-two year old realestate tycoon who does not look like he has that much money. Then, we had a really nice dinner, buffet style, but a really nice variety of asian food. They served us wine that they were very proud of, from France, and great dessert. In all, it was a really nice evening and we were back to the school by about 8:30. Oh, and I forgot to mention what was probably the most Chinese aspect of the whole evening, the presents. On our way out, we were told to choose two presents each and they ranged from business card holders and wallets to silk scarves and ties. They were very nice gifts, but I still think it's a bizarre thing to do.
So, now it's Friday and Dan and I don't have plans this weekend. It's great! I think I'd be happy to be a slug for a couple of days. On Sunday, we have a brunch to go to, but it's the next building over, so it's hardly a task!
This week was the first week both of us were working and it was a rough adjustment. We spent a couple of nights at the hutong, a night apart and a couple of nights at the Chaoyang apartment. Rough as commuting can be, it's totally worth it, I think, to have the hutong. I've had a lot of work to do, but I've been managing. I haven't relaxed too much though.
Last night was pretty cool though, and I'm really glad Dan was able to come with me. There was a dinner for work at the Landgent Courtyard. Basically, it's this enormous, beautifully redone courtyard that the board uses to wine and dine people. We left on school busses at 5:30 and got there around 6. There were drinks ready when we got there and they spent very little time making speeches, maybe 15 minutes. We met the founder of the school, Mr. Nee, a thirty-two year old realestate tycoon who does not look like he has that much money. Then, we had a really nice dinner, buffet style, but a really nice variety of asian food. They served us wine that they were very proud of, from France, and great dessert. In all, it was a really nice evening and we were back to the school by about 8:30. Oh, and I forgot to mention what was probably the most Chinese aspect of the whole evening, the presents. On our way out, we were told to choose two presents each and they ranged from business card holders and wallets to silk scarves and ties. They were very nice gifts, but I still think it's a bizarre thing to do.
So, now it's Friday and Dan and I don't have plans this weekend. It's great! I think I'd be happy to be a slug for a couple of days. On Sunday, we have a brunch to go to, but it's the next building over, so it's hardly a task!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
