Dear Diary: Chapter Skip! Here's What you "Missed."

Huh.  It's been one month to the day since I last wrote.  That was a bit of an accident.  I thought I would do one to mark the end of summer between now and the last post.  Oh well!  Since I last made my way over to this little blog I have, more or less, gotten over my bout of post-travel depression.  I spent my last days of summer vacation here in Beijing mostly just lying about the place reading with a couple trips to the Great Wall thrown in, a scoot over to the Botanical Garden, and a day trip over to the Temple of Heaven.  

Camped in this tower on the Great Wall.

So crowded!   

I have 30 photos of me unable to remember what a smiles looks like.
Enjoy the distance between me and the lens.  

School is back in session.  It’s week three and, yeah, it’s easy and don’t have any real behavior issues or anything that stand out.  I’ve already had that one kid who pushed my buttons in just the right order (whom I then made cry and was damn good the next week.  What?  Don’t judge me.), those Love-Me-Teacher kids, the clever one who is bored right away and doesn’t understand why people don’t already speak better English… I’m at the three schools again this year, never the same place back-to-back, so I spend a lot of time packing and unpacking.  At two of my schools, I have a desk so I can leave a kit of Things I Might Need (scissors, paper, markers, stickers, tissues…) there.  Otherwise, me and my bike are doing well together even though she is already falling apart.  Seat fell off last week.  It’s like, they cut part of the bike too short where the seat needs to attach, so it just barely has a piece of metal to attach to.  Ah well.  I like the fear of imminent impalement in the morning.  

I've been seeing a lot these lately.

That is actually quasi-relevant.  I've been seeing A LOT of these NT Live shows at the theater near my apartment.  Enough so that, yes, I did get copies of three of the plays I saw posters (Frankenstein, Of Mice and Men, and Coriolanus).  I also know the owner of the theater and cinema (apparently she runs/owns both) by name and she has staff say hello to me when she is not there.  True story of no real interest.  Last Friday there was a school trip to see a play at the theater.  Neat, okay. I don't speak Chinese, but free show and I always like seeing the tech work if nothing else.  At the end of the play, one of the staffers who works in the theater but not the cinema, I had at that point only been to the cinema, approaches Monica and mistakes her for me.  Quick clarification and he is chatting with the both of us.  The other teachers and headmasters were just like, "zomg!  Those are OUR foreigners!  My pet foreigners know the theater staff here!"  A couple people took pictures.  It was very odd and amusing.  Anyway, saw Skylight and The Curious Incident of the Dog at Nighttime last weekend.  Hated the first and LOVED the second.  

School being back in session means I am back into a Routine.  Is there any word more depressing in the English language?  Rou-Tine.  It even sounds dreary.  There are some perks though.  First, this means, again, Monday-Friday (Or Monday-Monday-Saturday for two weeks there where school was just, "hey, yeah, you work every day, okay?"), I get fed.  It might not be the BEST breakfast or lunch, but I find Free is one of my favorite flavors.  This was one of the breakfasts last week. Porridge, a cake square, some sort of potato roll, rice, and veggies.  More school stuff...

Someone thought my face wasn't seen around the school enough, so
now there is an ENTIRE HALLWAY of pictures of me.
How embarrassing.  I am wearing the same shirt. 

My kiddos are pretty good, really.  

Something is going on.  Of that, I am possibly aware.

Happy Teachers' Day!
Why, that's me!!!!

Rachel is in Beijing now.  She is working at a different school about five miles or so away working in third and fourth grade, lucky bugger, and I am encouraging her to do her own blog writing not so much because she needs to preserve her memories or whatever but because I will be a major character in her writing and I love to read about me.

This is a picture of pretty much everyone Rachel knows in China.
Look at me, all front and center.  Come on, Rachel! Blog!

So, I think it is pretty clear why I haven't felt pressed to write much or post just for the sake of posting.  I've been exceedingly dull lately.  I did, however, just drop $1,800 on a plane ticket for Independence Holiday Oct 1-7th.  I'll get back from vacation at 10:40 Wednesday night.  I MIGHT get back to my apartment before 1am with work the next day at 7:30. Whatever.  I'd rather be tired than stay home any day.  

So, you know.  There should be a digital postcard sometime in the next three weeks.