there's something floating in my toilet which seriously does not look like it exited from my anus - it looks like a squid,  or some form of sea-life.  I am sure I flushed the last time I took a dump,  so this means that either someone has been in my apartment,  or,  more disturbingly,  that it travelled from someone else's toilet round my u-bend and into my pan.  ugh.

I gave my first two classes today - I had to introduce myself and talk about scotland to two different classes.  I'd made a powerpoint presentation,  thinking 40 images of Haggis and Lochs and Kilts and Tartan and all that guff would be adequate for a 45 minute lesson,  only to find myself struggling and image-less with 20 minutes to spare (both times!  I was gonna talk really really slowly the second time,  but still found myself foiled).  the kids were actually pretty sweet,  apart from the spazzies and the full-on rebels (more on this later),  so both times we just talked and discussed glasgow and tangshan.  the hard part was actually getting them talking,  but after a lot of "any questions?  anybody?  no?  anybody?  no?" they kind of opened up.  it didn't help that there was row of teachers sitting up the back of the class assessing me.  miss liu was one of them,  so I was pretty intimidated - never mind the rest of the kids.  one of the kids asked me what I thought of the food in the school canteen,  and I managed to catch myself and say "the dumplings are really good!",  thus implying that the rest of the food is fucking ming without actually having to say it.  which is quite a feat,  considering I'd had a tin of tsingtao and a handful of beta-blockers before I went into the classroom and floated my way through the two teaching hours.

but yes,  I had to assess some students on sunday,  and there was one girl who went on the pure rage.  her english was proper good - she actually had cadence and everything - she was talking about her family.  then she almost had a breakdown,  saying that this school was like a prison and that her grandad was ill and she couldn't get away to see him (she's not wrong by the way - the classes here start at 630am,  and they don't finish until 930pm!  it's proppa HARDCORE).  

anyway,  today after my second class,  one of the kids came up and asked if he could speak to me - and started going on really quietly but urgently about how the school system was "too much,  something has to change but nothing ever does."  FUCKING HELL!  why do all the angsty kids come to me?  they must be able to sense what I was like when I was at school.  boost kid - go smoke a joint and chill out like I did when I was your age.  oh,  actually,  you can't - you can't get out the school.  sorry.

it seems like all the rebel kids want me to join forces with them and over-turn the system.  I'm gonna end up getting myself shot or beheaded or something.  at least it shows they feel they can talk to me.  (catherine said that one to me in an email when I told her,  I'm going to keep telling myself the same thing until I believe it.  or get shot,  whatever comes first.)

another school in tangshan has had cases of swineflu,  so I'm back to getting my temperature taken twice a day.  knowing my luck the school-gates will be locked for a while and we'll be on full-on quarantine and I won't be able to get out to buy fags.  oh well,  a good a time as any to quit.

mmm,  orion pie.  like a wagon wheel,  only shitter.

---

Use Hotmail to send and receive mail from your different email accounts. Find out how.