today I woke up late,  didn't have a shower and went to work.  not much else happened.  I have to give a 'demo class' tomorrow - at first merte and I thought we would sit in on a class,  to see how it would be taught.  not so.  I have two classes of 60 students,  and I have to give a 'presentation' on scotland and where I come from.  so,  I did the whole Haggis/Highland Games/Whiskey/Tartan thing as a powerpoint presentation (if the computer in the classroom doesn't work then I'm fucked) - then,  ten minutes before we finished in the office (our hours are 8 - 12,  then 2 - 6.  there's fuck all to do,  I just drink coffee and try to look busy.  it's a bastard they can all see my computer monitor,  but I just look at English websites like it's the done thing and pretend I'm working) he asked what vocabulary I was going to be teaching them!  what a fanny!  merte's gone all-out on her germany thing.  she's going on about what concept questions she's gonna ask and stuff.  pie that,  I'm just gonna talktalktalk for both my 45 minute sessions.  tomorrow morning I might have a tin of beer and a heap of beta-blockers (did you know they were invented by a Scot?  FACT!  I found that out today doing my research,  get me) and just float my way through the day.  what would Joan Crawford do?  she'd probably take a wire coathanger and beat shit out the kids,  but I'm not taking things that far.  yet.

at dinner time we eat in the canteen with the kids - and the food is properly howling.  miss liu was in the corridor to my apartment for some reason,  and told me to try the noodles and friend rice because they were 'delicious'.  miss liu lies.  

so,  after binning a bowlfull of noodles and fried rice,  merte and I shared a beer,  then got a bus into town to try find a postbox - which was a pretty hard task.  no one seemed to know where one was - and a few people looked at us like we were asking if they knew where the abortion clinic was (merte is 68).  

and this afternoon,  I took a walk to the local shop (which is 15 minutes away!) to buy cigarettes.  the woman who worked there found it hysterical that the extent of my mandarin is pretty much "ni hao ma?",  and followed me around the aisles screaming "NI HAO MA?  HAHAHAHA!".  I figure this is pretty much why nothing in china gets done - everyone is so childlike and busy shrugging their shoulders and not getting frustrated that no-one is actually doing anything.

but I bought 'breakfast biscuits'.  I have no idea why.  'Leisure Comfortable Food!'  I don't even eat breakfast.  I bet they taste like meat.

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