The rollercoaster ride of all things sweet and sour have
continued over the last two months. To
say the least, it’s been emotional, but exciting. Never a dull moment in ZZ, but to spare you
from reading a very loooooong and detailed description of every gory detail, I
shall keep my ramblings short and focus more on using those sweet moments captured on
camera.
All Things Sour...
Strike!
Unfortunately, I have had some contract battles over
the last three months with administration at school. The good news is most of these things have
been sorted, but it’s been...difficult. Staying true to my roots, I did what any Ontario certified teacher would do...I went on strike for a half day and received what I had hoped for....resolution!
Goodbye, Friends.
When living abroad you meet great people...and then they
leave. That’s just the way it is and
it suuuuuuuuuucks!
Foreigners Smell Strange.
It happened. I ran out of deodorant. No problem...I’ll just
buy the Chinese brand. What’s the diff?
I was rank after using it for two solid weeks. It just didn’t work for me. I smelled horribly.
I mentioned my dilemma to my T.A. in hopes
she would know where I can buy some type of deodorant I was familiar with.
Her response...
“Yes, I have noticed you have smelled for almost two weeks.
Don’t worry. Most foreigners smell strange to us. But normally, you don’t smell THAT bad. I just figured you were on your period”. (Fact: the Chinese believe that most things
having to do with overall women’s’ health is intricately related to your
monthly cycle).
End of Year.
The end of the school year came and went, which meant I had
to say goodbye to my toddlers. It was a sad day and there were some tears. We learned so much together and I grew a wee
bit attached.
All Things Sweet...
Shaolin Temple.
I love touring temples and have yet to give in to the belief
that “once you’ve seen a temple, you’ve seen ‘em all...”
Longman Grottoes.
A day trip to Luoyang with some fabulous women to
look at some old limestone.
Expat Love.
All
night shenanigans...
I celebrated my thirty-third birthday in July and decided
to treat myself to a weeklong vacation in the south of China. This place is bliss!
so many folk..
yangshuo markets...
The Throne.
The toilet in my apartment did not work. Most days, it just
would not flush and the maintenance man refused to fix it because “it not
broken enough”. Finally, after five and
a half months of me being bothersome to admin, I was able to move to another apartment where the toilet always flushes. The luxury of being able to deuce at home was
almost forgotten...
New School Year.
I have new nursery students and it's been an amazing first two weeks. They are sooooo cute and I look forward to the next year with them. My coworkers are pretty rad, too.
Reflecting.
The thing about proofing your own blog- you can plainly see just how unreasonable you've been as a guest in a new country. The sour really wasn't that bad...was it?
Thanks for reading :)
