Che dan

That's Chinese for bullshit. I'm starting to learn the really important words now...

The rain has stopped. As a result, we finally had the opening ceremony for the school season today as it is held outside on the athletic field. It is definitely interesting. The sound of students chanting at the top of their voices is somewhat scary - I have to say it reminded me of the Germans in WWII. They teach the students to march and follow orders. Bizarre... they are brought up doing it so I don't think most students think twice about it... and you can see some students in the middle kind of horsing around so you know they don't all take it seriously... but it is nonetheless a little unsettling. We teachers had to sit on stools for 2 hours during this assembly and not understand a word of it...

October 1 to 7 is a holiday. I'm not real sure what it is for, but they have it every year. The dates vary, though, and it wasn't announced when the actual days off would be until like 10 days ago. So that makes it very hard to make plans, get reservations, that sort of thing and get a decent price. It's also a crazy time to travel because it's when all the people who have moved to the cities go home to visit their families in their home town - so everything's really crowded. I checked into going to a couple places that people have recommended in Vietnam and Thailand but the prices are just too high. It'll have to wait until another time I suppose. Here's the real kicker, though. To get 7 days off in a row, we have to make up for the weekend that we're off so we have to teach on the Sunday before the holiday and the Sunday after. Isn't that just crazy?  Why they don't just add the days on to the end of the year I don't know. Obviously teachers in the States would never agree to do it, but here it isn't questioned (by the Chinese). Maybe I can now say I'm a Sunday school teacher!

One of the teacher's wife is Chinese and she has agreed to give Chinese lessons for us. She will do a good job I think. Her husband, David, is like the VP here and is from Scotland. She's the first Chinese person I've met who speaks English with a Scottish accent. David is excited about the Scottish election tomorrow for independence from England.  Win or lose, he wants to go celebrate tomorrow after school so I thnk we'll go back to the pool hall we discovered last weekend. I was hardly aware of this vote, but being in a room with English and Scots, I've gotten my fill of it!

With the rain gone, I'm hoping to get out a bit more this weekend. Some of the weirdness of the Chinese culture is getting to me right now, and I don't like it when women cut in front of me in line because they know I won't say anything! (Or can't say anything!). It's che dan!