Zheige / Neige! - This n' That (Oct. 27, 2007)

As some of you may already know...I am having issues with my visa. My tourist visa expires in less than a week and there's lots to be done yet before I can get a work visa. It is the school's job to get all this in order so after nagging them for weeks I have decided to 'go on strike'...somewhat I guess. Yesterday I told the headmaster at the school that I would not be teaching again until I have the work visa in my passport. So these last 24+ hours I have been able to relax (which is great because today, Tuesday, is normally my most crazy day of teaching).

While I am not much into Halloween I thought it would be fun to buy a pumpkin (though the shape is a little different from the ones in Canada) and make a Jack O' Lantern. If it has not rotted by the time I start teaching again I might even use it for teaching purposes.

This somewhat unexpected time off from teaching has also given me plenty of time to do other things such as cooking and baking (made granola, banana bread, bread, soup, hotpot etc.), watch a movie or two, write some letters, do some reading, laundry (which I LOVE to do - no sarcasm) etc. It's been good!

I got word this morning though that tomorrow (Wednesday) I will be travelling to a city about 5 hours from here (1 way) to get some visa stuff started. We'll be leaving bright and early and hoping to make it back by evening.

This last weekend I went to a city (2 hours away) to meet with other foreigners. I love how it doesn't matter what home you go to...there are almost always different instructions on how to flush the toilet. Everything is definitely 'Made in China' and clearly everything is China-quality (though that is a generalization). Funny the things you notice.

Owh, and found out that the city's zoo actually has a zebra that's not actually a zebra but a white horse with black striped painted on it. Odd. For some reason I think zoos in Canada couldn't pull something like that off.

I enjoy life here. I love my students. I love how today I was walking in town and many of my students (who had a dinner break) saw me and came to ask me why I had not been teaching. It was nice to hear that there were many sad "ahhhhhhh's" in classrooms when it was announced that I would not be teaching. I love my students, some or most of them like me - it's a wonderful situation.

Owh, and as you can see - those are my lettuce plants in the picture. Same lettuce as 2 months ago. Same size but not dead. My goodness, they must be working on some massive root systems. It won't be growing very fast anytime soon because the weather is significantly colder now (no heating inside the homes so inside is significantly cooler as well). Perhaps I will be able to eat the lettuce before I leave "The best place in the world".