Let me preface this entry with today was not at all bad. I cleaned out the teacher's desk I inherited, was greeted warmly with students with questions when I arrived, and class was fine. Also, tomorrow the weather looks good, which means...field day for the kids. I don't fully understand but if it's not rainy in the next two days, we don't teach and they compete in games(???). I've been asked by some of the senior 2 students (juniors) to be at the opening ceremony. Though I'm pretty sure I was just asked because the two girls have a crush on me, which as we talked about in the staff meeting is not okay. So hopefully, I won't teach tomorrow and will be able to register my apartment at the police station and figure out my apartment.
Class was good. They just checked in about their essay topic and when they will be absent. Because the TOEFL and SAT are so important, the kids take off weeks to study for them. I insist that my class, which is in English and teaching reasoning skills will be much better preparation but apparently I'm fighting years (thousands) of Chinese culture. They believe anything can be memorized it seems. What stinks is that the books aren't here for the kids, so some are leaving tonight and won't be back for a week or two and can't do their readings! Argh! Dipont has strange goals for the kids. My goal is to get them ready to handle the rigor of college. I've got my work cut out for me.
So after class I went to that great dumpling place in She-poo with Jessie as I thought I had to watch night study, but I got a call that it was actually Thursday night. I was planning to see the new mattress right after class and if good, move in, so I was a bit upset at Dipont's lack of organization about having me stay in the area when I could've gone home. Dinner was delicious and Jessie, who speaks Chinese fluently, even helped me pick out some medicine for my silly intestines that are so confused. Only 16 RMB (so like $2). Wow. There was also Chines medicine that looked so interesting that I wanted to try, but then decided to listen to my intestines and not complicate things further.
After getting the call from Tina about evening study, walking all the way home a bit irritated, and grabbing my apartment key, I returned to Gregory's. He wanted to see my apartment and check it, the kind fatherly-figure of a guy he is, and I welcomed his company. He helped me carry the things Lynette and I purchased at Walmart a few days prior. We arrived, all looked good and then I went to inspect the mattress. New mattress with stains (so NOT a new mattress) and, of course, some bugs. This isn't funny. This isn't acceptable. This is becoming exhausting. I just want to unpack my suitcase and do laundry in my space. How hard is it to find a mattress in China that is bug-free? I mean come on, the 2nd "new" mattress? I was ticked, my insides were unhappy, and as Donkey put in best in Shrek, "I need a hug."
But that's not true. No, the mattress part is true, the hug part I mean. I didn't need a hug, what I needed was bug bombs. Cue Mark's entrance. Gregory, Mark, and I walked to my building fully armed. Once inside we opened all the cabinets and everything. The bugs were inside the plastic and on top of the mattress (before they had just been inside), so we opened the plastic and stood the mattress up. Then, we set off the bombs. Oh yes, Mark brought RAID BUG BOMBS from the US and let me us two of them. The best part, other than sitting here knowing that bugs are dying in my apartment, is that Mark helped, and Gregory helped. People helped me. Sarah has not been very helpful, though it's her job to do so. She always complains she's busy when I need things from her. I mentioned when I called her that usually (and in my contract) employees live in a hotel until Dipont finds an apartment. I'm not, I agreed to live with Gregory. She asked me if I wanted a hotel, I said no. What I want is my apartment without bugs (this happened before I called Mark). Dipont has me with Gregory so they don't seem to be in a rush to help me without the pressure of the hotel expense. I told Sarah that I would need to speak to Lily tomorrow if we can't resolve this. Then Sarah started listening. It was frustrating.
Gregory said it's my tone. I don't get upset. I don't demand things. I'm too nice. Well, I don't like being upset and I don't like demanding things and...I like being nice. But in this culture, if you don't raise your voice, then nothing gets done. It's weird and difficult for me. I may come home really being able to assert myself, instead of waiting until I'm too upset to function well. That would be a good thing to learn. I just don't like imposing on others. I never have. But I need to learn that I have a right to ask my company to provide me with what they said they would. It shouldn't be an imposition; it's housing, which I require if I am to work, but I'm still bad at asking for what I want.
The worst part of today was that it started out partly sunny and I even saw blue sky AND then all this happened and the clouds came back. I was in the best mood I'd been and took out my camera and started taking pictures in the morning and then just lost my motivation for everything when I saw the bugs. Hopefully the raid will kill everything. Hopefully I won't have to teach tomorrow (though I still have evening study, which is honestly BS and I may not go if my apartment is not all straight--assert myself or something).
BUT...to put things in perspective, Mark's building had some robberies two nights ago. Someone climbed to the 16th floor from the OUTSIDE and then climbed down checking every window and hitting 4 apartments, including Tom's. Tom is a teacher at a different school who lost laptops and pretty much everything. The worst part? They were home sleeping. One of his twin boys saw a light and Tom is thankful that he didn't go investigate. In China, never ever ever confront the perp. They often attack you instead of fleeing. Last night, there were more robberies, though the 3 involved were caught...a different 3 from the other night. I offered Tom my condolences and a meal (haha, I don't even have a place to live yet) and gave him my number. He says his wife and him are pretty rattled...I bet. If ninjas sneak into my apartment, I'll freak. And I will do my best not to engage them. Listening to him I realized things could be worse. Things can always be worse. But hopefully things will get better.
Ninjas Thieves, Bugs in Bed, and Unhappy Intestines. What a country, eh? And now I'm laughing. Laughing at myself for willingly coming here and laughing at myself to keep me sane (or maybe not as sane as I'm now laughing to myself alone...hahaha).
Oh China, you....you big country you!
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