Final Exam Week

Monday, December 15. This week, I'm giving a Final Exam to all of my classes. One part is listening, one part is speaking (tongue twisters), one part is matching proverbs to the correct situation, one part is writing (physical appearance description) and one part is filling in the blanks with the correct final sound for "ed" (t, d, id). It will be interesting to see how my students do. I'm guessing it's going to be all over the place.

After my classes, I go to talk to Mr. Wu (Jack) about the student I met with on Sunday (Kandy). He confirms that he is a very good student but that his marks in English are not as strong as his other subjects. I'm so impressed that he cares enough to make the extra effort.

Cynthia (Chinese English teacher) brought me a bagful of oranges from her hometown. They are wonderful. So sweet. Better than the ones I've bought in the markets. Give some to Tiffany and David because I had so many.

Dinner with Tiffany and David: fabulous eggplant, cabbage, and beef with garlic. Tiffany is now turning out excellent Chinese food!

Tuesday, December 16. No classes today. Spend a big part of the day grading the first two classes of final exams. Now this is fun - not! Still revising essay for Foreign Teachers Competition with Mr. Zhang. Someone from gas company comes to check our equipment. Fortunately, Cynthia is with them so she can translate. I grasp the opportunity to explain about the problem with my shower and the hot water.

Thursday, December 18. I have class this morning, and a small disaster is barely averted. When I go into the classroom for Class 05, the computer is not working. And part of my final exam involves showing pictures (via powerpoint) so the students can describe physical appearance using the descriptive words we've covered in class. So I race up to Mr. Zhang's office in a panic. There's a big discussion in Chinese swirling around me, and apparently it is decided that I can take Class 5 to another classroom (Class 1 is doing something else). Of course, the other classroom is on another floor so this takes up precious time. Oh well, time to be calm and cool. Everything goes OK after that, thankfully.


After class, I meet JuJu to go to the Bank of China. I stupidly left my ATM card at the neighborhood branch last Sunday when withdrawing cash and just realized it yesterday. So she's going to help me try to get another one. We start by going to the main BOC on Tiantai Lu. There we find out that it will take at least two weeks to get a new card. This is another small disaster as I am leaving soon to travel, which means that I won't be able to access that account (the one my WorldTeach stipend - it's too small to call a "salary"! - is paid into) while I'm away. However, then someone has the bright idea to call the branch to see if it's still there. And amazingly, it is! So JuJu and I high-tail it over to the branch, and there's my card. Of course, I practically have to promise my first-born child to get it back. They want to see my passport; I don't have my passport with me. But I do have my CT driver's license which has a photo i.d. That seems to suffice, along with my signature which matches the signature on the back of the ATM card. I'm sure this would never have been so easy if JuJu hadn't been with me.


We speed walk back to the school because I'm meeting Lydia for lunch. She works for the City of Zhuzhou in the "Foreign Affairs" department. (We met when she and her colleague, Mr. Fu, came to the school to talk to me.) Today they take me to a new restaurant near the school that just opened last night. It's both a Western and Chinese restaurant, and at first we sit in the Western section. But then I make it clear that I want to eat Chinese food, so we go upstairs, where the view is better anyway! Lydia is very nice and I really enjoy talking to her. Mr. Fu is also very nice, and he seems to understand English quite well, but his spoken English is not as good as Lydia's.

Later, I cut out fifty or so red and yellow ornaments to go on the Christmas "wish" tree that Tiffany has made for the English Corner Christmas party this afternoon. Fortunately, my afternoon class goes smoothly with no unexpected problems cropping up! I'm leary now after the experience this morning.

At 5 p.m., we have English Corner for the Senior 2 and 3 students. Tiffany came up with the idea of having a "Christmas party" and has executed virtually the entire thing. She and David bring down their artificial Xmas tree and their iPod with lots of Christmas music (we use my speakers), they have bought lots of cookies, juice and other treats, and have photocopied the lyrics to some Christmas songs. So we sing Christmas songs, eat cookies, and talk a lot about Christmas and what the students will be doing for Chinese New Year (Spring Festival). Tiffany has also cut out a Christmas tree from stiff green paper and we have red and yellow paper ornaments to hang on it. Before hanging them, however, each student must write a "wish" or a "hope" on the ornament. We explain that the wishes can be personal ("I hope to do well on my exams.") or global (peace on earth). It all is a huge success, and some of the teachers stop by as well.

Friday, December 19: It's a very foggy day. When I open the curtains across my sliding glass doors this morning, I can't see anything! As in nada, nothing, rien. I'm on the 4th floor and completely fogged in!

I have two classes this morning. Thank god giving exams is over. It is so boring just to stand in front of the class, trying to make sure that students are not "helping" each other. I'd much rather be teaching. I take a nap in the afternoon. Not feeling perfect. Probably just exhaustion from the boredom of giving exams!

We are still trying to get to the Zhuzhou orphanage where we want to volunteer. Apparently, there's a formal registration process that requires photos and other red tape. Sandi, our Chinese friend, has volunteered to go with us the first time so we have had a hard time coordinating our schedules with hers. We have tentatively planned to go this afternoon, but Sandi calls to say that there is a flu outbreak at the orphanage so they are not letting anyone in. So I guess we will have to wait until after Spring Festival break to do this.

Despite the cancellation of orphanage outing, Sandi comes to visit for awhile in the evening. It is great to see her. We will not see her again until February, more than likely.