It never fails to amaze me how quickly things can change for me in this country. Good to bad, bad to worse, worse to "Screw China, I'm moving home" and last but not least, and my personal favorite, "I can't believe I was considering leaving?! This country rules and I will continue to ride this steady wave of good fortune until my visa wreaks of expiration." Today was perhaps, one of the most promising days I have yet to have in this country. I got a really great tutoring gig, tutoring a 14 year old boy who is taking the TOEFL exam in December. The pay is great and his family is awesome. I got lucky, this is a genuinely cool kid. His pronunciation is great, but his vocabulary is definitely lacking. But that doesn't even matter. More importantly, we have great chemistry, and I feel that 2 solid months of one on one tutoring is definitely going to expand both his vocabulary and grasp of the English language. And at the end of the day that's really all that matters. I have finally stumbled across a job, and I use th term 'stumbled' loosely, that pays me on time and who respects me as an educator. Finally, 5 months into living in this country, I have found a job that doesn't hassle me when its time to get paid, and who doesn't harass me in terms of lesson planning and student “happiness.”
Living in a place like China, it really is the little day to day things that happen to you that make you take a step back and reevaluate your life here, while simultaneously allowing you to realize that most of these things will not be a part of your life once you leave China. Take, for example, the 17 year old girl who works at the neighborhood coffee joint that I frequent. This evening, and I'm not kidding you, she took the index finger on her right hand and poked it straight into my left breast. Yep. Poked the shit out of my t*t. Why? I dunno. Perhaps the fact that she has never seen a woman over five foot four who has tits? Could be, I suppose. Any other country in the world and I would have perhaps reacted. But she just giggled, completely oblivious to how what she had just done might be regarded as offensive to a Westerner, such as myself. Seeing as Starbucks is a pretty good walk from my house and job, I frequent this particular neighborhood coffee place almost daily. Probably best not to rock the caffeine boat that takes me to work every evening.
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Oscar Wilde
“Life is too important to be taken seriously.” Oscar Wilde
Living in a place like China, it really is the little day to day things that happen to you that make you take a step back and reevaluate your life here, while simultaneously allowing you to realize that most of these things will not be a part of your life once you leave China. Take, for example, the 17 year old girl who works at the neighborhood coffee joint that I frequent. This evening, and I'm not kidding you, she took the index finger on her right hand and poked it straight into my left breast. Yep. Poked the shit out of my t*t. Why? I dunno. Perhaps the fact that she has never seen a woman over five foot four who has tits? Could be, I suppose. Any other country in the world and I would have perhaps reacted. But she just giggled, completely oblivious to how what she had just done might be regarded as offensive to a Westerner, such as myself. Seeing as Starbucks is a pretty good walk from my house and job, I frequent this particular neighborhood coffee place almost daily. Probably best not to rock the caffeine boat that takes me to work every evening.
“If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone.” Maxwell Maltz
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions” Rainer Maria Rilke
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” Zora Neale Hurston
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions” Rainer Maria Rilke
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” Zora Neale Hurston
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Oscar Wilde
“Life is too important to be taken seriously.” Oscar Wilde
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