Sino-psis

again, since i'm not really doing anything of import here in kunming a la momenta, i think i will delve into the past to make up for lost/nonexistent blogs from my seedy shanghai days.

Friday is always a good day to get out of bed. Friday is Quiz day!!

So i have all two of my quizzes prepared and ready to go. This week happens to be my week for both of my english classes. and what i mean by that is, my two separate teaching triumvirates for english 6 and 9 have it set up this semester so that each teacher plans one whole week, and then it moves on to the next, and the next, and then back to me, etcetera etcetera. my luck makes it a doubly tough week, but it's good to keep working and not have any freetime. i like it better that way. what's worse is that next week i will have absolutely nothing to do and be bored shnitless. c'est la vie.

two sheafs of paper on my desk rarin and ready to go, and i have first period off, so i can sit and check my email, shut my eyes, read a book. the classes go smoothly, spread out throughout the morning. i give the quiz, sit back for twenty, take them up and give the students a short writing assignment to do. the approach of the weekend makes everyone happier, more sedate. you'd think it'd be the opposite, but the classes were very calm and perfunctory. in and out. have a good weekend, see you on monday sorta thing.

lunch time is cheerful. i go out on the street and eat at a local new establishment with excellent local fare. some eggplant and spicy tofu. an interesting fish dish with a creamy sauce. some soothing tea. this trip to the restaurant is better than the time i went after midterms. one of my ninth graders was there with his friends and they were trying to smoke a cigarette surreptitiously. i nabbed them with my eyes and he looked sheepish, but one of his friends still tried to hide to smoke behind the steam of his entree. jeez, at least have the sense to not try that stuff in front of a teacher. he's also the one who was texting answers on his celphone during a quiz. to someone in another class (which had the same quiz cuz i made it for all three classes). nothing ever happened. i took the phone and gave it to his class teacher, but i heard nothing after that. it seems that his parents make their payments on time, lucky for him.

so yeah, this time, i like the fare and the atmosphere. i go back to the office and hang out, kinda grading quizzes but mostly chatting with john g and talking about how short we hope the staff meeting is going to be. i teach john a game called jotto that jeff and i used to play all the time in the Oasis near honors dorms back at the ol alma gator. basically, you try to guess the other person's five letter word by using hints they give you as to how many letters in the word you guessed are in their word. no repeating letters, no paper. except, when teaching john, i allowed paper. that makes it easier, but also requires you to move a lot quicker and make logical jumps. an hour well spent.

the staff meeting is short and sweet. they gave us some ice cream.

we talked about testing and blah blah and jabberty jibbity. i sit at the front and pretend to look involved while spacing out and dreaming of electric sheep.

the night begins to come clearer. it's friday and there is all kinds of gut-appeasing food and drink to be found in the city. i make plans. people come together. and we go for sushi. Sushi Tei is a big chain in china and beyond that makes some delicious rolls for cheap. also, there is the added delight of a sushi train (not really a train, but i call it that, stop imagining trains, there are none) where you can pull off some rolls whenever you feel the itch. in order to make myself hungry for the sushi experience ( i never feel satisfied unless i eat the restaurant out of business) i went running on the track, stopping short to play some pickup frisbee. or was it football?

the boys of our foreign invaders have been pretty regular about getting together on the weekend and playing some sort of field sport. i prefer frisbee, but the all-consuming power of american football cannot be denied. i join in when my ankles are feeling compliant. cleats help immeasurably (thanks mom and dad for sending those along) and we tear up the grass looking for lanes and patterns and touches and scores. when the wind is cooperating, however, i'd play frisbee over football anyday. the loft and drift, the sharp jab, the hammer, the flick. and all the time running. cuts and sprints and cutbacks and fakes. never stopping because you know the other team will take advantage if you ever do. i certainly would. we play until we're tired and give everything. it's a good day for sport.

and sushi. at sushi tei, after one mouthwatering foray with scott, i've gotten it down to a science. mushrooms filled with crabmeat and katsu sauce on the side. a dragon roll filled with crunchy shrimp and leaves of avocado on top putting it to bed. spicy crab rolls, six of them, with a tangy flavor i keep going back for. fried salmon filets with the aforementioned katsu sauce. the works. and add on top of that some fatty salmon belly floating by on the elliot's tummy train. you've got a baibai pangpang de nanhaizi. a fat n sassy lil boy. refill on the green tea please, thanks.

we decide to just go to scott's place and hang out for a while. he's got a nice apartment in town and a good living room in which to chill. let's say we have.. kevin, alina, scott, jena, me, dee, lauren, and patrick. a nice crew. kevin has me on the floor rolling with his fake throwing up routine, alina watching on admiring her funny man and adding the odd supplemental information that makes their joint routine utter perfection. we talk into the night, sharing stories, reliving memories, creating fresh ones. i nuzzle up to jena - totally baffling dee who was sure that jena and scott were a couple - in order to finnagle a root beer out of her personal stockpile in the fridge. lauren is telling a story about koko's kitten, one of her favorite childhood stories, which kevin totally blasphemes by adding a sexual connotation to the gorilla-kitten relationship. that still cracks me up. dee tells his story about seven-toed whashisname who lost three toes on one foot in an accident. all of dee's stories are pretty gross, but undeniably hilarious. scott and jena make more intellectual conversation arise, commenting on the music or some tidbit. patrick challenges me to scrabble, which i accept. there is a popular drink in china that mixes green tea with whiskey. it is an acceptable mixture to all. i sleep on the floor in a nest i build, expecting jena or scott to make pancakes in the morning. fridays are way better than tuesdays.