1) Breakthrough! Whitney, a teacher at our school, invited me over to her home to play piano with her son! What great acceptance!
2) Autumn's here. Temps dropped to fall tems overnight, but being in a very green area, I get to enjoy the scenery change.
3) Starbuck's finally arrived in Zhengzhou! Yes, it might be nothing too special, but it's one thing a person periodically yearns for when deprived of it. Sadly, now that ZZ has one...I'm over it.
4) "Adapt to the market," thought Lays Chinese executives. Thus they introduced Cheese lobster flavored chips. That fishy aftertaste is one not to forget.
5) This is where I spent all of November when not in a classroom. It's the reason for only 45 seconds. (I'll cover it in my conclusion)
6) Happy Thanksgiving! Once again I opted for a KFC bucket, because I could pre-order it to arrive punctually when I finished class...at 9:30. I devoured "Thanksgiving dinner" in 20 minutes, convincing myself I was enjoying the holiday celebration. Then 5 min later, I was already asleep. What a joyous holiday.
7) Christmas is here! And Easter? Chinese purchasing behaviors amuse me when small kinks such as this appear before (the likely undiscerning) customer.
8) After a year of searching and studying Chinese, my ability was finally good enough to locate the only Papa Johns in town. Let me tell you, so good.
That's the monthly news from Lake Wobehad in a blip, brought to you in our regular Sunday morning coffee sip break.
Somehow I've done it again and taken on more than I may wish, in that I had enough to do that this week alone I clocked 84 hours. A large part was due to a last minute tutoring request/demand. My Chinese boss calls me Monday night at 8 pm to introduce me to her friend. This friend said, "My son will take an English test in 10 days. He needs to make significant progress. Amy recommended you, so I would like you to spend 2 hours every night from 7:30-9:30 for the next 10 days tutoring my son, starting tomorrow. Do you currently have night classes?"
"No," I reply, "I prepare for the next days class."
"Great, so you're free at that time! I'll call my son now so you can meet him," he concludes as he presses 'call' on his phone.
His son is certainly a nice kid, but I am really looking forward to having my evenings back. This is another crazy week, but next week both Dominick and this last-minute student, Julian, will finish. Dominick leaves for Singapore next Monday and Julian tests on Saturday. One day at a time. Wth that I say:
Later Days,
Rick
