February 1st, 2016

10:58 am

It took a bit of doing, but I managed to remember the entire skeleton of what happened yesterday. 

Besides the inevitable rush over for 9 am, I'm happy to report that I figured out where the mysterious power button on the photocopier is- half way down the thing on the right side, there's a little cover for the button. It gave me a bit of a shock, but that's probably a security feature. Not only that, but I had to unjam the thing moments later- I'm well on my way to mastering the photocopier. 

Just don't ask me about double sides copies. Or changing paper sizes, or the layout. Basically anything that requires navigating the menus.

I needed to cut up 12 pages worth of slips, half of which was the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood' and the other half was 'Beauty and the Beast', separating the slips into piles for the groups in class to organize into the story's correct order. Slip cutting efficiency is ALSO something I've improved on. Eschewing the generally accepted paper cutter (you know what I'm talking about, the flat surface with a machete attached? There's always that sharp intake of air before you make a cut in case THIS is the cut that costs you a piece of finger), I borrowed a pair of scissor from reception. Already I'm ahead of the game (and it was easy to ask for- just make your index and middle fingers into a 'V' and start with the cutting motion) so now I can cut the three identical pages at once... ah ah ah, but you have to stop after every cut and put the three identical slips into SEPARATE piles from the start- it took me longer than it should have to learn this lesson, but I've got it now- I took the useless headers of each page and folded them into a slip carrying case. And my final improvement over the process was to stop cutting about a millimeter or so from the edge, to just let the three pieces dangle over the table and I could just pluck them one at a time to throw into their piles.

For reference sake, the last time I did this class I only managed to cut up the story for 'Little Red Riding Hood' and throw it all together into a single pile for me to try and separate on the fly in the class itself- this time I cut both stories, all separated into their individual piles, and I had time to go to the bathroom before class. A CUT and dry metric for improvement!

A CUT! Get it? Like cutting paper? You know what, it's fine.

Nobody gets me. 

(You should all watch, uh, the Disney show "American Dragon" about this kid that turns into a dragon and fights monsters. His dog always says the "Nobody gets me" line- the main character is voiced by Ruffio!)

My first class was a one-on-one with Alvin, and it was fairly excrutiating. He doesn't seem too comfortable with, you know, people, so it takes him a long time to answer regardless of whether or not he knows the correct response. Plus, based off his expression, I couldn't tell whether he liked/disliked the class, me... anything actually. He did tell me he went to a party the night before, talking with friends and eating lots of food. That's good, that is an identifiable human experience.

Next was the class that called for the slips of story sentences. There were fewer people than I was expecting, so I just had two groups instead of three- they blew through 'Little Red Riding Hood', but there was also a bit more Chinese being spoken than I was happy with (really, any is probably too much for this level of an English class) so I changed how we were going to follow up. Instead of just handing out the 'Beauty and the Beast' slips I, first, read it out loud (hopefully that didn't make the exercise too easy) and I wrote on the board things to keep in mind when searching out sequences, and "Once upon a time" goes at the beginning, "happily ever after" was at the end... and then I took a single pile of slips for 'Beauty and the Beast' and evenly divided them among the class. They weren't allowed to look at each others slips (they did a little, but it's not like I can enforce anything, it was fine) they needed to speak to each other and search out the rest of the story, ccompiling it in the center of the table.

They got it with a few minutes to spare, I was pleased with how it turned out, particularly when the students reported it was challenging, but a good kind of challenging. Well, they said it was challenging, and it didn't look like they had THAT hard a time, and they also seemed to have fun. Ergo, good kind of challenging. It worked out well.

I went to lunch with Dany who, somehow, doesn't have a Food Bazzar card, and this was, again, somehow, his first time there. Okay. So I explained how it worked- he was a little hesitant to put money on a card, and I didn't want him to end up with a regular card when a Chinese speaker could get him that sweet employee discount card that I have, so I offered to get his food on my card. I was pretty sure I had enough money on it for both of us. (Checking the receipt, we purchased 42 Yuan of food, and I had about 52 on my card to start- I live dangerously.)

We commiserated about English Corner stuff, and I talked about my Alvin class in the morning, and he told me about a woman that didn't seem to like him. It was okay.

My next class was about "Then and now" and talking about how things "used to" be- and in my class was that woman any was talking about! I was feeling her out to see if Dany had the right idea about her- she has a generally cold expression, but actually was friendly enough, and participated a lot in class. She has a blue rose tattooed on her right hand, in a place where tattoos or something of a rarity- particularly on women. She also gave the example of having "used to be in a relationship with her boyfriend" but now she isn't, and she's happier now. It was an interesting example to share with a class of strangers. She seems alright.

There was a final note in the lesson plan about noting the different usage of "used to"- there's talking about something you did in the past, but there's also the idea of getting "used to", say, spicy food. I suggested that we even said them a little differently in the west, a slower, more spaced apart "used to do X" compared to "oh yeah, I'm usta spicy food now". Am I crazy, or did that make sense? I thought it made sense.

After class I was set to review my lessons for the remainder of the day, but someone was in my chair talking with Stella. Okay, I'll stand over the counter and watch Dany's English Corner for a while... well, that lasted for a minute. Stella came over and asked me what I thought about the person she was talking to, a person named Tyler, who had a salon class with me once, but who thought it was too easy for him and wanted to be advanced to a business level of class. I told Stella I couldn't remember which class, or whether or not I noticed anything in particular about his English ability one way or another (she was doubtful at this point- about whether or not he should advance, or my ability to offer any constructive advice, you ask? Well, let's not think too hard about whether or not Stella finds me to be a reliable judge here). I offered to come over and chat with Tyler and see what I could see, and Stella agreed.

So Tyler, a sort of grizzled/handsome man, told me about himself, he was a programmer, he spoke Japanese and his company wanted him to learn English, his company was paying for his lessons here at Web, for an upcoming trip to the Philipines (sp?) that would last about a year- which Tyler was cool with, surprisingly, citing the nice weather and a trip he took there before.

Stella pulled me to the side and asked what I thought- well, there were some small grammar things that popped up occasionally, but from a general perspective, considering vocabulary and the ideas discussed, I thought he would do fine in a higher level class. He was in better shape than some people that I've run into in the business level, I'm not too worried about this call. Plus, if you say no, what's to stop him from switching to another English school, and taking that sweet, sweet tuition with him? (I didn't say that last part, but I can play the part of the company man). Stella told Tyler the good news (I assume, I was facebooking at this point, or reviewing my lessons for the rest of the day, but probably facebooking). Tyler left and gave me a friendly good-bye- was he grateful I helped him jump a grade? Eh, I don't know, sometimes a friendly good-bye is just that.

Dany was running into some trouble with his English corner... well, no, that's overstating it, but he wasn't getting the right answer to how to say a particular number on the board. So he called on me, and I thought that was a period, not a comma, so I gave the wrong answer. Everyone thought I was kidding around, but come on, I was pretty far away from the board- so THEN I gave the answer he was looking for. He wanted to hear where a westerner would place the "and" in nine thousand, four hundred AND fifty seven. Or whatever the number was.

Oh, and get this, Dany asked "Goliath" his name, and he said "Harry"! There's gratitude for ya.

My next class was with this girl Cici or Cee Cee or something like that, a private business class on business lunches... that she eventually revealed was the wrong class. This was class number 5, she had done class 4, but she had done the prep work for class 6. Or something, I don't really know for sure what happened. The result was a VERY informal class, we just had a nice chat about Chinese business dinner customs and I talked about western meals in general. Which is a good way to making yourself want some lasagna or spaghetti or whatever. Anyways, Cici was great- best of luck studying HR in Britain.

Finally I had the shapes, positions and spatial relationships class (er, maybe those last two things listed were redundant)- I give the basic info needed at the start- these are some shapes, here's what you call some positions, I drew the same pyramid/bird/mummy/camel combo I came up with last time I did this class, and got them to go through the on top of/to the right of/next to/under list. And then the really fun part! Okay, who's drawing first? You two are married or something... (I didn't say that part) you two first!

People were good sports, and it was a lot of fun. Everyone even stayed a little late so we could work through the last drawing of a TV that Bruce and Eva were trying to work out- Bruce was drawing and, as it was revealed later, had a mixed up idea about "left" and "right", and Eva, a quiet girl (at least, in English class) with a sort of monster cuteness- dyed hair and pancaked makeup had a sort of white-face effect. I had to help her get started with the descriptions, and soon the whole class was helping- there was Belinda getting so into telling this guy what to do, and getting so exasperated when he eventually got it wrong. Again, it was great.

Finally, that picture was done, and I asked if Belinda and her guy friend there wanted a turn even though class was over- she said no-o-o, inching towards the door, before finally saying "because his drawings are ugly!" and then laughing and rushing away. It was a total little kid move, wonderful.

But I've been holding up Steve and some others who wanted to go get dinner- and there was Alona coming with us- hey Alona I thought you "I disappeared, I know" yeah, that's exactly the word I was going to use.

And there's Tyler, a different Tyler, Tyler from when I first came to Dalian! I forgot his name, and wanted to rush over to check my notebook, but he just told me his name right away, but that's okay. I thanked him for getting me the Food Bazzar food card, it was a huge help- he said it was no big deal. I wanted to talk more with  him, it was like when Luke met back up with Biggs Darklighter, but I was holding up the dinner group- and I waved good-bye to Molly, only half aware that it was her last day here. In fact, everyone else was probably off to have a good bye thing for her, which, if nothing else, makes it somewhat surprising that Alona is in my group. Maybe only fully capable Chinese speakers were hitting up the good-bye thing? It makes sense- trying to speak in English is "work" to them, right?

So we hit up some fish place, it was slightly expensive and I can't say I was satisfied with my meal- it was way too spicy for me. I basically choked and coughed my way through bites and had a bunch of tea that was served in a tiny cup. We were in the very back of the restaurant at a circular table with a rotating middle platform made of glass- so you could pass dishes between people in a fun way. Everyone digs in with their own chopsticks and again it's little wonder I got sick, my immune system wasn't designed for this kind of sharing. Our party was made up of (going around the table) Sylar, Eilsa, Alona, myself, Steve, Bradley, and... that woman from my "used to" class, I forget her name. It was a nice time, even if I did want to go get something to eat afterwards. 

Walking out of the restaurant I was bouncing my head back and forth, trying to drink in everything about the place. Dark ambiance. Porcelein cows. Herbal tea on tap. The same black and white pictures from the 40's or so all over- plus Bruce Lee. Yes, I know who Bruce Lee is. (I was asked)

Sylar and Bradley walked me to Carrefour, so we didn't use the cross walk. And I told them you pedestrians are crazy here. We parted ways, but not before I was reminded that it would be better if I had a phone. Rather.

I picked up water, and walked home, singing along to my music- I've basically got my voice back, slightly rough, but close enough. I spent my evening polishing off the donut things I bought yesterday (disappointingly, there weren't many left) and having some oatmeal while watching parts 1-10 of the pilot episode of "Legend's of Tomorrow" I snatched off of youtube. It's the first episode of a tv show I've seen in a month. I enjoyed it, Rory as Rip Hunter making some jabs/nods to the Tardis. Very weird how Professor Stein roofied Jason Rusch, I think that was a bit of tone deafness on the part of the writers, but from everything I've seen they've always had to bend over backwards to make Jason's character not want to participate, but then get him involved anyways.

That was my day yesterday. Now I need to have a cold shower I'd rather avoid and get out of here. - 12:43 pm