February 18th, 2016

February 18th, 2016

9:36 am on the 19th, talking about the 17th- I took some okay notes.

I got up and did some writing, then ran through my exercises, showered and power walked to Roosevelt to use facebook to wish Simon a happy birthday, it was close, facebook has been getting less reliable over here, but I managed to post something. Then I grabbed food at Food Bazzar, I wolfed it down before power walking to the subway- I took the wrong entrance such that walking and using the correct entrance would have been faster. It's confusing!

I arrived at this other Web place just in time for the 1pm deadline. I talked to Shane, also British, but probably ten years younger, about Chris's strong anti-Trudeau reaction. So it's not a British thing in general, Chris was just weird.

The first class was an intermediate business level class- some students, sure, intermediate business level, absolutely- but also there were some that need to step up a bit. The topic was on leadership, what makes a good leader, so I went around asking the class about any good bosses or teachers they've had. This one girl talked about a teacher she had in such glowing terms that I felt like I should leave, or as Moe would say "this teacher sounds so good she makes me look like a pile of puke." Don't worry, I'm just being funny- this teacher did sound genuinely amazing though, and it's a credit to her work as an English teacher that this student was able to be so convincing about her.

Besides that, the class consisted of a debate between the merits of individualists and communalists. It didn't really go anywhere, but I enjoyed jumping in on either side during slower moments. We had some laughs.

I ran through the Trudeau English Corner, it was a great success, I'm very happy with how it's come together- I added some Pierre Trudeau clips for an additional example of that kind of charisma the two run on, but also to contrast how they're two very different individuals.

Nuts to the "Food Marche"- I went to Victory Plaza for lunch. A fried chicken place welcomed me in with an English "hello", so sure, I'm eating there. The son (or just a random worker, but come on, you know it's the owners son) asked if I spoke french, which was a surprising question- he hadn't even established whether or not I spoke English. I replied with my standard "un petit peau", then he said something that may or may not have been correct- I'm obviously not good enough in French to tell if someone else is a good speaker or not. It sounded convincing.

They had these boneless chicken pieces for 12 yuan, slightly sweet, which I wasn't in the mood for, but still very good.

I finished and returned to the cash register with the son- "je veux acheter un boire" pointing at a sort of lemon iced tea drink for 6 yuan. "Ah, tres bon."

In case it wasn't clear, I don't know how to add accents in notepad and it's not a big enough deal to figure out if that is an option- but yes, it's a big enough deal that I'd stop and tell you "yes, I know there's an accent in 'tres'".

Returning to Web I spent the remainder of my time in-between classes reading articles from yahoo- yahoo works- you take what you can get. An article on the neoconservative ideology that led to the war in Iraq was very interesting, but didn't forward the cause of thinking up an English Corner for the next day. Did you know Henry Cavill has a 19 year old girlfriend? It would be less scandalous if the picture they used to tell us about it didn't make Cavill look so incredibly douchey-- and the quote they used from him made him sound clueless.

I wonder how he feels about "Man of Steel" and "Batman V. Superman Dawn of Justice Electric Boogaloo 2". Does he like the script? The way the first film was received? I hope he's a good guy.

I had a salon class regarding different faces and the descriptions thereof- mostly crickets from the crowd. Drew a really good picture of a top row of teeth though, that was some fine drawing.

A private class on the environment, good work from the two participants.

A beginner class answering questions about fictional people in the commputer courseware, good work from a good humoured class.

I had a short chat with Tyler before heading out to grab one of the last subway trains. According to a station attendant it seems I was too late to get the ride all the way back home, but got to Xi'an Lu, which is just fine- I had a nice walk back with my music playing. - 10:06 am