Today, I awoke naturally at 6:30AM and went through to Miao’s bedroom and rested for a while longer in her bed, while her mother cooked breakfast for her to eat before she goes to work. We were roused by the mother at 7am, at which point we both got dressed, and I went out to learn Tai Chi saying my good byes and “have a good day” s. Miao leaves the house for work at 8am. By which time I’ll have finished my walm up exercises that I’ve learnt from “Zhang Lao Shi” Teacher Zhang. These include leg stretches, arm stretches, push ups, neck twists, some skipping and some use of an eighties style muscle trainer. [As a result of these exercises I can now touch the floor with my hands quite comfortably with my legs together, I've nearly managed to get my palms to the floor] After these exercises, the master usually motions to have a Tai Chi rest. This is much like a meditative pose, but with the mouth open and tongue in the correct position, and should be done facing the rising sun. After maybe 5 minutes, the master motions to get up and takes position to do the 24 simplified form Yang style Tai Chi Chuan. At this point there is usually a group of 3 or 4 people that are following the master. He goes through the full routine with us all following. The new learners are then told to go practise ourselves while anyone who knows the 88 form routine follows the master. After they are finished, he observes and corrects our practises, and then goes to have a rest while we continue. Then we stop and have a rest, to finish a short while later with a final complete practise of the whole routine copying the masters motions.
Usually Miao’s mother comes out before we’re finished, Miao having left for work, and has a chat with the wife of the master. Either going on to the Morning market, Carrefour, or returning to the flat with me. I turn on the water cooler when I get home, which actually has no cooling facility, but is actually like an instant kettle. I get changed while its heating, and eat up the remains of breakfast, or make some instant porriage. Once the water is heated, I make coffee in my Siphon coffee maker, as using heated water saves on the alcohol in the burner. I also make some Chinese green tea, to let it brew for some time, so I have something more healthy to drink after the coffee.
After breakfast, I usually have a rest for a while, either doing some reading of blogs, or making an entry myself. Then I start with the work. Today I planned my first and second year lessons, leaving only my two computing department lessons to plan tommorrow. I’ve also been doing some admin of my classes, entering the English names I collected this week, and typing in groups of students. My first lessons included a “pass this sheet around and write your English name next to your Chinese Name” and a “Please form groups, choose a leader, and a think of a name, and write them down on this paper that I cunningly made earlier” Inevitably I will loose 7x classes of 6x little bits of paper with group names and student names on it, thus I need to make it electronic asap. I will give some of my students a test soon, so have been planning that too. The more organised I am now, the less of a hastle it is later on, and thus the less stressed I get when it comes time to actually do things. If I haven’t planned a lesson for the next day, I get very fearful about the timings of activities and the fact that it seems I haven’t got enough material, and over prepare, or give up and get lazy, presenting things straight from the text book.
Organisation seems like its a big deal when you are teaching something like 230 students.
Throughout the day, I sometimes play a Facebook game called “Gangwars”, this I know is an utter waste of time, but a useful diversion if I get frustrated with something. It was quite fun at first, as there were a number of attributes to consider, and develop, but in more advanced stages of the game, the only persuit is the accumulation of “Experience” in order to level up. The same action is required over and over. In other games on Facebook there is more of a story element which make them much more interesting.
Miao’s mother returns from the Supermarket or Morning Market, and usually cooks or reheats something for lunch, and spends some time in the afternoon having a rest, and watching something on TV. I also watch something in the afternoon, having spent much of the morning working.
In the evening time Miao returns, and I goto pick her up at the bus stop, to carry her brand new work laptop home. We eat our evening meal, and watch something together. She studies some accounting, and I practise the Erhu, and learn a little Chinese. To end up going to bed soon after 9pm. The cycle continues 
Recent Comments