Chaos and moments of feeling a bit rockstar-ish

In recent weeks, my schedule at school has constantly been flipped, turned, manipulated and shifted to accommodate for exams and field trips and every sort of administration-related request you can imagine. This week has been no different. Most of the time, these changes mean that my classes get cancelled and I get more time off. I assume that most of you know me well enough that I'd NEVER complain about such changes. But it's starting to get a little ridiculous. 

The week before my holiday, I ended up teaching less than the 3 full days because of these constant examinations and changes. For 2 of my classes, I saw them 3 times. For another class, I didn't see them... at all! This week, I'm looking at teaching about 2.5 days (maybe less) for the same purposes. And there's only 7 weeks left, one of which involves an entire week dedicated to grading oral exams presented by students. And the final week is the week of the entrance exam for the high school, which means at least 2 other days off. This doesn't include the yet-to-be-discussed other days for district exams and school exams and everything else. I don't even know how/what to prepare for these final weeks, and it's become more and more obvious to me that the school doesn't see the foreign-teacher's ESL classes as vital. They actually call our class ESL, and when the Chinese teachers have THEIR English class, it's actually called English. Most of you won't care, but it's become an important and obvious distinction.

Regardless, I'm trying to roll with it and enjoy the time I have outside the classroom. Summertime is almost here and the shorts are making their first appearance! And other things have made me really enjoy life lately...

Of course, my trip to Xi'an was great. I had a really good time, met some cool people, and definitely relaxed my way through the week. It was nearly 30 degrees all week, which was a nice change. I got to see the Terracotta Warriors, check out some pagodas, parks and temples, and ate all the Uighur (pronounced wee-gurr... Chinese Muslim) food I could get my mitts on. I walked pretty much everywhere and spent a lot of time reading, drinking coffee and just hanging out with other travellers. For my teacher friends, I suggest you get your hands on a copy of "Teacher Man" by Frank McCourt... I blasted through it in 3 or 4 days. So good. I also just finished reading, "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall and "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom... for any runners, "Born to Run" was also fantastic. Anyways...

After getting back late Friday night, I got a call Saturday from, Maxine, the woman who helped organize the ML Cup speech competition I judged a few weeks ago. She wanted to know if I could help her and the Dalian Education Bureau with their English listening exam. So, Sunday morning, I was taken to the Dalian Radio and TV Broadcasting Centre where the local radio stations and TV news sessions are taped, and with Meghan (one of the other speech comp judges), I spent a few hours recording scripts for the Dalian Ed. Bureau's exams! I ended up getting paid nearly $40/hr for the gig too, which was pretty awesome.

Now, it's Tuesday and I have no idea what my teaching schedule will look like for the rest of the week. Maybe I'll get a week off and need to suddenly go to Shanghai! I doubt it, but it doesn't hurt to dream! Just the countdown to Canada remains... 60 days and counting until I'm kissing Canadian soil!!!

T