Laziness

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done any fun and random updates. But the countdown to Canada has been filled with busy days and mental distractions, hot and sunny days and dreams in Chinese. The end of the school year always seems to make me mentally braindead, so it's no surprise that I haven't had any ambition for writing lately.

I'm officially done teaching, marking exams and have submitted my year-end grades. I have my mitts wrapped around a monstrous cup of java at the Canadian Embassy (also known as Starbucks), since I've packed up my coffee pot and it now lives in my new apartment in Kaifaqu (yes, folks, I've found an apartment for next year and will finally make it back to civilization). The only things remaining in my place in Daheishi are some pots, my clothes and a random assortment of apartment odds'n'ends that never seem to fit into any boxes. I met with my new landlord, got things sorted out for my return in August, and now the only thing that remains is the Grade 9 graduation tomorrow, a bit more cleaning, and a whole bunch of excitement before I fly to southern China on Monday to conquer some mountains and see, from what I'm told, the most beautiful area of China. I think this year's birthday will take place somewhere on the edge of a cliff. Can't complain one bit.

I found out a few months ago that a bunch of kids from our school are going to be travelling to Victoria at the same time as I am for a 2 week English "camp", and my friend Flora (one of our Chinese ESL teachers) will be one of the chaperones. Every time we talk about it, I get more and more excited about the prospect of moving home, so that's definitely buoyed my spirits in the misery of exam grading and year end chaos. On Thursday, Alice (our ESL secretary) came to me and asked me if I knew a Grade 7 student named Mike. I said I did, and she told me a funny story. Apparently, Mike came to her office and asked for "Mrak's address in Canada". Alice explained that she didn't have one for me, and asked why he needed it. He explained: "I'm going to Canada for the ML Summer Camp. And I want to live with Mrak when I'm in Canada. Can you find out his address? Mrak and I will have a great summer!" Awesome. He's a great kid and loves to follow me around whenever I visit the first floor where the Grade 7 offices are. I don't know if I have any room in my non-existent house though. Sorry, Mike.

I've also had some strange sleep-related things happening lately. The other morning, I woke up and felt a strange sense of confusion. At first, I couldn't figure out why. But maybe an hour later, I figured it out... I had a dream that was completely in Chinese. Now, before you start to be impressed, I don't know if it was actually Chinese. It was probably just random jibberish mixed with my broken idioms and phrases. I don't remember what was said or who was involved. But someone was speaking to me and I was speaking back. In Mandarin. Weird.

Also, I had another dream this past week and woke up with a start. A loud "bang" in my dream startled me and woke me. I shrugged it off and went back to bed. The next morning I woke up and there was glass all over my living room floor. Apparently, 2am is a great time for a piece of your living room ceiling's light fixtures to give up and dive into the dark abyss of the hardwood below. I'm kinda glad I wasn't up to be impaled by my shoddy apartment fixtures.

The first installment of this Chinese adventure is quickly coming to a close. In all my uncertainty in the fall, I know I definitely made the right decision to pack up my life and move across the ocean. I've grown a lot and the time on my own has been pretty therapeutic. More adventures await, though, so I still have a million things to look forward to. Hopefully some more fun stuff to add soon...

T