You may ask, "WHY?" You may also ask, "Where will he put it all??" (Actually, you shouldn't probably ask this if we've met. One of my favourite sports is eating).
Answer:
It was nearly 30 degrees today and humid as all get-out. I had both my PE blocks at the end of the day, and between organizing and participating in both dodgeball and ultimate frisbee in the smoggy sunshine, I think I nearly sweated off about 10 pounds. I've already sucked down 2 litres of water and I'm pretty sure (WARNING: TOO MUCH INFORMATION COMING) my urine still looks more like paint than water. I also played nearly an hour of basketball against the boys high school team (only 5 teachers showed up, no substitutions, a total of 2-2 minute breaks, full court, 12 minute quarters, after teaching 2 PE blocks), a game I haven't played competitively since I quit my high school team in... GRADE 10! Still, I managed to drop two fantastic jump shots and was Steve Nash-esque with about 6 assists in our VICTORY over the young bucks, who had 20 GUYS and changed lines EVERY 4 MINUTES! Not bad for a group of old dudes who nearly caused a monsoon of sweat after the game finished (I was wringing out my shirt).
Yes, I noticed the overuse of the CAPS lock. I felt like this entry needed some emphasis.
Life has been tiring, and I'm already behind on my work because of my post-work fatigue. But the kids are all coming around and there's no shortage of fun... only a shortage of money. At least, for the first couple of months, anyway. One difficult-to-swallow fact about China (or, at least, the suburb of Dalian I live in) is that the landlords require you to pay for at least 6 months, but most often an entire year... up front. As you can imagine, when you're required to pay more than $4000 up front for a year for rent and you're making less than that a month (which doesn't include any extra costs of living or loan costs back home, of which I have... many), it causes some stress. I've been keeping it on the cheap lately and will continue to do so as much as possible. However, when November comes, fun will be plentiful as will the money, since I'll pay all my costs (including my utilities) over two months and be paid by then. Or, most of it at least. There might be some lingering $$ to pay in November. But I'm not too worried. Then the more aggressive attempts to pay off loans/credit cards will commence.
Anywho, I'm off to dinner with a sort of Wednesday night supper group (which I may have mentioned... just a group of friends who live in town) in about an hour and want to polish off both my marking and my watermelon before that. So, until again friends, keep livin' your big dreams, wherever these rants find you. Much love from the east side of the Liaoning Peninsula and the coast of the Yellow Sea....
T
No comments:
Post a Comment