New days

A big blanket of a blue sky is filling the windows of my office. My officemates are chipper, although one of them is buzzing and tapping and is being a bit crazy from a caffeine overdose which hit him just before 3rd block. I just finished my PE block out on the field (teaching Chinese kids BASEBALL!) and was able to comfortably don a hoodie and scarf while my winter jacket sat idly nearby. The Ides of March have arrived, but not with dark omens... if anything, they bring brighter days as spring slowly springs into the greater Dalian area. Every year here, I wait (im)patiently

The fallout from Friday has been a mix of good and bad. Countless students have approached me asking if I'm okay, a couple classes have had conversations focused on the fact that they were worried about me and that they were happy to hear that I was alright, and the staff/admin at my school on both the BC and Chinese sides have been extremely supportive. Everyone seems to have made positive decisions in regards to what happened and I continue to feel safe and comfortable at work. On the flip side, I've run into a few problems with students here and there (I'm not sure how much is related to last Friday, but I'm working through the issues one by one), and my weekend away with the hockey guys didn't really help my immune system. Knowing that I was already feeling a bit sick last Thursday meant that my ingestion of a tonne of greasy food and too much, well, soda, allowed for the arrival of a fever on Monday night and forced me to take Tuesday off from work. I was at work on Monday. And I was back again yesterday (Wednesday). And I'm here today, on the road to recovery, mentally, emotionally, and physically. It's been a good day so far and I keep counting these little moments of contentment as victories. I live a pretty amazing life most of the time, and although I've been forced to face my share of rough water in recent years, I know that my life is full of amazing people and fantastic experiences.

I was asked via email if I was able to find a teachable moment in the midst of what's happened. I don't know if I have. It's tough. It hasn't been a collective tragedy for people to get behind and work together to sort out. There was no school assembly, there was very little discussion as a school, and although the students all know what happened, it's hard to guage how they're feeling about everything. Whether it's language or cultural barriers, especially for my grade tens (which is 75% of my teaching load), I'm not sure what's will come of all of this. Have I been able to connect with a few kids lately that I hadn't connected with previously? Yes. Have I become more aware of myself and my teaching habits and how I treat the boys? Most definitely. Do I think I'm to blame for what happened? No. Regardless, an opportunity is here, and once things settle, I think I'll begin to use it to make connections that I may have been more willing to neglect in past days/weeks/months with the continually hormonal boys I teach. I'm definitely more eager to build more bridges today than I was only a week ago. Just like everything, we get caught up in our own personal dramas and we neglect so much of what matters.

My office continues to be full of laughter, as it is almost every day. I have a ridiculously eclectic group of friends in the confines of these four walls and we're constantly howling with laughter. And there's the sunshine. And the scent of spring riding the wind. And the emails/phone calls/messages from people all over the world. And my cold is slowly disappearing. Did I mention the sunshine and two hours of baseball I get to play today? Yep, there's that too.

Thanks for all the messages, prayers, and worries that have been shared this past week. I'm doing well and I'll continue to do well.

I hope that my more humourous stories of China and the world will find their way back here soon. Until then.

T