Things Here, Things There

Since returning from the TEFL course in Hefei, I’ve had my real first week of work. I ended the TEFL course on Sunday, hopped on the train back to Wuxi, and really started work on Monday. This 12-day work week has been completely exhausting, but I think I’m finally figuring out what I’m supposed to do at my job (it only took me 3 months). I have quite a few students, so giving them all the right amount of attention is a bit of a challenge, especially when editing college essays can get so personal. As per the usual with students, some of them are rather brilliant and some of them need some serious college help. Chinese students have been taught to use very flowery language and it can be hard to ground them. I’ve come across essays that over-use SAT words and phrases that include words like “cherubic” in similes. A lot of them also come up with topics to write about that take a fair amount of skill in English even for a native speaker. My job is to make sure they choose the right topic for their level of English, and then make sure their essays get as good as they can while still keeping the student’s voice.

On Tuesday a bunch of us went to the bar known as Havana, which turned out to be a much larger gathering than I think most of us originally planned. Initially it was just me, Claire, and three guys we met at the TEFL course, but it turned out to be Spencer’s (one of the guys) birthday, so he invited most of his company. Three teachers from my school also came with us, and it turned into probably 15 people all gathered at Havana. One of the American teachers at my school remarked that it was one of the largest gatherings of foreigners he had ever seen in his 2+ years in Wuxi. I finally tried the tea at Havana. It was passable, but I seriously miss my US tea. It’s been a month without decent tea (sometimes I really super hate being allergic to green/white teas) and I’m in some pretty bad withdrawal as far as non-addictive yummy things go.  

Considering how grueling this week has been, I’m actually decently happy with how things have been going. I’m still technically in the “honeymoon” stage of culture fatigue (thank you TEFL course), but honestly, there are only a few things that could be going a lot better than they are; most things are normal. The worst things right now are: 1) I miss everyone in LA including Oxy, 2) it’s taking a little while to make friends, and 3) my bathroom smells. Considering that the smell of my bathroom is in the top three worst things, that says that either my bathroom is really disgustingly smelly (which it is, and it’s NOT my fault), or that life here is surprisingly good (which so far it is). I’m really starting to get to know my neighborhood and my fellow expats and have very few amenities from home that I really miss. Having my own space and a semi-permanent routine is really nice right now. There are some great restaurants just downstairs and getting across the city is very easy so I see Claire all the time. It’s good to have a friend I can be silly with in Wuxi.

Sorry about the lack of pictures. I’ve been pulling 9+ hour days with the rest of the semester looking even busier, so I just haven’t gotten around to pulling out the camera.