Further life and times of *liltayinchina*

I believe that China is vying for the most memorable Christmas memory ever. And, I'll admit right now that the only part that will make it the kind of rosy "isn't Christmas GREAT" memory for the annals is my mom's impending visit to share it with me.

I'm sitting here listening to a recording of the Nutcracker that I just purchased from iTunes and am currently downloading as I type this and sipping a steaming cup of brown coffee-LOOKING, as yet undefined-TASTING liquid that my co-teacher suggested I drink this afternoon when my persistent cough became worrying to her. She's already very disturbed that I'm taking some of the 10 personal/sick days granted to us foreigners, and wants to make sure that I'll be healthy for the ones where I'm still at school and responsible for the lesson.

I see I’m already getting off on the wrong foot and as the Nutcracker is starting to take off, I think I should try and change my tack. Wow. The liquid medicine has one heck of a sweet aftertaste…not exactly like hot cocoa, but I can pretend for the sake of artistic license.

The power was off at school today. Not for a minute, or ten minutes or two hours but from 7:30am to when we left at 5:30pm. It was also off this past Friday. Friday was freezing. Today was just a little bit cold – okay, I’m lying. I’m not used to being in such coldness all day. Sure, Seattle gets cold, but us Seattleites don’t LIKE being cold and tend to have all of our inside areas well heated. That sort of luxury just isn’t economical in most of the other parts of the world – especially China. So I’ve grown accustomed to wearing several layers over my long johns and doing my grading with a hat, scarf and gloves on. I’m sure I make quite a picture as I look around and giggle on the inside at all of the other foreign teachers just as ridiculously bundled as me. How the Chinese teachers manage to be WARMER than us and with seemingly HALF the amount of clothing is still a mystery, though I’ve got a few people willing to give me the insiders guide to staying very warm in a very cold office/classroom.

To make matters worse for my weakness-to-cold-self, when I ask the children, “Is it cold today?” or “Are you cold today?” (We’re doing weather in Grade 2 right now), the children giggle, not to themselves, and point and laugh at my bundled body, a la Maggie on The Simpsons or the younger brother in that wonderful movie, A Christmas Story, and say, “No! It is NOT cold today and I’m not cold, I’m HOT!”

This past Friday, when I was sitting at my desk contemplating sticking my fingertips in my lunch bowl to try and get some warmth back, Julia reminded me that the food wasn’t even that warm and asked if I’d like to go with her to McDonald’s for a warm beverage and to thaw out. I haven’t set foot in McDonald’s for food or beverage since Xi’an when I’d been drinking and it was the only food available at 2am in the morning, but I said, “Gladly!” and we were off.

We’d been enjoying our first cup of black coffee and were contemplating a refill when three other co-teachers walked in. Julia is older and not married. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable because I like Julia and enjoy chatting with her, but I also talk to the younger co-teachers in the office and have a much more amiable relationship with them since there’s absolutely no aspect of work related in our friendships. The three women that joined us at McDonald’s are also older and all three of them sit in the office next door to ours. Nancy is Julia’s good friend. She’s married and has a daughter in the 7 to 8 yr old range. She co-teaches with Eileen for 1st grade and Mustafa for 5th grade. Vivian is young but very professional and has exceptional English. She just had a big, baby boy. She’s gorgeous and teaches English without a foreign teacher. Sherry is also older and is married, I think. I don’t know if she has a child though. She co-teaches 5th grade with Lisa.

At the time that we sat and drank our warm beverages on Friday, I knew nothing of the divide that was about to become even stronger among the Chinese co-teachers. I just knew that I felt like I was being let into the older, edgier clique. These women are well educated, know what they’re doing, have real experience and are extremely capable English speakers. Given that, they spoke mostly Chinese at the table. Sherry cracked jokes and Julia translated them through her laughter. I’d never seen her so giddy or comfortable among other co-teachers. I’ve learned a lot more about her and am so excited that my mom is bringing coffee from the states as a gift for Julia – she will cry, I’m sure of it. Tears of joy, of course. The woman loves coffee more than anyone I know and I’ve both lived in Seattle and been a barista!

(I’ve got to cut this “short” – need to make a test and write some lesson plans and it’s already 11:30pm. I just figured it was high-time for a blog entry even though I’ve had a hard time FINDING the time…time, time, time, time….)