Michelle and Penny out for a stroll.
Anyway life goes on. We are tearing through the semester and are approaching the end of the year. We have about 5 weeks teaching left before we get a break and are trying to work out where we will go over the Spring Festival holiday period. We should get about a month off (on full pay with a travel bonus mind you) which will be great. Michelle and I are both enrolled in the summer semester at Uni and will have assessment due around then so it wont be all beer and skittles for the A-B's.
From the people who brought you gunpowder, the compass and paper - Plastic sleeve protectors!!! They ensure clean sleeves after each meal...genius!
We have just had (well Michelle is still having) mid semester exams for all of our students so our time has been consumed by preparing, marking and reviewing oral English role-play (no there are no Elves or Orcs although there is the occasional slaughter...usually of a gender specific pronoun or the pronunciation of /th/) exams...sounds like a hoot right? Well think again.
Darren and the rather more angelic Penny.
Actually life is good and we have it all pretty easy. The only thing that really sucks for me is the night classes and the crazy illegal taxi rides that I have three nights a week. Take last night for example. After a 15 minute wait in the cold (about 6 out of the wind) we set off from the other campus to return home. Basically the taxi waits until it is full, this usually means about 10 people and the driver. The van is small, think a Dihatsu mini van, it has three rows of seats. The driver and passenger in the front in single seats and then two rows of bench seats in the back. To this already cramped aray they add a wooden bench seat between the front and middle seats. Last night we managed 11 passengers. The driver, being a flexible and inventive sort, managed to share his seat with a passenger...I'm not sure how as I was in the middle bench seat and had a row of people between me and the driver. Add to this the fact that two of the passengers were rotten drunk and reeking of booze and you just about have the whole picture.
The only other addition is that of forward motion. Unfortunately this motion caused several problems...the first being in the stomachs of the drunken girls...the second being in the packing of the car. So as we moved forward the girls starting puking out of the windows and we all started being squashed against each other and various hard (and cold) metal parts of the car. The open window from the chunder also let in volumes of frigid air accompanied by the unmistakable scent of regurgitated booze...choice.
Penny has had a bit of a growth spurt which of course sets her even further apart from the Chinese kids. She is doing well and starting to pick up some Chinese words. She understands that there is another language now and asks to watch some of our DVD's in Chinese. She is particularly fond of Monsters Inc. and prefers the Chinese language version.
Penny giving her best Christmas cheer. Yes they even have Chrissie decorations here.
It has gotten cold...the average for the week has been about 10 with the wind chill maybe about 8. the days are dry and clear which is nice as you can finally see the mountains and hills that surround the area. Sometimes it is actually quite picturesque.
Anna (the babysitter, Penny (the baby) and Michelle (sitting)).
We have received our painting and rug that we ordered on tao bao (Chinese ebay) and the house is looking better than ever...not to mention that it is more comfortable. Nothing like a nice fluffy rug underfoot on a cold day.
Penny on the rug...doing something.
The paining. Not bad eh?
1 comment:
Great photos and news and some great "Penny fixes" for Grandma too. The weather here is freezing one day and hot the next - Mondy in Toowoomba was 19 Max and today is 28 - weird but lots and lots of rain - Centenary highway blocked etc. Keep it all coming.(blogs that is)
Post a Comment