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[Lotus Eater]

Thought it might be interesting for those still in their home countries to hear about a typical day in the life of an FT.  So here goes - my day today:

Today was a good day - I didn't have to get up at 6:00am to catch the 7:30AM bus to the new campus, so I could sleep in until 7:30.  Got up finished my preparation, stuffed around checking out the Saloon and my other favourite sites, showered and when the FAO office opened went down to ask them to check on air tickets to Oz for National Week and then left stuff to be photocopied with the little shop on campus.

Went to my class and discussed marginalised voice, checking the students choices of pieces that demonstrated this and began discussing "Formalism" and "Deconstruction" literary theories as applied to Emily Dickinson's poem 208.

Back to apartment to drop off photocopying and collect money, headed to hairdressers for colour and cut. Picked up some baozi on the way to eat at the hairdressers for lunch.  Spent 3+ hours there, now have new hairdo and colour - black with red streaks.  And shorter than I have had it in a while.

Back to my apartment 15 minutes before students arrived - checked emails, and was there anything interesting in my favourites sites?  Students arrived for CCTV Cup speech training - 1.5 hours of this.  They left, grad student I had coached for his IELTS turned up wanting to take me to dinner, so we chatted for a while about his future plans - studying for the P/G exam - and then went to the Uni restaurant, Japanese teacher arrived and joined us, and Chinese teacher rang me, so he also joined us. Dinner lasted from 6:30-8:15.

Left restaurant, the others left and another friend joined me, accompanied by 2 guys from the Xi'an External Security Bureau (ie the guys who spy on foreigners) and we went to my favourite bar for drinks and chats.  This lasted until after 11:00pm and I now have the External Security guys phone numbers and have invited them to my birthday party next week.

USAnian friend in town from Shanghai called me, he and 2 of his friends were wanting to eat kao rou, would I join them?  So we all met up at my favourite kao rou place where the laoban is very nice to me.  Ate kao rou, drank beer and then decided to give the Muslim Xinjiang laoban some baijiu - he would only drink if we drank, so we all settled in for 2 bottles of baijiu.  He drinks because, as he told me last week - his wife is Chinese!! 

I spoke to him in Xinjiang-hua (Turkish-Arabic) and so we are now invited to his place to dance and drink baijiu!!  Left here and headed home - 5 minutes walk.  Hit the internet - and am now putting the final touches to a speech for a student for the CCTV Cup comp that I will be on the panel for tomorrow night.

A normal day here for me.  And you ask if I am bored or burnt out?  Not on your nelly!!!

PS - Forgot to mention that for 4 of us to eat at the kao rou place, plus the 5 beers and 2 bottles baijiu we had it amounted to 53Y (less than $A9 or $US7.50) - and we had bargained with the laoban's wife over that until the laoban came and told us to choose our own price!  Bargaining over the price of a meal AFTER you have eaten it is fun.

[decurso]

 Is there a "typical" day in the life of a "typical" FT? I don't think so. While we all have common experiences I think we are all living very different lives. Here is my day yesterday.....

 Wake up at 6:45 to my son crawling on my face in his sleep.Realize it's 15 minutes past when I should have been up but the alarm hasn't gone off because the little monster has been using the alarm clock as a toy. Shower, get dressed and suck back two cups coffee. Make it to class with 4 minutes to spare.

 First two periods are a new class of sophomore Mechanical Engineering majors. First period is a standard  first day introduction class and in the second I introduce the course material. Talk about feelings (anger,depression,happiness,ect) and do some listening exercises. Pleasantly surprised to find the sound system actually works today. Monday I lost my voice reading the scripts myself.

 On the break I talk to one of the other FTs and ask if he has any idea what to do with all the Chinese paperwork the school has given us. He doesn't so I feel a lot less clueless. Third and fourth periods are Electronic Engineering majors. Best class so far but all express a desire to spend the semester watching movies and playing games.

 Head home at noon and get 10 minutes to check my e-mail before the boy wakes up. Change him and feed him a lunch comprised of sweet potato and mi zhou. He lets me know he has had enough by smacking the spoon and splattering sweet potato all over my nice white shirt. Take him in the bedroom to play on the floor. Playtime consists of me saving him from certain death by misadventure every 90 seconds. This lasts for 20 minutes before I notice a foul smell that brings tears to my eyes. Another diaper change. Give mom 200 bucks from my rapidly dwindling savings to pick up formula, diapers, wipes ect from Wal-Mart.

 Head back to class feeling the heat and 5 hours sleep. 5th and 6th periods are yet another new sophomore class. Physics majors this time. At the beginning they're a timid bunch but by the end of the class they're laughing and inviting me out for drinks. They ask me what I think of the school. I praise the beautiful campus and top notch engineering programs but add that everybody in the administration seems to have no clue what is going on around them. They laugh in agreement. They also want to watch movies and play games. Seems as though the previous FT spoiled them a great deal.

 Go home at 4 thankful to have my workweek over. Find the missus has come back with half the store. She bought the boy an entire fall wardrobe,toys and also picked up a years supply of Pringles.

 Not really finished work yet. I start marking a pile of introduction letters from my writing class. Apparently  they don't know what "brief" means. One sweet little 20 year old girl who is cute as a button expresses her desire to work on China's air defence system. I imagine anti-aircraft missiles with "Hello Kitty" painted on the side.

 After an hour I haven't made a dent but the rugrat is up again. Change him and go for play time on the floor. Amazing to watch him stand all by himself and hold it for nearly a minute before unceremoniously landing on his ass. He shits himself again. Mom gets that one

 At 6 we begin the 30 minute job of packing everything we need to take him for dinner. Don't feel like going far so we go to a good gan guo(dry pot) place outside the west side of the campus. We like it because there are other babies and and kids Owen can interact with and there are plenty of people willing to take him off our hands while we eat. The downside is it means eating surrounded by kids. Tanya talks to them in horrendous Chinese and is praised for her wonderful Chinese skills while I eat in silence and mild irritation. We get a pai gu pot with a side of green beans. Good but not spicy enough for my tastes and too spicy for the missus. Cost of meal with 4 mugs of draft...54 RMB. not sure what that is in western money but it is less than 8 CAD.

 Get home at 9:30 and give the boy a bath during which we and the house get soaked. Make a run to the convenience store where I get 7 beers and a pack of smokes for 13 yuan...less than 2 CAD. Come home and give the boy a bottle and put him to bed.

 Begin numbing the pain of daily life with alcohol while watching Hostel 2. No better or worse than the original. Features a memorably graphic castration scene. Wife goes to bed at midnight but i'm determined to beat level 9 of The Suffering 2. Two hours later I still haven't done it so I call it a night.

[dragonsaver]

  Make a run to theconvenience store where I get 7 beers and a pack of smokes. Come home and give the boy a bottle and put him to bed.

I must assume it was NOT one of the 7 bottles you bought at the convenience store