did you know that cooking yourself is actually a good idea because whoaaaaaa

China Day 10: Monday October 16th, 2017

Breakfast: Rice dumpling & spinach & pork steamed bun Lunch: Steamed rice, beef, greens & scrambled egg Dinner: Hokkein noodles, crispy chicken strips & vegies

Steps: 6, 378

We had an early start this morning, with our first class at 8.20am. We had brekky at 7.30am, and then went upstairs to print and photocopy worksheets. We have been making resources on our own laptops, then putting them on a USB stick to print in the staffroom and take downstairs to photocopy (quite a process) but today that didn’t seem to work. The worksheet I made hadn’t transferred onto the USB and the one Clem made wouldn’t open because she has the 2017 MS Office and Ganquan run Windows XP and Word 2007. We then had to hurriedly re-type our dialogue handouts on their computer and rush downstairs to photocopy before the student rep came to collect us.

Our first lesson with Year 10’s was a bit slow, but it was 8.20am on a Monday morning and they had just done a dictation test. They did everything that we asked of them, but it was not very exciting for anyone, us included. We did a lesson about conversation with them and taught them how to make small talk about hobbies and interests. We then had an hour break, so went back to my room to finish our Professional Learning PowerPoint for the afternoon. Our second lesson went much better. When we arrived at the class, the teacher had already started teaching – she was not expecting us. This is the 3rd time this has happened, but she said we could teach anyway, which was nice of her. The students were more involved in this group and spoke very well. They had a good sense of humour and laughed at all of our lame jokes.

We had another hour to kill before lunch, so went back to our rooms. I read my book and had a quick nap and Clemence hung out her washing and tried to buy tickets to P!nk’s concert. She had her husband on the phone trying to do the same thing, but I do not think they were successful in getting pre-sale tickets and will have to wait for general release. We had lunch at midday and enjoyed our 6th consecutive day of canteen food (steamed rice, meat, greens & Sprite).

At 1.30pm we made our way up to the glorious Innovation & Learning Centre to present a Professional Learning session to the English staff. They were all female and most of them were pre-occupied while we were talking. One fell asleep, one was reading the newspaper, one was shopping online and others were doing marking. Oh well. Most of the teachers that had had us in their classrooms were respectful and paid attention. We spoke about extra-curricular activities and events at Keysborough College, focussing on the College Musical – Beauty & the Beast, House Activities, Junior School camps & LOTE (Languages Other Than English) Week. I played an excerpt from the musical and showed a behind the scenes video that I had made. They all thought that Malinie had a beautiful voice. We presented May, the head of International students and staff, with a card and a bottle of wine, to thank her for her patience and generosity with her time at the end of the presentation and were excused while they held the “normal” part of their meeting. It would have been good to see what they discussed, but it was all in Chinese.

At 2.30pm, we walked back to our rooms and had the rest of the afternoon off. The weather has been miserable the last few days, so we didn’t really feel like going out to explore (especially after such a full weekend of sightseeing), so we just stayed in our rooms and relaxed. We both tried to catch up on school news via Email and Compass, but the Internet is so damn temperamental, that it was not possible. Grr.

I wrote letters for the 9 students from the English Club that are part of our Drama performance, to say thank you for taking time out of their schedule to work with us. I also watched some TV before heading down to dinner with Clem at 5pm. I was sick of rice, so was pleased to see that there were Hokkein and vermicelli noodles being served in the student canteen. We went for a walk after dinner to get Bubble Teas and also looked in a Chinese bookstore. We stopped in at the convenience store to buy some lollies for the Drama kids (to go with their notes) and then went back to our rooms. We decided to skip breakfast tomorrow, because we didn’t have a class until 10am and wanted to take advantage of the late start.

I have been struggling with the hot water for the last 3 days, in that I have had no hot water for the last 3 days. My mate, Andy, who had been to China with students earlier in the year said that sometimes the school turns off the hot water units at a certain time, in order to save energy. I thought I’d have better luck showering at night instead, so prepared to do that, while listening to Hamilton. The water was still cold. I brought the kettle in to the bathroom and boiled it ten times while letting luke warm water fill the bath. When I finally got in… it was still cold. I was furious (and freezing!!) I quickly washed myself then jumped out, tipped my head upside down and washed my hair that way. Not happy Jan. I messaged George on WeChat and asked whom to speak to about getting it fixed, and he said he would send someone in the morning. Phew.

Since our Primary School visit got cancelled, we are only working with International Students tomorrow, but have 5 classes. Hopefully the rain eases up and we can go on an adventure in the afternoon.