While there, I ran into Nick, a British teacher, who was supposed to head up the school in Kunming. It would have been just the two of us teaching there. He was in the Royal Navy (or whatever they're calling it these days) for a while, and is very organised. He would have been in charge and we both would have been teaching. We both want to go to Kunming as the weather is better, it's in another arguably more interesting province (whether or not it's more interesting, I would be interested to see more of another province), and there are a lot more foreigners there (less staring, more friends). TMAMW (The Most Annoying Man in the World) had mentioned recently that Nick decided not to go to Kunming. Jenna had mentioned something about the school trying to hire another manager after guaranteeing Nick the job and another teacher in Guiyang had said the same thing to Julian. I asked Nick about it this afternoon and he said that the school surprised him by saying that it would be TMAMW, he, and I (or some other teacher) there. A cosy little family, except that Nick just might kill TMAMW. He can't stand him and has made this quite clear, so when the school told him of their plans, he said No. All this was news to me (I guess *someone* forgot to tell me), but as I can't stand TMAMW, I have decided to take a stand with Nick and we will agree to move to Kunming and start the school and TMAMW can visit to check up on things and help out, but he can't be there long-term. It felt like a rash decision, but being around TMAMW would be very stressful and isn't worth the aggravation.
Also, the girl who teaches kindergarten here said that she found Psycho Little Kitchen Girl on the computer playing around. Keep in mind that PLKG is illiterate- Chinese and English and can't even speak proper Chinese. She reminds me of one of those little creatures in the Dark Crystal that is forced to sit in that chair and look at that red light and their soul or whatever is sucked out.
I think that's all for today.
Did I mention that I've been watching "Sex and the City"? It's a great show. It's like I've had emergency replacement girlfriends (with very dirty mouths and questionable morals) flown in to cheer me up. But they aren't available for dancing and they give me no reason to wear cute shoes.
Actually, re. Limeys, Graham I am almost willing to excuse, since I think he got back together with his girlfriend. Messed up relationship. Mark, however, (to the best of my knowledge) has no real excuse. God, I would have accepted, "We're secret agents and were sent on a mission for the British government." Better than, "Right, we forgot. Really sorry. What did you say your name was?"
The stupid office girls play on the computer and visit all sorts of Chinese sites, not bothering to worry about cookies and such and so the computer settings get all messed up and there is some sort of repetitive song playing that I can't stop (the volume control has disappeared), so I can't listen to music. And the language switches over to Chinese all the time and the home page changes and random things pop up. Julian spent some time fixing it, I think, but that stupid music is playing.
The Brits have disappeared. We think they are dead. Oh wait, Julian doesn't think they are dead. He thinks perhaps Graham's newly ex-girlfriend has them in a room somewhere and is torturing them. We can't quite explain why she is torturing Mark. Or maybe they were "disappeared". The mystery, as it were, deepens. I'll keep you posted.
Julian and I have postponed our trip to SW Guizhou until next week. This week is all rainy and next week it's supposed to be a bit warmer and not rainy. There are some cave paintings in a canyon somewhere down there. They were mentioned in a tourism book about Guizhou that was given to Jenna by some people in Kaili. It's a great book and makes the whole province seem appealing; something in which no other book has ever succeeded. Or even attempted. We think that finding these cave paintings will involve taking the third dirt road, following if for 3km, talking to a farmer, climbing over a mountain and down into the canyon, camping out, and um, a magical waterfall with a wizard. Julian has agreed to go, but since he speaks Proper Mandarin, has announced that I will be in charge of speaking with anyone who pronounces "shi" "si". It's a terrible problem in this part of the country. So, when I come back to the US, if we go out to a Chinese restaurant and I attempt to speak Chinese and the staff laughs at me and says something like, "trailor trash", that's why. Right, so Julian's declaration would mean that I would be in charge of speaking to everyone. He's so funny.
Off to do laundry. It's Sunday party time.
I am considering not returning to the U.S. after this semester. The Boy is thinking of studying here this summer and I so I might stay and then visit him. Zunyi has gotten a bit small, though, so I would probably move to Kunming. More foreigners to hang out with. I will still be going to Cambodia in January. In other People Coming to China news, Gloria and Wendy have just signed contracts to teach in Dalian starting in January. For that, I laugh at you. And pity you. I will keep everyone posted for "How many layers of clothing can one actually wear at one time?" updates.