Well, not much to write this week. We're starting midterms on Monday, whoohoo! I'm jazzed. (Note a little bit of sarcasm, but not too much) I mean, I love tests, honestly. They were always my favourite part of school, but I'm just beginning to understand how much work exams are for teachers. First you have to make them up, and that is no small feat. I have 7 different midterms to create (that's a lot by the way). I'm pretty certain I have the most exams of any teacher in the school, how is that fair?! First year teachers shouldn't be the ones burdened with extra classes, it should be the experienced teachers who have all their old exams on file and can just tweak them a little who should be teaching all these different classes! But that's just my opinion. Anyways, so I've spent the better part of my weekend constructing these exams, and I have to say, I haven't gotten as much done as I'd like. I've successfully completed two. So yeah, I'm starting to panic about the other five a little. But see it's so time consuming to make a good exam. And part of the reason it took me so long to make the first two is that they were for my science classes and I was spending all this time making the diagram sections of the tests perfect, and I mean anally perfect. I spent hours in Paint touching up the pictures and changing them, etc. So yeah, maybe I was stalling a little, but I worked most of yesterday and then today I'm feeling like, "who wants to do more exams?" So I'm indulging in a little slacking and I've spent the better part of the afternoon in bed watching DVDs. Oooh, bad teacher, bad! Oh well, the computer exams aren't until Friday anyways, so I have some room to slack. Plus it's Sunday and it just doesn't feel right working on Sunday. I mean especially here, where it would be so easy to work 7 days a week, I feel like I have to draw the line somewhere and say, "no, today is a nothing day." So that's what I'm doing. And that means tomorrow and Tuesday I'll be scrambling like mad to finish the midterms, but that's life. But making them isn't the worst part, oh no, I still have to mark them. Now marking is one of the reasons I became a teacher. Again, honestly, I love marking tests. The catch with these midterms is that we only have a week to get them marked and to submit our final grades for term 1. So okay, I'm making 7 different midterms, which means 7 different classes, which means guess how many midterms I have to mark? Go ahead, guess. 100? Nope. Higher. 150? Keep going. 175? Surely not more than that, right? Oh no, the magic number is 180. Yes you read that right, don't check your precription, your eyes did not deceive you, 180 exams I have to mark. Now these are not mere tests my friends. When I make and exam, I make an exam. Remember how much I love tests? Yeah, these kids aren't getting off easy just because I have to do some marking. Everyone here is saying, "just do multiple choice", "make it all short answer crap that's easy to mark." Come on! I refuse to comprise my integrity as a teacher, and as an educated person, by creating a dumbed down exam just because I could then pawn off the marking to my TA. Get real! So yeah. My life is midterms right now. But I take solice in the fact that on January 29th, it will all be over. It simply cannot continue past that date. I like the finality of report cards. Marks are in regardless and the next day, you don't have to think about it anymore. So two tough weeks and then it'll be smooth sailing for a whole month of holidays. Yeah you heard me, a whole month. I leave school on February 2nd and I don't come back until the 26th. I see it as the light at the end of tunnel I'm currently in. I don't mind pulling some all-nighters now, and actually I think it'll be better if I do, because then I'll enjoy my holiday so much more! There are just some things about teaching in China that make it all worth while. I may have the worst technology on the planet, and I may be overworked and underpaid for the job that I'm doing, but hey, I get great holidays, so I can't complain! Plus it's a balmy 15 degrees above here right now and while I'd rather be in Winnipeg freezing my butt off with you (honestly I would!) I know that most of you would rather be here in the sunshine with the beautiful palm trees. It's an experience worth having at least once in your life, a winter without snow. And actually more than that, a winter in a tropical climate. Some days it still feels like September just because of the weather. I have a hard time believing that it is actually January, because everything my body feels tells it that it's early fall. So anyways, enough rambling. Have a good week!