Time is flying so incredibly fast. This week was pretty interesting. I was walking along the street one day and a strange woman introduced herself to me, telling me all kinds of stuff about her, how she's good friends with Liam (an elderly man from Canada teaching in another school here) and asking if she could come to my place so I could help her improve her spoken English. I didn't say yes, but I didn't say no either. When I first got here, I might have been more inclined to go along with something like this, but I get asked SO much to teach people, and I've been here long enough to know that they are going to do everything they can to butter me up to get as much as they can for nothing. I really hate having to deal with things like this, because there's no way out for a people-pleaser personality like mine. I really have to learn how to be firm and not let people walk all over me. I left the lady thinking I would probably never see her again. But now she's stalking me!!! That same day Maggie called me saying there was a woman at the school gate asking to come to my place because she was my good friend. I didn't even know her name at that point. I went down to meet her at the gate to see what she wanted. She invited me to go to a karaoke bar with her and some guy that night. For one, it was a school night and she wanted to begin the evening at 9:30pm, another thing I don't even know this lady or the strange man she wants me to party with, another thing my friend died just 2 weeks ago hanging out in a strange place with people he barely knew, another thing it's a bar where there will probably be all kinds of drunk nasty men, it's late at night and I'm a young foreign girl. Sound like a great time, eh? So of course, I turned her down. But this lady would not take no for an answer! She gave me the hugest guilt trip. Again, I thought that maybe she'd give up on me and I wouldn't see her anymore. But the very next day she waited for me at the school gate who knows how long while I finished my classes. She invited me to lunch. I tried to turn her down, but I did feel bad about turning her down the other day (only because she made me feel bad!), and she was starting another guilt trip on me, saying her friend is waiting for us with his car. I told her I had no money on me, but she said they would pay. Ok, free meal, and I didn't have any excuses not to go. So they took me to this fancy place where you get a private room. It was me, the girl Sara, and this strange guy who didn't speak a word of English. They ordered the food which was all kinds of Chinese delicacies. Translation: "food" that I just wasn't in the mood to experiement with that day. Usually I try to be respectful as to not offend my hosts, but I was just getting bad vibes from these people. So I didn't eat their special worms and pig tongue stuff. The rice was good. She asked me all these weird questions like if I like to swim and if I was or could be interested in Chinese men. I don't know for sure, but I wonder if this strange man was .... yeah. Anyway, she wanted to know all about my schedule because this man wanted to take me for a travel somewhere. I was like, dude, this guy doesn't know a word of English. What are we gonna do? Yeah... I said Take me home! Unfortunately before she started getting all crazy on me, I gave her my phone number. So since then surprisingly I haven't hear from her. But she must've given my phone number out cuz I keep getting messages from some strange person, who I've basically had to tell them to leave me alone. I hate being so rude, but there's no other way to get rid of these kinds of people! Just today, Arthur was telling me how he saw this woman chasing after me the other day. He mentioned how there is a woman who knew Liam once... I said, this woman said she is friends with Liam!!! But what happened is, Liam befriended this woman, and she showed him how impovershed she was, how her apartment was bare, etc. Well, Liam spent hundreds of Yuan on her, buying her things becuase she was so poor, and he wanted to help her out. Turns out this is how she works it! Wow! We're not totally sure, but we think she is the same person. She preys on unsuspecting foreigners to squeez what she can out of them! So sad.
Last night I made french fries. The oil here is so nasty. It's peanut oil and it has this funky odor. So it's almost worth it to spend 45 yuan (about 5 USD) on olive oil. Well, I burned myself when some oil splashed up on my finger!! It's all blistery and gross now. Just thought you would like to know. It was only cause I was in a hury, because I had that date to be a model that night! I sat for almost two hours as Mr. Li and a couple students sketched me. It was really uncomfortable for me at first
to be the center of attention like that. But hey, I get stared at all the time here anyway! Mr. Li was so funny. He said that I am the first foreigner he's ever made a sketch of before. I was excited to see the drawing because he's a really good artist. But sadly, it was a little bu hao! (Not good). Yeah, it looked nothing like me! Actually it was pretty scary. He was so embarassed, he said that he was nervous because I am so beautiful! Awe.. cute. So I got to keep the drawing any way. I'll attatch a picture of it so you can see.Today a couple interesting somethings happened. The electricity went out while I was teaching class. It was out for most of the day. I signed the contract for next term. So I am officially committed to being here for another six months. Hey, maybe that's why I had that dream last night; to assure me that I can sign that contract with confidence! Also today, I finished crocheting a hat. It should come in handy when it gets colder. Brenda and I went on a nice long walk after I took a nap. We went to the post office which was moderately painless for once! I got a Christmas package from one of my most favorite people in the whole world. We walked through a place that used to be so cool. Do you remember me telling you about the place where they sold plants and fish? The market where I bought my bonsai? Well, it's gone!! The whole market has relocated and dispersed. I'm a bit sad about it, but not surprised. Things in China are constantly changing. Like on walking street, there's at least one shop change every week. No joke. They just finished remodeling the main grocery store too. It's amazing how much stuff like that they do. Well, we were walking along the street that used to be lined with beautiful cacti, bamboo, poinsetta trees, bonsai trees, fish, puppies, and interesting people; the few people left were staring at us, no surprise there. Then this one guy on a bike who was staring at us totally hit this parked car and fell right over. It was just too funny. Maybe I should've felt bad for him, but I can't help wishing they'd all just keep their eyes on the road instead of staring at the foreigners.
Today the head English teacher of the grade that I teach told me that the students gave me a good report. They like me and think my teaching style is really interesting. It was encouraging to hear. I still struggle with class 24 and 18, and just those two classes can ruin my day if I let them. So it's good to know that the majority of the students are happy with me. Whew!
The Father has really blessed my socks off lately. I am filled with joy and peace and an awareness of his goodness to me! I am so thankful for these things. I have no doubt that these blessings are answers to your prayers. Thank you sooooo much! It helps me get through the holiday season without being too sad that I am missing my family.
No comments:
Post a Comment