Friday August 30, 2013 (4:25 am)
On the Move Again
Morning movement has started. The people who run the small restaurant across the street are moving out their tables and cooker for the breakfast stand. The menu is congee and yóutiáo. In my dad’s journal about teaching in China 19 years ago he spoke about eating this every day. So far we are eating oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, with Chinese food every other meal.
Two days ago it rained and rained for 24 hours. It felt like an early November day in Ottawa and my pink three season Eddie Bauer jacket was exactly what was needed. By evening water was dripping heavily through two holes in the bedroom ceiling by the window. David asked for help from Julia, one of the two very competent women whose full time job is to attend to the needs of the foreign teachers in the residence. She came and looked then returned with two workmen. One crawled out the window, the other holding his legs) and reported that water was probably coming through some place on the outside facing. We were advised to put out some basins and wait until morning. There are lots of plastic basins here.
By morning there was water and plaster on the floor, more holes , and damp spots and mold creeping across the ceiling. Another consultation and we were told that we would need to change apartments and offered a choice of a one bedroom on the 5th floor or two adjacent bachelor apartments on the second floor. So, we are moving to the 5th floor tomorrow.
Several reflections on this. First the speed and efficiency with which the problem was handled. Our two “minders” are very capable women with the power to get things done quickly. They had workmen here within ten minutes and gave the solution almost as quickly. The people in charge of the foreign teachers came over and assessed the situation the next morning, and Nancy who handles all the details for foreign teachers called in the afternoon to apologize for the inconvenience and off ered the services of two students to help us move. Imagine that happening in Ottawa?
Second, we are genuinely distressed at having to leave our neighbours and new friends, even if it is only up two floors and down the hall. More in another post about these interesting people but E. (short for Elizabeth next door) and Elton (the first name of a young teacher who lives on the other side – apparently a common name in Albania) and Gemma and Monica and Roy and Carol are sweet people who have been so helpful and kind.
Sun is up. David starts teaching two sections of his second course this morning and I am again going to observe other classes. EFL teaching does not start for yet another week as the incoming students do a week of military training. I have been watching this over at Jilin University, with thousands of students out at 5 am for marching and exercises. See http://english.people.com.cn/90882/7582050.html
We are slowly getting over brutal colds that felled us in turn and look forward to a bit of exploration on Saturday after the big move.
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