School Days and Holidays

(The road in front of my apartment. The metro is going to change transportation in China.)

This past week (3 days) of teaching was tough. Some weeks are like that.

Last Sunday we had to teach to make up for Wednesdays class. I taught Sunday and Monday. (I don't teach on Tuesdays). On Wednesday, I was delighted I was able to sleep in. My home phone rang, and I didn't bother to answer it because, hey I'm on vacation! I heard my cell phone buzzing (it's on vibrate always), but again, why should I answer it? Well 5 minutes later, my teammate Andrew pounds on my door. I answer it in my pjs, and he's like get some clothes on, we missed class. We have to be on the bus in 10 minutes. Sigh. So I scramble, but we make it. Apparently (but unapparent to the 2 foreign teachers), our holiday starts on THURSDAY not WEDNESDAY. My bad. I missed the first class, but in the second class, the first 2 phrases they learned were "I messed up" and "I blew it." I called the Dean in the afternoon and apologized for inconveniencing her and the other teachers. She understood it was miscommunication, and informed me that we will indeed, make up the class.
Andrew, Mandy, and me at Hot Pot
Walking around Mandy's "small" town (pop. 6 million)
October 1st is China's Independence Day. Andrew and I went out with a colleague. The whole day I thought we were driving around in a Porsche, but it ended up not being one (shows you how much I know about cars!). Our colleague invited us over to her parents house for lunch. This is another cultural misunderstanding. I always think we are actually going to eat at individuals house when really we go out to eat. We ate hot pot, and I do believe it was my favorite hot pot ever. I recogonized a lot of what was put in the pot, and the seasonings were terrific. That afternoon, we went to a tourist place (I told my mom China Town and she just laughed but it really was like China Town!)
Doesn't this look like a legit China Town?
Walking across the bridge
Afterwards, we went to a Monastery.

I totally committed a faux pax because I took a picture of Budda. Apparently, you should not take pictures of Budda. I always obey the signs, but because I didn't see one, I thought it was okay. One of our colleagues' friends says it's like going to a cathedral and not being able to take pictures of Jesus. Andrew then says "You can take pictures of Jesus." I then explained that a lot of times you can't take pictures to protect the artwork, not because it's unlucky. I of course apologized. There was this design on the wall, and you are supposed to walk towards it with your eyes shut. If you touch the design, you will have luck. I missed. Sigh.


Next week, we are on holidays because the solar and lunar calendar ended up making the Independence Day and the Midautumn Festival fall right next to each other. Don't get me started on the rules, but I am forbidden to travel. I will spend this upcoming week cleaning and visiting some sites around Chengdu. My host sister is also coming home, so I will make another trip out to visit the homestay family.