6 weeks

Ok, it has only been a few days since my last blog; so I must be getting back into it. I just realized that I have only been in Shanghai for 6 weeks now. It feels like I've been here 6 months. But I have been working at EF for only 3 weeks now; it actually just feels like 3 weeks. I have noticed more things about China that I have to vent again. Now, it's getting colder and China doesn't believe in a central heating system. Basically everywhere if you want heat, you need to have a space heater. Great, I'm looking forward to a cold winter. At least Shanghai doesn't get bitterly cold like it would be in Oxford, Ohio. Actually, Maryland gets colder than Shanghai as well. So now, I just pack on a lot of layers of clothes. I could turn on the space heater but its so fucking expensive. I keep trying to remind myself that I am not in Beijing or Harbin, which are the coldest cities in China.

Other things about China are still really outdated. Like plumbing. Most bathrooms in China do not have toilets, but squatting pans instead. Squatting pans are basically just a hole in the floor leading to a pipe. Also, you cannot flush toilet paper because the pipes in Shanghai aren't big enough to take in toilet paper. Instead, you toss it in the bin next to the sqatting pan. It always reeks like piss in bathrooms. It's so nasty. Why just get new pipes to hold the toilet paper? And maybe get actual toilets. It's just so much more sanitary. I know Shanghai can afford them; it's the richest city in China, even more so than Hong Kong.

God, I feel like that I keep bitching about China. I am more than happy to be here. Some things are so easy to complain about. But there is one thing I have finally gotten used to: the food. There are bones and fat in the meat and I have learned to ignore it and just spit the bones out. It is not good table manners, but I can't eat it, haha. The Chinese don't really have table manners here. It's not too bad sometimes, you can just not care what others think of your etiquiette when you eat. However, sometimes it can be annoying. Another thing that annoys me a lot about China is how everyone just pushes people out of the way and just spit in front of you. Shanghai hasn't changed much since the 1930s. I have decided to embrace it instead of getting frustrated when I'm pushed; now I push people out of the way. This sounds terrible, but I never get anywhere if people constantly push me out of the metro.

I'm starting to get a lot more comfortable with teaching. However, my TB3A class is my hardest class to teach. They don't seem to like me as a teacher and I have the hardest time to get them motivated to learn English. Most of the time, these kids are there because their parents forced them to. However, I love the other classes I have, especially the High Flyers. They are all really young kids and they are extremely active. It keeps the class fun and I have a lot of fun teaching them English. It's amazing to me how they can produce English for how young they are. I don't mind the older kids sometimes because you can have more serious and slightly intellectual discussions with them. On Thursday, I had a life club with low High Flyers and I was helping another teacher, Claudia, to get the students to make Thanksgiving cards. It was so much fun because I get them to learn about Thanksgiving and they were so excited when they finished their cards. They kept coming up to me saying, "Teacher! Teacher! I finished my card!" It's so cute. In a way, it was a good way for me to celebrate Thanksgiving in China. But I also went out with my co-workers for a few drinks to celebrate the holiday, even the British ones, haha. Basically they just wanted an excuse to drink.