Sleeping In

We work 8:30 to noon most mornings. Usually I go to my other job from six or seven to nine. There’s a lot of empty time in between. We sleep. A lot. Two to four is not uncommon. You try to get up in between. Your cold. Or just tired. It’s difficult. So you keep sleeping until guilt pries you out of bed. It feels like my life in China overall. A quick break that dragged on hours longer than expected. Only the feeling that I should be doing something else, anything else, is what drags you out.

There’s almost no such thing as a “promotion” in this line of work. Usually we sort our own affairs out after a rough or fun first year. You find the money or the students you’re looking for. I’d always wanted to teach college. So that’s what I do. It’s what I’ve done for two years. At core, it’s almost identical work to what I’ve been doing since I got off the boat here. But I can call myself a college teacher. You should see what I did to call myself a Head Teacher for a year.

On Lighting a (small) Existential Fire

It’s the first week of classes. I spend about five minutes introducing myself and another twenty five reviewing what we’ll be doing for the semester. Showing the book I use, my method of teaching, class expectations (a Chinese-English dictionary, notebook, and a pen for every class), and such. I end with this:

“There’s one more thing about this class. If you don’t want to be here, stay home next week. Really. Meishi. It’s no problem. If you don’t want to be here you don’t need to come. Come to a few classes and take the test and you’ll get a C-. Sleep, play computer games, chat online, or come to my class – suibian (it’s up to you). I’d rather have a small class of students who want to be here than a large class who doesn’t.”