Workdays in China can always be a little unexpected. On Friday this was the case. After we had been in the office for about twenty minutes one of the school administrators walks into the office with another man and then one of our fellow English teachers let us know this man is a newspaper reporter and he wants to interview us. Interview us maybe a bit misleading as he spoke about as much English as Julie and I speak Chinese.
Our interview consisted of about three questions to us and a lot of talking between the administrator, our fellow teacher and the reporter. We did have confirmed that we are the only foreign teachers in Mentougou, as one of the purposes of the articles was to encourage other schools to add foreign teachers to their staff. Also, this reporter recognized us from one of our previous interviews about a month ago at the Mountain Walking Festival. Following the interview they wanted to get some pictures of Julie and me with students. We were escorted out to the English corner. It was about 8:30 by this time and we've been having a bit of a cold snap. It was cold and the chairs were metal, but I think the pictures came out alright.
On Friday mornings, we go across the street to teach kindergarten and the report accompanied us to get some more pictures. Luckily class went well. Now I am a little skeptical we'll ever see the article but it's possible, especially since we don't peruse many Chinese publications.
Saturday featured a sports meeting that I had been signed up for since the second week we were here. First, sports meeting is a sports meet. As many times as I said sports meet, nobody else seem to want to call it anything but a sports meeting. That's all in the past now. When we arrived it was explained to us that the staff of every primary and middle school in Mentougou was represented at this biannual event. It began with a each team marching around the track with their school flag. Julie and I didn't have to march we got to watch and some of the teams went all out. (I have pictures, but that's for another time) It was held at a local high school and two dance troupes (one students and one teachers) performed, followed by all the teams doing some morning exercises. There were over a 1000 competitors.
The morning went pretty well, other than my performance in the 100M. It was wonderful watching all the different events and fun to hang out with some of our co-workers in a different setting. The we had lunch and Julie began taking naps on the sidewalk.
It's not as bad as it sounds. The school had set-up large cushions for people to relax on and napping after lunch is kind of a big deal here. The highlight of my afternoon as a pick up game with a fellow teacher (science, he doesn't speak much English) and two other guys who I have never seen before. After that things began to drag on and by the time the final events ended the place was about deserted and we were beat and ready to head home.
I forgot to mention that we were given a big box of apples on Friday. Forty-six apples to be exact. Julie decided it would be a good idea to buy some chocolate and dip apple pieces in melted chocolate. She is enjoying them as a I type. It was a pretty good idea.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Talk to you soon,
Ryan
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