The delays of real life

I think can now safely say that I have entered the "real life" zone here. I have fallen more or less into a routine, which involves many long and very relaxed hours at school, followed by many long and relaxed evenings at home post. That is going to change from Wednesday, as we move onto the evening timetable. I will start teaching at around 17h00, and finish around 21h30 each night. This means we only need to get to school around 13h00 for planning and whatnot.

Which leads, of course, to me having to fill my mornings, preferably with something other than hangovers. In that line, I have now bought a bicycle, the purchase of which was but a single afternoon's work, wandering around the city for 4 hours walking into every bicycle shop I saw in the hopes that they would have one my size. To explain if you are confused - a bicycle has to be a certain size to make comfortable to ride. The shops selling bicycles clearly are catering to the majority of their market, and there aren't a lot of Chinese over 6 foot. Eventually I got one to fit an extra long seat-post, and so alhough the handles are too low, I can at least almost straighten my legs. I am planning my first big ride for tomorrow morning, and will let you know how it goes.

Teaching is improving almost every day, as I get more experience, and find out what works and what doesn't. Asking the kids to read and follow and recite, does. Asking them to be creative, doesn't. Although, I am pleased to report, that a couple of my classes are starting to realise that I'm not giving up on whipping this creativity horse, and so they're making inroads.

There is a part of me that is desparate to teach them about Coleridge and Tennyson, and imbue them with a love of the English language which will carry them through long, dark, and lonely nights. But it does the heart good to sing about "I can hop, I can jump, I can do some other stuff that I can't really but it's fun to watch Mr. Wooo do."

I do have my first 1-to-1 student starting next week, and from what I understand they are generally more interested in talking about the world, so that could be fun.

I suspect I've rambled on quite enough today, I apologise for not updating the blog sooner, and I will strive to do it more regularly.