A thought accurs....

I realise I am still half was through my retelling of Beijing and I haven't even started on Shanghai, but there are no pictures up of where I work or what I do. Dad keeps telling me that things I take for granted are actually kind of interesting....of course if they are not just don't read it.

The school I work in moved locations back in July to a big snazzy new shopping complex, or more accurately the office building next to it. We now have ten classrooms with interactive whiteboards, which are basically a bog toy in the rooms,however I am not hugely computer savy so I don't rely on mine too much. between my computer breaking tendencies and my computers regular hissy fits we don't have a  great relationship. regardless they are great for the little kids as the are fascinated with them and will do just about anything i say for a go on it. Great trick once i figured that one out!

There are pro's and cons to every location, this one is very close to a huge shopping centre so we have food on our doorstep (although we are all bored of Chinese food at the moment), the school is brand new so it looks pretty amazing. Cons being that we have windows that we cant close (controlled by the building apparently) and the classrooms seem to be smaller so getting 14 kids in is a little of a squeeze. We just have to get creative and sit in big horse shoe shapes, tackle problems as they come up.

My classes are all pretty cool, I only have the odd kid I don't like. Which out of 100+ students is not too bad I feel. the vast majority of my students are in the CL level which makes them about 7-10 years old, its a nice age to teach as the kids can sit and work but still love to run about like maniacs which is always good for comedy value. I have bigger kids and smaller ones but far fewer of them, my teenage class is possibly my favourite. 10 teenage boys and 2 girls, classes are spirally out of control into the bizarre and just plain weird. last lessons involve a 20 minute argument about who was better Marvel or DC. I like to think i won but they are just so big and noisy I wasn't even a close second. My apologies DC, I failed you.

And then at the other end of the scale is the baby class, 9 incredibly cute monsters. they are very skilled in the art of the "butter-wouldn't-melt it wasn't me look." I caught one covered in paint the same colour as the hand print on by backside, still he tried to tell me it wasn't him. Like i say, very sweet monsters!

Generally I love my job although ask me at half past eight on a Sunday morning and i will not give such a positive answer. Weekends are killer and I always sleep very well on a Sunday night, but it is easy work. most of these kids will get excited about colouring or a word search so entertaining them really is easy, plus they are an amazing source of amusement. especially when they cannot say something or get it slightly wrong.
"knife, fuck, spoon"
for example or my personal favourite
"put your Dick in your bag" I have a student called Dick and the kids don't really understand why i giggle when they say things like that.
In a recent test i asked a 6 year old boy "what can you do?" and he panicked a little and looked about for inspiration before screaming "I CAN DO MY MOTHER!" Whole office fell about the place laughing.

Spelling mistakes in the worst possible place

So anyway, that is a very brief belated introduction to my professional life in Kunming.


I swear I am getting back to holiday but I lost focus slightly.