Busy Packing, Purchasing, Examining, Eating and Drinking

My room, a bit messier than usual
Less than 2 weeks left now and I've started to pack up my things. I have 3 piles of clothes/belongings in my room now:
1. Stuff to bring home to Canada

2. Stuff to give to my cousin, Tim, who will visit me next week and take down to Hong Kong

3. Stuff to give away to local friends.

Each pile is huge! I can't believe all the crap that I have accumulated. The biggest pile of stuff is probably #3. I am giving away a lot of my clothes because I either won't need it in Hong Kong (it doesn't get that cold, I reckon I can wear sandals and t-shirts/shorts most of the year when I'm not working) or it is too big for me. Too big you ask? Yep, a few years ago, after I graduated university, I decided to go on a diet and lost about 15kg; I went from 90 kg to about 75kg within a year and have pretty much kept it off since. Anyway, I don't often buy too much clothing here (although I should) but I've been making up for lost time.

I just got 4 pairs of suit pants made by my smilin' tailor at 27 Square. It cost me 160RMB for the material and another 100RMB for labour. I had to make these pants because working in HK is a lot more professional than it is in mainland China. More pay = more professionalism, eh? I pretty much dress as I please here (shorts, t-shirts) and it's been great. Few people can point me out as a teacher while many of the local college teachers dress to impress. But who would I need to impress here, anyway? Substance over style, I say!

I've also been buying cotton short sleeve shirts as well as golf shirts by brand names like Ralph Lauren, Tommy and Burberry..under 100RMB apiece. They're all authentic stuff, too! They sell the clothing this cheap because they're made in China and they are either irregulars (some stitching is off, but not noticeable) or they're seconds. There are loads of these 外贸店 foreign brand shops around Chinese cities.


One of my favourite classes. Where's their foreign English teacher?
Today also marks final exam week for oral English at Neusoft. Good luck to all my students. Thankfully, I'll be done my work responsibilites after this week. There are a couple of meetings next week but the foreign teachers are all happy we can get out of this black hole of a school. I pity the teachers who willingly come to teach here after reading the warnings that have been posted on the internet about this school. If you're thinking of coming to Neusoft, please email me to get the lowdown on this place before you sign anything. If you're researching schools in China, make sure you talk to teachers who are living and working at ground zero to get their opinions of the place. That's much more informative and useful than anything the foreign affairs department of the school will tell you!

With final exams come the emergence of the ass kissers out of the woodwork. These are your typical lazy studentswho sleep, play games on their laptop computers, watch DVDs, and basically don't participate or acknowledge my existence for the past 13 weeks of classes. All of a sudden, some of them are asking me out to lunch/dinner, buying me gifts and treating me like the best thing since sliced bread. I have to remind them I don't believe in guanxi 关系 (connections) and I mark based on participation and exam preeparation, not emotional or social connections with students. Hell, I'll fail my students who are my friends if they don't do well on their exam (and I have). It's too bad for them I'm not 'Chinese' in this aspect.


I'll definitely miss the mainland Chinese food!
I am, however, enjoying get togethers with different circles of friends I've made since I've been here. Like I wrote in the last post, one of the reasons why I've had such a great time in Dalian is because of the friendly people I've met. Talking with them in Chinese is gratifying these days knowing I came to China 2 years ago knowing almost no Chinese. I haven't addressed this in a long time but my Chinese speaking skills (reading and listening continue to improve, I abandoned writing (pen to paper ages ago) have been eroding for the past year because I've basically hung out more with the foreign crowd than local people- partly by choice and partly out of necessity. That's not to say I'd turned my back on Chinese friends, I just hang out more with foreigners these days. Perhaps it's the 'whole face' and cultural thing, I don't know. I was very gung ho about meeting and hanging out with Chinese friends only when I first got here but I guess I've gotten over that phase.

So in a long winded way, I'm basically trying to say that I'm very busy for the final 2 weeks and I'll try to post when I can but if I don't I'll post more when I hit home after June 26. For those Chinese students and friends reading, stay tuned to this website after I leave Dalian; I'll have a 1 month "Canadian holiday" edition of maskofchina.com for those of you who have been requesting (demanding!) it. Life and times in Canada, should be interesting but it may not always be as interesting/exciting as life in China!