laughing traveler

So a few grievances I have with my school. The top of the list would be the bathroom situation. They do have a teachers’ bathroom, which is quite a nice upgrade from my past schools. However, this bathroom, like many Chinese bathrooms, has no toilet paper or soap. Grr. But on top of that there are no lights! There is one window at the end of the room and 8 stalls. So if you close the stall door there is no light! Also of the 8 stalls only 2 have working locks. I have figured this out by accidently opening the stall door to find one of my co workers crouched down inside. And then they wanna talk about it later! No thanks I am working as hard as I can to erase the entire memory. So the unspoken rule is that you never open a stall door, ever. If they are all closed you assume they are all full and wait for someone to leave the one with the lock. But even with this fool-proof system, yesterday I walk in to the bathroom with all the doors swung open and one of my coworkers doing her...

My entire childhood I was teased for my run. Always on my tiptoes with my arms to my side, and flat hands pointed out. Almost as if I were skipping while wearing a tight mermaid-style dress. Earning me the superlative “most likely to prance” from my soccer team; mostly accredited to my blonde, valley-girl tendencies. However, I now realize the true reason for my prance. Deep down, I am a Chinese girl in my natural state of the China scurry. The China scurry can be seen everywhere by all walks of life; the Grandma fighting for a seat on the metro, a man hurrying to catch a bus,   a mother with her baby crossing the street in front of on-coming traffic, or two excited students rushing towards something shinny.   Another unspoken rule in China seems to be that the scurry combine with linking arms with a friend can stop traffic. The thing that strikes me about the scurry is that it seems to be a lot of effort for very little progress. The arms and legs are shuffling so qu...

I wonder what the long term effect is of living and studying behind bars. This is the reality of every Chinese student in the major cities. Even in my apartment, there are bars on the doors and windows to deter thieves, but if I have to spend a full day inside I feel like a prisoner. The prison feel of the schools is a whole other level. I have taught at four different schools now and they all have several similarities. Not only is the entire school surrounded by spiked fences with multiple guards, but each classroom and office has barred windows.   Starting in high school, the students can choose to live in the school dorms.   This is the full in-mate experience if you ask me. I lived in the school dorms for 2 years so I can say I served my time. The students have a 2 hour lunch break and can leave school to go out to lunch or go home for the noon nap (my favorite part of China). However, students that live on campus are not allowed to leave. They are only allowed t...