Well I just have to do a post as I am feeling very frustrated with this country. This usually happens every couple of months and I find myself asking "what the hell was I thinking 6 years ago when I decided to move here?" Some interesting things have happened every day during my first week of teaching that has just peeved me off. I have made a list below....

1) On Monday I began teaching class and upon arrival to my classroom was informed that the students didn't have their books nor were the computers or projectors working. Not only that but the school was just in total chaos!! Nobody seemed to know what the hell was going on. My question here is... why do Chinese schools and businesses open when they clearly are not ready or organized??? The same thing happened at the dentist's office the other day. There I am in the chair getting my teeth cleaned and these two guys walk in and start doing electrical work less than 2 feet away from me. Not only were they there but another guy was installing windows across the room.

2) On Tuesday I am sitting in my house and the doorbell rings. I answer the door and it is one of the teachers. She was there to tell me that it wasn't a good idea to hang fish and clothes on the line at the same time. I was like "what are you talking about?" I looked on the clothes line and sure enough there was two gutted fish hanging next to my freshly washed clothes. Turns out the old lady next door to me hung up her fish on my clothes line as she was drying sausages on hers....One question here and that is WTF is wrong with people??

Oh and if anybody can answer this I will be so appreciative, there is a family in my school who everyday put almost everything they own outside on the school lawn for the whole day. You name it, it is out there..tables, chairs, dishes, books, and even some picture frames. I finally asked her one day what the hell she was doing...she told me "You foreigners don't know but this kills any sickness in our house. If you did this you people wouldn't be sick so often" Geez... I am sorry I didn't know foreigners were sick so much. I find this hilarious as I consider the Chinese people hypochodriacs in the truest form. I have never seen such whining and complaining in my life as over here. It is no wonder the drug and pharmaceutical companies do so well in this country. Does anybody know the reason for this, or is her answer really legit?

3) On Wednesday I was in my home and received a phone call from my school. It was one of the Chinese teachers asking me if all of my dogs were at home. Yes I assured them they are all here. Turns out that a little puppy wandered in off of the street and into the school. The poor thing was so dirty, covered in fleas, and had a skin infection. For those of you who don't know I am a huge dog lover. I have rescued and rehomed over 20 stray dogs in my time in China. At this time I had 5 dogs living with me before this little one came along. As you know China is going on a dog killing spree so in the last little while I have had my hands full. It is a little hectic but with the help of an Ayi it is manageable. I recognized this dog as belonging to a family that didn't live too far away from me. I took the dog over there and told them that I found their puppy and was returning her. They told me that they threw her outside 3 days before as they didn't want her anymore since China has a Rabies problem. I just looked at the woman and asked her "What kind of person throws a helpless 8 week old puppy outside to fend for themselves?" She didn't know what to say so I told her "a heartless one"......oh and yes I took the little puppy home with me and she is doing very well.

4) Today I was supervising homework hour at my school and a girl put up her hand. When I asked her what she wanted she told me that she had to go and see the nurse to get IV. I asked her if she was sick and she told me no. "So what are you going to see her for?" I asked her.....Her response "Today I hit my toe on the door and it hurts so my mother told me to get IV". I stood there shaking my head and escorted her to the nurses station. When we got there I couldn't believe it....there must have been about 40 kids lined up for IV treatments and half of them didn't even look sick. My final question is why is China so IV obsessed? Whatever happened to just taking an asprin or a cold tablet???

Have a great day!!!

Jules