Days 112-115: School Stuff

Monday I was back at school: two classes this time. I still am not feeling well--my right ear is very stuffed up, even as I right this--but I managed to go back and be okay. We didn't have any protein in the house, so I had to go to the SISU convenience store (next to SISU coffee) before I got on the bus and grab a sandwich for later. The bus to campus seemed to take longer than usual--we didn't get there until about 12:40. The presentation from my Short Novel students was okay, but not as good as the one from last week. We then had some general discussion on Maus II. We do have some interesting discussions, but sometimes it does seems like the same people are talking, over and over again. I suppose it's that way for any class, though. I then went to my freezing cold office and ate my lunch: Yanis followed me--he wanted some information for his recommendation-and another wanted to make some last-minute changes to her response paper. I couldn't get the heater to work; for some reason, it seems to be colder in some of the buildings than it does outside. I went to my American Literature class. Even though I left at 4:12, I still got there barely on time. But they students didn't mind, especially after they saw that I had brought them Ferrero Rocher candies and cookies from Macau. They applauded these, and they also applauded when they heard that the American Literature class would continue next semester. (At least, I hope it will. No one tells me anything.) Today we talked about Chopin and Perkins Gilman. I followed my usual pattern: lecture, group discussion, full class discussion. It's about all we have time for in 90 minutes. After class, I went to the bus. Sat at the back because by the time I got there, people were taking up too many seats in the front. Richard, a professor from my building, was on the bus, too. I didn't talk to him on the bus, but I chatted with him quite a bit on the way to the bus stop. A 745 showed up right away, but the driver wouldn't let us on. Richard talked in Chinese to the driver quite a bit, but no dice. One young woman explained to us in English that the driver said he was only stopping on the highway.....okay. It did seem a bit odd to us that he wouldn't let two white guys on but others were allowed on, but we didn't question it. And what could we do?  Fortunately, though, another 745 showed up in about 10 minutes, and everything was peachy. I like Richard--he seems nice--but somewhat guarded to me. A lot of people here, Americans included, seem not to divulge much about their personal lives. Maybe I just want to make friends too much, and it shows.

Tuesday the big event of the day was Chinese lessons with Deborah, this time for 2.5 hours. We had a lot to review: numbers, time, days of the week, everything really. We also asked her for help with the Morton’s reservation and Kerry talked to her a great deal about the problems he had with his class. I do feel like a bit too much time was wasted talking, but we do like to get feedback on cultural issues as well, so maybe on some level we need to do this. I spent a lot of time in the evening working on a Brown Bag Presentation at SISU for Wednesday on GLBT Issues. It was called “GLBTQ Culture in America and China: Definitions, Experiences, and Comparisons.” I managed to whip up a PowerPoint in the evening, in spite of feeling cruddy. So kudos to me, I guess.

Pictures that Grace took of me giving my lecture:

Wednesday I gave the presentation. Kerry came with me to the school and then went on to shop at Carrefour. I was very early, so I had time to buy some sandwiches (burgers—bleah) from the school convenience store. About 15 people attended: it was on the 6^th floor of Teaching Building 5—no elevator, so a loooooong walk up. I talked a long time; in fact, I was surprised how long I went on, and I even had people talking to me afterwards. Alex English, the guy who runs the show, sent me a very positive message afterwards, telling me he’d learned a lot. Summer, the young queer activist who helped me get connected to queer events on campus, also told me she enjoyed it.  Afterwards, I went to the doctor and had him look at my ears. This was a bit of a hurdle because he could speak only a little English and I could speak only a little Chinese. With the help of a couple female interpreters, we figured things out. I had to get blood drawn at one point by sticking my arm into a window and having a nurse take some blood out of my finger. This was a bit nerve-wracking for me. The doctor claimed that I have a bacterial infection and prescribed some Tylenol and an antibiotic. My biggest symptom right now is just clogged ears, especially my right ear. I don’t think the trip to Macau helped this. I just rested the remained of the day.

Thursday I rested a lot, but I also graded outlines and responded to students on WeChat. We had leftover spaghetti for dinner. We were motivated to review some Chinese in the evening; I think if we feel well enough, we’ll go to class tomorrow. We both really need to—we’ve missed so much.

Tomorrow is also the SISU International Faculty party—so we’ll see how that goes. Again, I’m not really in a partying mood. I even cancelled our Cultural Event trip to Suzhou: it just didn’t make sense to go considering the Friday party, Kerry’s desire to go to gaming, and how I feel overall.