Days 275-276: A Boring Tuesday and a Long Goodbye

Tuesday not much happened: I worked inside all day long, mostly to escape the 95 degree heat. I heard a dog barking outside my window for hours on end; this got very tedious and made me very angry at the dog's owners (if it had any). Made some progress on my sabbatical portfolio and blog work today; I also sent documents to students and did my readings for my grad studies reading group. Kerry did some errands, but he didn't feel well today and turned in early. We had spaghetti for dinner.

Wednesday was a pretty long day. I got up at 5 am and took the 6:40 bus to school. Actually, the bus left at 6:30 for some reason I couldn't fathom. Christa was on this bus, but she went to the back...I think she was tired...we all were.  However, I typically can't sleep on the morning bus. I'm usually too keyed up. We got to the campus about 7:35 am....faster than usual. Then I just waited around for Shuhao and Gal to show up for their final exams. They arrived on time and took their exams. While they worked, I drafted questions for my final for their class. I had them finish about 9:50, and then I went to my Short Novels class.

In Short Novels, two students led discussion--paired discussion then group--and then I answered some questions about the final. Finally it was time to PARTY! I gave them all Century pens, some cookies, some fruit, and then we played a trivia game: I asked them questions about the novels and then they came up and got prizes for correct answers. They must have enjoyed it because they applauded me at the end!

Next it was time for a break: lunch, talking to Kerry, some grading. I heard from Isango via e-mail...all they said is that they'd refer the problem for the Tongli trip "to their local team." Whatever. I called my credit card company and had the charged removed. They said they'd "investigate." Hmm. We shall see.

My graduate students showed up then....lots of gifts they gave me! I was so pleased. I gave them some pineapple, Century pens, and my business card. Today we talked about Anne Sexton's "Little Girl, My String Bean, My Young Woman" and Sappho's poetry: a strange combination, but somewhat interesting. Lots of vegetative imagery from both authors. I was somewhat shocked these graduate students hadn't heard of Sappho....but then again, she is considered the first "lesbian" poet. Soon at was 4 pm and I had to go to my next class...but they want to take some pics first, so I obliged. Some of them even followed me to my Honors class. Cora walked with me all the way there; it was a hot day today, about 90 degrees.

In my Honors class, people strolled in a bit late, as usual. These kids are much more relaxed about the starting time. Cathy mentioned that she had to leave at 5:15, so we decided to party first: more pens, cantaloupe (they taught me the Chinese word for it), watermelon, dragonfruit, and more cookies were distributed. Next we saw two presentations, one on The Wedding Banquet and one on jeans culture. I wished they had focused more on the American cultural influences in China....but they were both interesting. Then we had some conversation about Donald Trump, the topic for the day, since they'd done some reading and writing on him. A key question they wanted to know was why do Americans like him so much?  So we had some good discussion about that. We also talked about the final exam a bit, and then I sent them on their way. We will see each other again on June 27...they all want to have dinner with me!!  It will be nice to FINALLY hang out with them!!

It is worthy to note that I received MANY gifts from students throughout the day!!  Here is a list:

FuFu--tea from her hometown
Ashley--corn from McDonald's (hey, I'll take what I can get)
Suzy--very elaborate box of tea with vases (probably the most lovely gift I received)
Blair and Leona--Chinese screen and dried flowers
Yiming--pen and bookmark
Katniss--zongzi (for Dragon Boat Festival)
Lydia--Melody ("Hello Kitty's friend," she said) and two lollipops
Shuhao--a Chinese red star hat

I was so pleased by all this. It made me feel loved and that they did respect me. It's probably not a feeling I'm going to get from Century students.

The bus to go back pulled up a bit late...and I was tired, so I eventually fell asleep on the bus home. Next thing I knew, a Chinese woman was tapping me awake. "We've arrived," she said. I fumbled with my stuff and got up.  "Xie xie," I told the driver, for being patient with me.

I ran into Claudio on the way to the bus. He couldn't get his bike app to work, so he decided to take the bus with me. We talked about Italian restaurants, his summer plans. He's a nice guy. I remember my conversation with him on Italian films at the SISU Cafe event: we talked about Fellini and Passolini. I walked in the door about 8:20 pm, ate spaghetti and salad, and then collapsed soon after Kerry came home.

I did, however, remember to take a picture of my student gifts.   :)

Key pictures from Wednesday:

Last meeting, Grad Student reading group. (left to right) Yiming, Katniss, Charmian, Blair, Leona, Lydia, Rebecca, Cora.

Honors Class party. (left to right) Cathy, Alison, Lola, Circle. Lilian in background.

All the gifts I received today from students. The bag has the tea from Suzy, which was probably my fanciest gift.