Days 137 to 151 - Thurs March 19 to Wed April 1 - Daily dominant things to do

We plan to try our hand at a weekend road-trip on days 145 to 147 (last weekend) but the weather promises rain and thunderstorms and I catch a bit of a bug, so we stay in the city for what I estimate is our 5th or 6th weekend in a row.  Not really a big deal in the short term, since we both like the city and the downtime in our own place, but it does cut into the number of things that we'll see while we're here.  

Huizhou is not very well-situated for short weekend jaunts to charming villages and cities (the south-east is fairly industrial), so we have the choice of either a) spending a large number of hours on the weekend travelling by bus or train with a short time spent at our actual destination or b) visiting locations within a few hours of Huizhou. The debate continues.

Meanwhile, we find things to fill our week-day time.  People aren't quite sure of what to make of the fact that I'm not working at the moment.   The most common response from the Chinese is "That's wonderful - you'll have so much time for shopping."  I find this a funny response, especially since it's almost everyone's first reaction.  At one point, I wonder whether I should find this a little offensive - is it meant as a sexist jibe or is that just really one of the things they imagine doing with unlimited amounts of time?  (It's the latter.)

I don't really enjoy shopping without a purpose, so it's not something I do with my time alone if I can avoid it.  Most of my solo-shopping is for notebooks - I go through one every week or two and China excels in cute covers, so I'm in heaven.  Bad English abounds.  The cover of my latest notebook reads:

I am in my sweet dreams, the sky / to celebrate with you, gentle, /quiet night, People at the bus drunk Flower

One cutesy planning diary that I come across has a space for a to-do list entitled: Daily dominant things to do.

Though "shopping" is rarely on my list of daily dominant things to do, the three of us seem to spend a lot of time trolling for merchandise as a group, usually after the gym or before dinner. We hit the Walmart for homeware, the Park-and-Shop for groceries, and walk up and down the city streets and alleys, past fruit vendors, DVD stores and tea shops.  Most tea shops boast small group of people sampling tea on low stools at low tables.

"They closed down the tea shops during the revolution because people were going there and fomenting rebellion," Dre mentions to us one day.  We enjoy the verb "foment" for a moment.

"If the anarchists ruled," I say, "people would hang out at the tea shops and foment peace."  We spend a few minutes making up imaginary anti-anarchy slogans for order-niks.

• No more freedom - tell us what to do!
• Screw you, we want rules!
• We're scared.

Pierre's list of daily dominant things to do includes guitar and Chinese study, but these are scheduled around his work hours:  

• Monday 8 to 11:30
• Tuesday off
• Wednesday 8:00 to 9:30, 3:00 to 4:30, 7:30 to 9:00
• Thursday 8:00 to 9:30, 3:00 to 4:30
• Friday 10 to 11:30

It's a relatively light schedule, which is exactly what Pierre was hoping for during this part of his year off from work.  He has few complaints about class, and those he does have seem evenly balanced between those directed at students (rarely take notes) and himself (not well-enough prepared for a particular class).  

The demographic of English classes seems to be about 9:1 girls to guys.  Not really surprising, since in my experience that's a pretty typical ratio for language classes.   At least a few girls are "twitterpating*" a little bit over Pierre, which is sweet.

* A reference to Disney's Bambi, and not to Twitter.

I don't meet many of his students in March, but he fills me in here and there, and gifts and thanks you's from his students make their way home.  

Around day 137,  one student interviews Pierre after class hours for a school project, accompanied by a few fellow students and her mother (so sweet :) .  As a thank-you gift for his time, they send a box of berries home with him, which we devour: 

(We're not sure exactly what type of berry this is - possibly something from the blackberry family, though much tinier and more delicate.)

During one class, Pierre mentions something about being interested in some new recipes.  The next week, a student brings Pierre a recipe for a beef & beet soup (borscht?) - we haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but it sounds yummy:

My personal favourite is a gift he receives on Day 150 (April Fool's day) from his afternoon class. They present him with an anime drawing of himself (and emphasize in their note that it's not an April Fool's trick): 

Photo credits: D