I will do live blogging of my day at work:
950 Am: It is slow at school today. This morning, none of the trainers have classes. I guess the students are deciding that it is hard to catch a bus here in the morning. Maybe, they are all going to church.... Not! I have three classes this afternoon. At 1300, I have a salon class about the holidays. Guess what holiday is coming! At 1500, I have an Intermediate Private Class. At 1700, I have an Advance Private Class. Each of the private classes, I will have just one student. I just went out to have a smoke with Leo. Monday morning will be the big game, the Super Bowl that is. We have to determine what bet we will make about the game. We will do an unusual bet like about the number of turnovers or incompleteness or something. I also have to try to fill our Super Bowl Squares pool. I have filled 80 out of 100 so far. I will also try to do some managerial things.
1010 AM: I am wondering about the school talking to the staff. Carol the marketing girl had a pile of HyLite School discount cards. She tells me that they will be used to get discounts of HyLite English classes. I hope that they can be used at other places to get discounts as well. I now have 88 squares filled in the pool table. Simon (the Duke of Wuxi) and I have purchased squares for our wives and children. There aren't too many students in the computer lab. I learned that Simon and Leo split on their bets on last night's Man City - Arsenal match. I think I will listen to some conservative talk radio on townhall.com.
1017 AM: I have just published an entry to my MSN spaces site. It is entitled Wuxi Ice and High Chair Tony. I have 118,311 video views on my Youtube channel. I mentioned that I am obsessed with this number.
1022 AM: Carol, the marketing girl, speculates that the students are shopping in the morning for CNY because it hopefully won't be so busy and attending classes in the afternoon during the certain CNY shopping afternoon rush.
1100 AM: I write a response to a comment on my other blog. It is nice to see people reading it. Time to stop dilly-dallying! I must prepare for my classes this afternoon. I notice that all the admin staff are working on the weekend to make up for the days off they get for the CNY holiday. Only in China.
1104 AM: 44,148 views of my MSN Spaces blog. Back to work!
1121 AM: I am listening to Hugh Hewitt on townhall talk radio. He is talking down John McCain. I hear that Anne Coulter has said she is going to campaign for Hilary Clinton if McCain gets the nomination.
1133 AM: I find a business writing book. Will it help me with the company classes we are having in March?
1142 AM: There must be four or five students in the computer lab. Lunch time is coming. I suppose Simon is going to go to McDonalds. I will eat some microwave popcorn. I just finished a half loaf of bread that my wife bought at a place called Bread Talk. At lunchtime, I will try to flog the remaining 12 squares of my Super Bowl pool. I am listening to Super Bowl talk now.
1146 AM: Am I sharp for the classes this afternoon? I don't know. I am still distracted. I hear talk that the Giants can win the Super Bowl. They have been talking that Romney can win on Super Tuesday. I found a business writing book that I can use for free on the Internet. I am an ESL English teacher. I am saying that so the search engines can pick up on this energy.
1156 AM: 118, 434 views of my Youtube videos. Lunchtime!
1210 PM: I have finished eating my popcorn. I am listening to Denis Prager. I tried to flog the Super Bowl pool squares at the lunch room. I saw three women. I didn't bother. I will look for some men in the computer lab. I will make a plug here for my latest Wuxi Tony video.
1216 PM: The wife phones telling me that I didn't bring any food for lunch. I told her I bought some snack food. I ask about Tony, and she tells me that he just got up. He had a busy night last night.
1218 PM: Leo and I will bet on the over/under for tomorrow morning's Super Bowl. I will find the line now.
1226 PM: It is 55. I will take the over.
1237 PM: Regina and Ashley join the pool. nine square to go!
1248 PM: Three squares to go! I have to go to class. Later Dudes!
201 PM: Two squares to go! the Beginner class was too good. It was dull for them and me to talk about holidays. I had them tell me what the other students said as a way to improve their listening skills but they were too good for that too. My jokes got some laughs but not enough to eliminate the feeling of ennui! 118,477 video views on Youtube.
220 PM: One more square to go! I have to sweat it out to get the squares by the Chinese because they don't understand the concept of the football pool. Many don't know what the Super Bowl is.
222 PM: I should prepare for Tomorrow's 1400 SPC. What to talk about? CNY? The Super Bowl? Maybe explain American football? Are you ready for CNY?
227 PM: Obama: The youngest candidate with the oldest ideas. I like that line.
235 PM: There are only four trainers working today. Three are working now. Dennis and Simon, from Great Britain, are teaching private classes. Leo, from Vancouver, Canada, is teaching a salon class. I sit in my office and supervise.
240 PM: I buy the last square for the Toner. I have three students, not one in my 1500 class.
246 PM: The snow is melting. One has to be wary if they walk near the edge of buildings.
250 PM: I just read an email from my Mom. Dad is not doing so well. He is getting old. It makes it urgent for us to go to Canada this year. My brother has put a down payment on a Ford Ranger truck. One of my Dad's friends is moving to Ottawa from Brandon which means my father will be lonelier and lonelier. Time to have a smoke and go to class!
411 PM: 118,500 views on Youtube. I had two students show up for my 1500 class. They were both young females. Their English was passable but it was hard to decide how to grade them. They did not have a glaring weakness. One girl I gave an "A" but told her her weakness was her fluency. She actually should have been a "D" but it was her last class anyway. The other girl was more talkative than the "A" student but she did not seem as prepared for the class. I gave this girl a "B" because her grammar points seemed noticeable to me.
426 PM: I have photocopied and posted copies of the Super Bowl pool around the school. No one came for Trainer Dennis's Speakers Corner. It is so dead at the school. It worries me. Will I have to be looking for another school to work? Perish the thought.
433 PM: I am hoping I can get up at seven AM tomorrow morning for the big game. I have told my wife. She acknowledged but I don't think she understood that this means I will have the TV on while she tries to sleep. I have to ask Leo how much our side bet on the game tomorrow is for? 1 rmb? 2 rmb? 5 rmb?
436 PM: For the next ten or fifteen minutes I will listen to this Hugh Hewitt talk radio show. (I hope the link works). It isn't political talk that I am listening to. Hewitt devotes an hour of his show, once a week, to movie talk.
440 PM: I am trying to bone up on infinitive clauses for my advanced private class (the student may will not show up but I haven't had a no show since last week) but there is more information that I can digest in ten minutes and the student wouldn't understand it. Neither can I at this point.
444 PM: I am getting lots of resumes from non native English speaking teachers.
446 PM: I must remember to take our CNY presents home. The school gave us boxes of meat and nuts. Last year, they gave us meat and coffee. Nuts are an improvement over coffee. But I would rather get hongbao (a money bonus in a red envelope).
448 PM: As you can see, I am stagnating here and I have lots of time to blog. This could be my last live blogging entry today if my student shows up. I will publish this as soon as the class is done or I will continue to blog if the student does not show up. I will click the publish button in a hour if this is the last entry. I won't comment on the class and student because I will be going home. Thanks for reading this all the way through........
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