Mid September Blog Entry

In the middle of September, I am doing a company class, lots of Speakers Corners and a lot of kid's classes.

I like doing the SPCs the most.  Very casual, no pressure, the attendees are talking and are asking questions.

I am uncomfortable doing the company class.  The topic Business Writing.  No way to approach it without it being too difficult for most of the students.

The kid's classes are hit and miss.  They all depend on how the children are.  If the kids are well-behaved, it's alright; if not, oh boy!

I do have lots of free time, so I shouldn't complain.  I try to do the following with it:

• Blog.

• Pray.  I do the Rosary every day.

• Study French, Spanish, Mandarin and Latvian using the Duolingo App or books.

• Read novels or histories.  Come to this blog in early January and you will see a list of the readings I have done this year.

• Read poetry. Currently I am reading Emily Dickinson and Gerard Manley Hopkins.

• Read French, Spanish, Mandarin and Latvian.  I am almost finished reading Sérotonine by Michel Houellebecq in French!

• Watch movies. I just re-watched the French Connection.

• Listen to podcasts like Radio Derb, the Z Blog Power Hour, the Crackpot Podcast, Rebel Yell, the Delingpod, London Calling and Dennis Miller, to name but a few.

• I was able to converse with a taxi driver.  I learned he was from Anhui province; he came to Wuxi for the money, though he didn't care for the food; and that he had two kids that were older than my Tony.  He asked me if I was sixty years old which had me thinking how my beard (growing a beard I am) was making me look.  I told him my true age:  55, and I learned that he was 53.  I said to him:  你是我的弟弟! （You're my younger brother), hoping he would appreciate my stab at humour.

• Channeling Rick & Morty as an example of Western Culture.  Tony's school is Western in setup.  He has a homeroom but he goes to other classrooms for classes.  The hallways and corridors are indoors.  I asked him if the lockers were in the hallway like in the Rick & Morty cartoon series and he said they were. (In Chinese schools, the students stay in one classroom, the corridors are like balconies -- exposed  to the outdoor elements -- and the lockers are in the classrooms.)

• There are people leaving their cigarette butts on the hallway floors of our apartment building.  I find it annoying, but other than kicking the butts around and swearing, I haven't protested much.  So, I was pleased to see that other residents of the building were annoyed.  One of the residents took the time to make a sign, on which they put some of the discarded cigarette butts, to show their displeasure.  They put the sign on the floor so that anyone coming downstairs could see it.