压力

我

有

压

力

!

 

Sorry. Just thought I’d get that off my chest.

 

Back to my regular drivel:

 

So with my last class in Yizhuang over, I’m pretty much free from this place. All we’ve got to do now is pack and leave. The packing part I probably should be doing right now. The leaving part we’ll do on Saturday. Now, I suppose I could kick back and relax and enjoy the next two months. Or I could use all this spare time to get back into more serious Chinese study. But we haven’t managed to save a hell of a lot this year. So instead this afternoon I’ll be going around to some kind of language school/training centre for an interview and demonstration lesson. I’m not looking forward to it.

 

In my experience, training centres are best avoided. I only agreed to work at this one because it’s a part of the Petroleum University and/or owned by CNPC, so it’s a bit more trustworthy than your regular privately owned training centre. I hope this guy has got the message that I’m only looking for part-time work over the summer.

 

Let’s face it, I’m a lazy bastard. I really don’t want to be out looking for part-time or ‘freelance’-type work over the summer. I want a holiday. But with so little saved, it’s probably not a good idea to take a holiday, or at least not too much of a holiday. I should at least find enough work to pay the pay the bills over the summer. Although our savings and lzh’s (rather tiny) income are enough to get us through to my next pay check, that’d leave us starting from scratch yet again.

 

So this afternoon I’m heading down to Jianwai Soho to see about this training centre. I have a company that seems like a kind of introduction service for students and teachers interested in one-on-one tutoring lined up for after we move. I should get on to reading the documents they sent me and reminding them I’m still alive, about to move soon, and still interested. I sent my CV to a gas company looking for an editor/proofreader, but I suspect that, as always, all that foreign teacher experience will work against me. I should probably get off my arse and see what else is out there.

 

After all, this is not a cheap city, we have bills to pay, and it’s probablydefinitely better to keep as much of our savings saved as possible.

 

But sometimes….

 

….when my mate Frog got back from Laos and he was telling me his wandering-through-the-jungle stories over pastis at Balls or whatever that pub behind Gulou is called, I was daydreaming of finding myself a nice little corner of the southeast Asian jungle to disappear into.

 

Now, back in the real world, I guess I should be preparing for this demonstration lesson. Got a few ideas of what to do, just need to flesh them out a bit.

About the Author

wangbo

A Kiwi teaching English to oil workers in Beijing, studying Chinese in my spare time, married to a beautiful Beijing lass, consuming vast quantities of green tea (usually Xihu Longjing/西湖龙井, if that means anything to you), eating good food (except for when I cook), missing good Kiwi ale, breathing smog, generally living as best I can outside Godzone and having a good time of it.

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