About time

I'm sorry that I haven't written in such a long time, to be honest there just wasn't anything going on at first and then I was really busy, and it is boring to write about nothing. Well the first two-three weeks after I came back I really didn't do much, work didn't begin until February 29th and until then I mostly slept, worked on my Procrastination game and chatted with friends back home (since I slept all day and was up all night I was suddenly on the same time schedule as Sweden, close to it at least). I did apply for some jobs but got really frustrated after a while since most schools and companies tended to ask where I was from and then never bothered to call back after I told them Sweden. I know I'm not a native speaker but I also know that most native speakers can't tell until I tell them or they really spend a lot of time with me.

I went out clubbing a few times too during this time but not many since I'm lacking the money needed to go out, mostly I just went out for dinner (breakfast that is) at McDonald's around 8 or 9 pm and had some snacks around midnight, the few times I did go out clubbing though was quite fun, mostly with Kevin. I did more things the first week I was back, Li Min's birthday for once and I also met and cooked with friends a few times, I baked bread two more times of which one was a total failure with dead baked bread and the other got a little burnt but was still decent, the last week I was basically home alone all the time though, slightly frustrated about work, bored of not doing anything and a little bit homesick.

But finally on Friday last week I started working, and it was a bliss despite how bothersome and annoying some of the kids are and can be. I have been trying to avoid working too much in kindergarten but since almost every serious school turns me down for being a non-native speaker I have to fall back on that, and I decided to help Starpoint (my old company) out until they find more full time teachers so this week my schedule was really full. I'm still getting paid by the hour though so more classes mean more money but I ended up with some gastric problems on Monday, which is of course and unfortunately my longest and therefor most prosperous day, and couldn't work that day. I still managed to get as much as 16 hours and approximately 2000kuai, which basically doubles last semesters salary.

Starpoint has found their full time teacher now so all those classes where only a one time deal, but I am still getting a lot of classes from Starpoint, still getting the long Mondays for example, Ivy,my "boss" at Starpoint, have some private deals with some schools also and I'm working for her with those, paying a bit better actually, I'm also working for another company which has contract with a kindergarten no more than 5 minutes walk from my home and finally a training school that is a bit far from my home but gives me enough classes with enough concentration in time to be worth it, all in all I will get eight or nine thousand per month this semester, but my free time is severely compromised because of this, and of course I'm still working too much with kindergartens.

The good thing about Jordan, the training school, is that it's quite close to Li Min's (Jane's) school, so I usually meet her for dinner, lunch or both the days I work there and hang out after, and twice now, both days I've been working there, have we ended up taking a late night massage when I have seen her. Last week we went to a place for a Thai massage, which ended up hurting like hell but they say it's good for you, and this week we went to the same place and had a Chinese foot massage, which was much nicer I think. The Thai massage covers more of the upper body though and I had a lot off aching muscles after my travelling (the backpacks were a little heavy) and this week I had strangely aching thighs and calves, so well right now I'm feeling really OK.

New week is coming up and I hope I can manage all these hours, it is more now that it was last semester but it is also more motivating when I get more money for the work, and that it is totally proportional, also I'm not going outside Chengdu as often and never as far as Da Yi and De Yang (like 1-2 hours transport one way).