Rain Rain Go Away

I hate the rain. It's been raining nonstop for a little over a week (which may be slightly hyperbolic, but whatever), and I'm tired of it. The floors are wet, my clothes won't dry, and the bottom six inches of my pants are continually damp. Today we get the added bonus of thunder. It's hard to get up the desire to go out and do stuff when it's wet and cold. I have a friend here that loves the rain, and whenever I complain about it, he laughs and says it's great. But he's from England, so I guess you have to like rain then, as it rains all the time there.
In other news, I have to go judge an English competition tonight, which is kind of a joke, but I get paid for it, which I didn't know, so that's a nice bonus.

I saw on Erin's blog that she made a desert island playlist, which I thought was kind of a cool idea. And as I was reading hers, I was thinking about what songs would be on mine, so here they are:

Bleed it Out - Linkin Park
Don't Stop Believin' - Glee
Let it Be - The Beatles (but I agree with Erin, and I'd probably choose the Across the
Universe version)
Here Comes the Sun - Bob Khaleel
Old School - Hedley
Take Me or Leave Me - Idina Menzel and Tracie Thoms (from Rent)
Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Hallelujah - either by K.D. Lang or Alexandra Burke, both versions are good
That's What You Get - Paramore
Ignorance - Paramore
What Have You Done Now - Within Temptation
Headstrong - Trapt
Halo - Beyonce
Mercy - One Republic
Happy - Leona Lewis

Nothing else to report as of now. Toodles

My speaking has changed since I've been in China, which I was not expecting. For example:
1. I say "supermarket" now. It's never the "grocery store."
2. I pronounce my 't's. If I say "Beddy" instead of "Bet-ty" for example, my students protest that it's not their name.
3. I say "fond of" much more than "like" now. I think this may be the result of British friends.
4. In general I articulate my words more, especially when speaking to my students.
5. Sometimes when I'm talking to my students individually I don't conjugate all my verbs or change tenses. I use the grammar I know they'll most easily understand. This is probably a bad thing.

On Saturday a bunch of us went to the Japanese all-you-can-eat restaurant in Guangzhou. Yum. They have this steak and onion dish that is the best beef I've had in China. Mmmmmm.

MJ, some guy who worked at our school last year that I don't know, Andrew, and Kimi
Julie and April
Alex and me

Stuff

Life in China is good. I'm enjoying my classes and I've started doing more things with other teachers. February was our holiday, and I went to Thailand and Cambodia with my friend Stephanie from Church. It was fabulous, and I loved it absolutely. I bought a ton of books, since there were a ton of English bookstores : ). We went to the beach for a week, sat on the sand and swam in the ocean (but only a little for me... jellyfish. I stuck to the pool more). Cambodia and the ruins at Angkor were amazing, and almost out of this world. It was hard to come back to the cold weather in Guangzhou after the heat in Thailand.

The ruins at Angkor; specifically, Bayon.
The view from our hotel in Phuket
Aranyaprathet ruins; it used to be the capital city of Thailand, and I really liked this Bhudda head encased in the roots.

The Grand Palace in Bangkok.

March wasn't very eventful other than the fact that I applied for a job at a new school for next year. I'll be teaching at Clifford School, which is a better school, and they will pay me double what I'm making now. They also have a curriculum for me to follow, which is nice, so I won't have to teach blindly anymore. There are a lot of the members of the branch in Clifford, and the complex has a lot more stuff to do: stores, restaurants, and more frequent buses to the city. I'm pretty happy with my decision to stay another year; I'm having a lot of fun in China, and I'm looking forward to staying.

Last week Andrew, Kimi, some other teachers, and I went to see the circus at Chimelong. Wow. It was really cool, and I saw people do things I would not ever in any lifetime be brave enough to do. Sadly, I forgot my camera that night, so no pictures. It was really fun, and nice to finally get to Chimelong, which is close. I still have to get to the amusement park and safari and water park. It's a fun to do list.

One of the teachers at our school, MJ, is leaving on Monday to go to the Shanghai Expo, so there was a farewell party for her last night at a bar that's closeby.


The girl in the white tank top is MJ, the teacher that's leaving.
April, Julie, and Alex