Mawadge

My TA is getting married tomorrow. How strange. I feel like this happened last semester, too. 

Makes me wonder about my own wedding. 

...

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I want sword fights.

Ants 3

Going to try to sleep in my bed tonight. Luckily sheets and sweeping is done tomorrow by the sneaky hotel ladies. 

Here. This is my school. Where I teach. You will love it. 

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/RUxiM4noGCg/

I hope you are familiar with the troupe of Gangnam style. Here is the original video from South Korea's PSY: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/58JzS3T2lXw/.

The students here are awesome. 'Nuff said. 

Ants part 3

My apartment, while now free of living ants (many dead ones), was still not safe to breathe in this morning, though I did a quick prep there. For those wondering, I spent the night in Callie's place. At noon it seems a little more tolerable, but I'm keeping the kitchen fan on and windows open for a full 24 hours until I'm done. Then I'm going to seal up the hole in the wall. 

Any ideas on how to make ant traps? I can't seem to find them. I will keep searching. And keep my windows open. 

In other news, there's a man on the street today who is selling drinks in bulk. I haven't seen him before, and he's not in a stall. I'm not sure where the drinks are from, either, but he's selling. In bulk. 

Most stores sell individual, and there is no bulk discount in China. 

As I'm talking about sudden stores, the traveling market is here again. But with blue covers. They go through five or six cities, selling dried goods. Fruit, nuts, whatever. They're rather tasty. 

Ants Part II

I found where the ants are coming from- a telephone socket that is falling out of the wall. I used 3/4 of a can to spray my bed, my bedroom, my living area and the floor of my kitchen. 

To limit the fumes, I used my bandanas. However, I still managed to inhale some sticky-sweet fume at the end- so I took a couple of minutes to calm down and have some fresh air. But for the next 6-8 hours, I'm planning to not be inside my room. My windows are open, I have a kitchen hood fan turned on, and I'm not going to be there. I've also sealed my electronic devices just in case. 

This is such an annoying thing. The ants didn't even seem to die- perhaps it will be something at first. If this doesn't work, though, I'll ask the women to fumigate my room. Though I don't know where I'd go in the meantime. 

Sad, sad days with the ants. 

Ants, Ants, Ants

Last night I opened up my covers to find at least 50 ants crawling around my pillow. 

Tiny, red, sugar ants. Couldn't find where they come from.

Slept on the sofa instead. 

Today will be mostly cleaning, spraying, and escaping my room and it's toxic fumes. Oh boy. 

Expats in Europe

On CNN I saw that there's an article about expats in Europe watching the election. 

As if the expats in Asia aren't. Or Africa. Or South America. Or those stationed at the South Pole/Antartica. 

I'm watching the election when I'm not in class, man. Don't give me this nonsense, CNN. Most of the expats are watching. If we can't, it's cause were working. But please don't forget about the rest of us. 

I ran straight home to see the results. They're still counting votes, of course. But I am terribly excited. 

Life in general now

I went to a café today to get internet, but their internet was out. I'm rather disappointed. But oh well.

 

This week my students asked to watch the presidential debate, so I showed them the most recent one. After watching the debate 8 times, I'm beginning to better understand when a candidate answers, argues, or says the same thing. Often the candidates had the same ideas, but they stressed and emphasized different parts to illuminate their difference. I am so glad to have the debates over with. However, my students liked them, and more people asked for copies of the debate than any other video so far in my classes.

 

For my writing class, I'm on the right track to teaching them outlines and essays- but I need to go farther now. I need to present them an outline and the five paragraph planning session. We've done outlines, essays, but now it's just putting them all together. 

 

If I haven't mentioned already, the western internet has been slow.

 

Also, if I haven't mentioned, I'm helping one of my students through the IELTS- she's panicking. I'd prefer, if she wants serious help, to meet once a day. But she's thinking less than that, so we'll see. It'll be a month or so. It feels like I'll I'm doing anymore is working, working, working- I don't have a single free day!