Last Day of School and Acrobats

I was extra tired this morning…yesterday wore me out! Helena and I were up and off as usual. As sad as I am it was my last day of school, the commute and language barrier are starting to get a bit frustrating. I feel like I arrive at school tired from all the hustle and bustle of the morning commute.

We did not have morning exercise today because the ground was icy and it was still cold. I followed Chilli to grade 8 and was greeted by, “beautiful teacher, beautiful teacher!” We went over all their vocabulary and played the spelling bee game as well!

Class went well and Chilli asked if I could come to their class after lunch. I said that would be fine and then spent the next class with Sophia in grade 5. They had a specific lesson she wanted me to teach which makes it a bit more difficult. But we managed to make it through the class and then lunch time, my favorite! Unfortunately, even on my LAST day..no potatoes! Oh well! Lunch was fine as always and we were also able to try some treats the teachers brought in (some things were TOO spicy).

After lunch I was back with the 8th grade but was very confused about what Chilli wanted me to do. We ended up “talking” for a while, although I was a bit surprised that in 8th grade they couldn’t even have a conversation in English. They asked me some questions about America (food, etc.) with Chilli as the interpreter. I tried to ask questions back but that didn’t work so well. We also took some pictures! Then they asked me if I played shuttle cock and I said we didn’t do that in America but I attempted (I obviously didn’t improve at all on Sunday!) so then we went outside to do that and jump rope! It was a good, relaxing way to end my time at the school! I said my goodbyes and Helena and I were off!

I was very sad to leave..I love the kids and the teachers are so kind. But I think 3 weeks was a good amount of time. The commute was starting to get old, the having no idea what class I was teaching and what curriculum until I was there got old, all that kind of stuff was starting to wear on me.

I was very happy to be back in the warm, dry hostel! But then it was time for the Acrobatic Show. Now I knew I wanted to see the show before I left Beijing, so I had done some research and found cheap tickets online! I had asked everyone (Callum, Stephanie, Helena, Randi and Ali) if they were interested and they all said yes and we decided Wednesday night! However, on the night I was going to book the tickets I was introduced to Quitai, someone Randi met and invited into our group. So before I booked I asked her to ask him if we wanted to come and he said yes. So I sent the email to book 7 tickets.

Last night around 11:30 when I was trying to fall asleep there was a knock at my door. It was Randi telling me that Quitai had found a Korean website that had the tickets even cheaper (he is from South Korea). So he was thinking we could get them from there. I agreed cheaper was nice, but had already booked the tickets. She asked if we could cancel, and I said I guess so..they didn’t have my credit card or anything. But I said if we were going to cancel I should email them that night (Tuesday night) so they would have all of Wednesday to resell the tickets. She went back to talk to Quitai who said the office was closed until Wednesday morning. This is when I wanted to say, “Listen, honestly I don’t want to deal with this because I KNOW this is going to be a mess” but I kept quiet and said I didn’t care what we did but if we weren’t going to use my tickets I wanted to cancel that night. But Randi said that Quitai wouldn’t know until the morning. However, I knew I was going to be at school all day so if we weren’t going to use mine I wouldn’t be able to cancel.

This is when it got, frustrating. And really this is just me venting. Randi said Quitai could call her and she could email for me and cancel. But then her phone wasn’t working, so she decided Quitai could email her. But I said I needed to know whether or not to pick up the tickets (which I needed to do before she got home from work). She said Quitai would text me either way so I knew to either go get the tickets for everyone or just meet at the hostel.

Now all I wanted to do was to be sleeping but instead I was trying to figure this out. I knew I was getting frustrated because I was tired and Randi kept talking so I told her I needed to sleep. Of course the day went by and I got nothing from Quitai or Randi. I called and texted him with no response and Randi’s phone wasn’t working. Now I was frustrated because I was wasting my afternoon trying to figure this out. I called Callum to ask what I should do and he was able to get in touch with Randi. Randi then called me to say Quitai got the tickets but was sick and wasn’t going, etc. So Stephanie and I were running around the hostel looking for him. We finally found him and he said he got the tickets and we needed to be there at 6:00. This seemed strange to me since the show started at 7:15 and I was bummed because that meant we had to leave, now! So I got my things ready and off we went. We were waiting, and waiting, and waiting at the venue. Then, Quitai sort of nonchalantly said, “Oh he is coming at 7:00” like it was no big deal? I was like excuse me? I guess Quitai thought 19:00 was 6:00 so when the ticket man said 19:00 he thought it was 6:00. Now I know it wasn’t a big deal but I was just aggravated, probably because I just felt like this whole thing had been stressful (when it didn’t need to be). I think Quitai’s culture is very different because he just said it matter of factly (like we weren’t all just waiting and waiting for the ticket man) and we were all confused.

Anyway we found a KFC since we had an hour to kill and all grabbed dinner. Then we were walking to the theater (since it was now 7:00) and stopped at a small store for snacks. All of a sudden Quitai was gone! We called him and he said he was near the theater, but he didn’t tell ANY of us he was leaving. When we finally saw him Randi asked him why he didn’t tell us he was leaving and he seemed confused. Needless to say the night was frustrating, but we did get tickets to see the show.

The show was great! It was very much like Cirque du Soleil but at a much smaller venue. The things these people can do with their body is CRAZY! They are so strong and flexible at the same time. It was a great show and we all had a lot of fun. I was very happy we managed to get tickets.

Hugs and kisses from Chinese Acrobats.