Frustration's Station is oh so Patient

Last night, my Hou Kong contact emailed me and told me that my 1st and 2nd grade classes were cancelled...for the 3rd week in a row. This is starting to get old. Most of you are probably thinking that it would be wonderful to have part of your work load removed--and I agree a lighter workload is good, but we built our schedules at the beginning of the semester, and since this is 3 classes I built my schedule around preparing, teaching, and walking too and from. It's the bulk of my work. So when my week's schedule is redirected the evening before, it makes it difficult to fill in the empty parts of my schedule (specifically because I've been doing 'catch-up and fill in' work for the past 2 weeks they've cancelled)...and I still have a quota of hours to work. Meh. They keep telling me that they're starting up the following week, so I'm assuming it's a school issue and not taking it personally as if they don't want me to teach at all. Plus, they already paid for the classes up front--I'll just have to reschedule and teach them later. This has been midterms for most schools, and they had sports day as well. Not sure what the reason is this week, but she said we'd start up again the 28th.

I went into work this morning only to leave an hour and a half later. I needed to buy my ticket for my trip to the Philippines, so I just clocked out and went to conquer something since work in the office felt less than productive. When I arrived at the ticket sales place, they were closed for another hour and a half for an early lunch. It was one of those post-fabulous weekend kind of Mondays. Fortunately, there was a Pacific Coffee Company at the bottom of their building. There is something about the smell of espresso, the taste of the creations, the environment of the coffee shop, and Norah Jones playing over head that I just love. So I got a vanilla latte and cinnamon bagel/donut thing for brunch and got back on the clock doing research for my Fulbright project. Productivity and coffee make me very happy :)

This was the quote on my coffee hugger...it explains so much

While doing my research, I discovered many interesting facts about Macau. Here are a few I remembered:

1. The Venetian Macau is the 2nd largest building in the world.

2. Sands (which owns many casinos in Las Vegas and Macau) is the largest casino in the world, based on the number of gambling tables.

3. Macau is in the Pearl River Delta next to the sea. The sea water drains back into the delta and causes Macau's water to be more salty than normal fresh water.

The debate I adjudicated tonight was "This House would restrict parents' ability to name their babies." This seems somewhat absurd to Americans (at least it did to me), but apparently it's somewhat common. The topic arose from my colleague reading an article about a New Jersey family losing custody of their child (whose name was Adolf Hitler).

Thanks for reading my sharing/venting. I know my woes are small, but I'm glad the day ended much better than it began...and it gives me a better tomorrow to root for, right?

Enjoy your Thanksgiving week!