*burp* My Life in China, so far

I just finished eating and yes, I think I just might gain some weight here. For some of you who still don't know, I am now in China teaching little kids how to use our colonial language. It's a little ironic, if you think of it that way. There we are, trying to find a Filipino identity, and here they are, learning to be Western. Sometimes, I just don't get it.

I've been here almost two weeks. So far, I like living alone. Of course there is much to be said about it. There are times when I miss waking up and there would be food on the table. And after eating I could just go to bed and the dishes had been washed by the time I get up again. Or that I don't have to worry about running out of some little thing like salt or pepper or something truly mundane. But for the most part, I love the silence. I love waking up and deciding what to do during the day. Of course I don't really do much of anything, just read and walk around the house or surf the net. I don't know but there's something about living alone and being in complete control of everything around the house that I really can get used to.

So far, classes have been exhausting but fine. What I find hard about teaching kids is that I have to always be animated, otherwise we all fall asleep. It definitely presents a different kind of challenge as teaching college kids back home. I must admit I thought it was going to be really easy teaching English. Duh. How hard could it be, right? You just talk to them. I thought it was going to be very similar to Speech classes back in high school. But um, nope. They don't understand you. At all.

I remember telling Artie before I left home that I'm sure I'm going to miss talking about Sappho or Rumi or Frost or even theories like feminism and deconstruction or writing techniques like metaphors and stream of consciousness. They can be hard to explain but they're always exciting. And yeah, I can be quite passionately animated talking about those things to my students. I could be really tired after class too, but there's always the feeling that I was able to relate something of importance. I guess we'll have to define what importance is in this case.

But yeah, I'm here for my novel. I need the solitude. I need time and space to think and write and weep, if I must. More than longing for home, I long to be able to write again. Furiously. Madly. Passionately.