Rain: the enemy of the school

I'm sure I mentioned before that Rain's back. Before he left, his deal with the headmaster was he'd pay Rain his plane fare after he has returned to TieLing. This left Rain broke the whole time he was in Canada and even after he came back. A few days after being back, he had a meeting with the headmaster. I and Wendy (a different Wendy) went to the school with him and waited in one of the classrooms while they talked in the office. We passed the time studying Chinese. No, I was studying, she was teaching me. I was practising writing the characters for the different seasons, different parts of the body, etc., when we heard raised voices and thudding sounds from the other room. We went out of our room and listened intently. It got quiet again so we went back in. A few more minutes, we heard louder thudding sounds. I was worried about what Rain could do to the headmaster, the man being so tiny and all. We were in the hallway when Rain stormed out of the room, followed (to my relief, he was still alive and walking) by the headmaster.

Rain: (seething with rage) Let's go.

HM: No.

JC: What's happening? What happened?

Rain: (looking at me with intense hatred, the intense hatred was not directed at me of course) Do not trust that man. Let's go.

HM: No. Joni. No. 

You must remember he has a limited English vocabulary. I interpreted this as: Joni, don't go yet. I want to talk to you, please. Or it could also be: No Joni, please don't go! I can't live my life without you! No! Or: No Joni. No life. (Maybe he doesn't know how to say life.)

I'm going for the first interpretation.

JC: (looking at Rain) Five minutes.

R: Ok.

Wendy must be around somewhere. I think she might be gathering her things from the other room. I don't really remember.

So I went inside HM's office and we talked. We tried to. Basically, he tried to explain to me what happened, from his point of view. I remember him complaining about Rain taking the contract to Canada, that Rain did not leave the key to his apartment, how dirty Rain's apartment was. I know, I don't get it either. Sometimes I feel the Chinese have a weird sense of logic. The point to this talk is to try to persuade me not to be friends with Rain anymore. I knew it would lead to that.

Flashback: American teachers JP and Zach used to work for the school. They left due to misunderstandings with HM. Or they were just plain fed up with him. The only time I met them was months ago when they (and a Canadian of Chinese descent. I had to say that because he was the one who found a locksmith to pick the lock and because his Chinese is sooo good!) went to my house, which used to be JP's house, to get JP's things which were locked up in a room. HM locked them up out of spite. I knew about this even before I met them which was why I let them in when they knocked on my door. I also immediately called Rain because he knew these people and I didn't. HM was out of town that night. To make an already long story short, they got JP's stuff and left. A few days after, HM found out about it. I told Wendy (the one from the school) the next day and feigned ignorance. He used to live there, he came to get his things. What's the big deal? HM also talked to me about this, saying that JP and Zach were enemies of the school and I should not associate with them. They live in a different city, for crying out loud. I said, ok. Fred, a Chinese who used to teach English here, is also an enemy of the school now that he has left and is working at another school. 

So that was how I knew it was going to be one of those talks. He started by saying that Rain is a nice boy (yes, he said boy). But now that he's not with the school anymore, I should stop being friends with him. Did I tell you it's hard to follow their logic sometimes? Maybe it's just my headmaster. I apologize to all the other rational Chinese people of the world. Of course I said no. With the patience developed after years of explaining things to Nenet, Ube and Charly, I explained very slowly and in as clear a manner as I could that I can and will be friends with anyone I like, because, maybe it wasn't obvious enough, it is my life. He tried a different tack. His favorite, in fact. That of the school being a family and he's like the father. I've heard this so many times before. Again with all the patience I could muster, I told him that yes, Waiyan could be my family but I also have a life outside of my family. This conversation actually took a long time and Rain had since stuck his head in the room to tell me that he was going home and I just follow after. It finally ended, I was actually afraid it never would, when he gave up and said that he would ask Wendy or Jasmine (both my friends and are teachers in the school) to talk to me. I said, fine.

Rain's version was HM did not want to give him the money and said that what he meant was he would give the money after he finished the new contract. Ohgod, it was a miracle HM was still able to walk out of that room. Knowing Rain, he probably told HM to go fuck himself. When he tried to leave, HM blocked the door and asked for the contract. There were three copies of the contract, one of which had both their signatures. Rain opened his folder and started looking. HM grabbed the papers as soon as he saw them and started tearing them up. Rain, shocked, grabbed the papers back. At one point they were both holding them and HM started twisting the unfortunate papers, resulting to the damage of Rain's fingernail. I saw it, eww. Rain, being bigger, managed to get the remaining untorn ones, picked up the torn sheets, pushed HM aside and stormed out the door. The one with the signatures are still with Rain, untorn. He is now plotting on HM's eventual destruction.

Jasmine and/or Wendy must have talked some sense into HM because the next time we had a "talk" (with both Jasmine and Wendy there) he just said that although I'm very good friends with Rain and he can't do anything about that, I must not reveal the school's secrets to him. I said, ok. Sigh. And I just want to eat.

Yes, I finally got my plane fare reimbursed. Yes, I think I'm moving to Beijing after my contract expires. Whew! Crazy!