Often well behaved. Sometimes not. Today I was given this gift by one of my pupils called E***y.

She tried to call me a monkey in my last lesson, and said I had ‘monkey’ eyes. I responded by saying monkeys don’t have blue eyes.

I’m not used to being called a monkey by my pupils. And I won’t stand for any disrespect directed towards anyone, pupils or teachers alike.

Even-so, I ignored it as a one off.

Next lesson

At the end of the lesson. E***y came to my desk at the front and presented me with this gift.

I read it with disbelief.

After consideration, I said “this is not funny” and put it in my bag.

Pupils have called me things in the past, but never directly. Usually they shout in class when they can get away with it.

Although she may have thought this was a clever thing to do, writing abusive notes to your teacher is never a wise thing to do.

I can’t imagine she’s going to get away with it…..

Taizhou Bi-lingual School

So here’s some pictures from the new school…

I’m trying to get one of the teachers to give me a tour of the full campus. At the moment, I’ve only seen the lower school. Most of the pictures are from the middle school, where the sports hall, stadium, sports ground and the rest of facilities are.

No-one has given me a tour yet, although it was promised.

The teachers

The school seems fine. The teachers are a little shitty. One of the British guys phoned me on Friday to ask me if I “was on medication”, I simply refused to answer.

Today, the foreign teacher coordinator Flora, wouldn’t say hello to me.

So I’ve been made to feel welcome. Maybe I won’t be here too long.

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Started at my new school, Taizhou international school, Zhejiang province.

It’s a middle and lower school. Probably about 2,000 pupils.

Have had my first few days.

Apartment

Here’s some pictures of the apartment.

The school provide it free.

It’s big. Not much in the area. I’m using a bike to get around.

The internet here is painfully slow. Things that in England might take 20 minutes, here take 3 hours.

Just getting your simplest internet done is like the biggest chore.

You may as well read a book or do something else.