11/15 Wednesday

My interview at the English school in Jian Wai Soho was scheduled at 1:30, so I left my apartment early, expecting the worst of the traffic. I ended up arriving at the school half an hour early, and was joined in the elevator by another man who was going for a 1:00 interview. He had taught English before in China and I asked him about his experience and what to expect in the interview. He told me not to worry and also gave me some more suggestions for my demo class.

They had me do the demo class before the interview, and I was ushered into a tiny classroom of seven post college-age looking girls. During my demo class, I had the girls describe their desk mate’s appearances, describing noses, ears, eyes, teeth, lips, and hair with simple adjectives that I wrote on the board. I used an example sentence to set the grammar structure. The class lasted about 10 minutes before I was done, and the girls kindly pointed out, at the end, that I had smudged my face with the black dry-erase marker. Over all, the class was pretty fun, and describing other people’s appearances can always be humorous.

After the class, I was taken in to do a short interview with the woman who seemed to be in charge of the school. We talked about working hours, pay (120 yuan an hour), teaching experience, and my Chinese. The interview seemed to go well, and the woman said that I would be contacted when they needed a new teacher.

I hadn’t yet had lunch, so I headed to another building in the Jian Wai Soho complex to have Ramen noodles at a Japanese restaurant. I enjoyed a large bowl of curry udon with vegetables.

In the evening, I went shopping for soccer equipment in Wang Fu Jing. I first went to a high end place in the Oriental Plaza Mall, but decided that their equipment was much too expensive. I decided to go to an enormous Chinese sports mall just off the main street instead, and was able to find some really good deals. I discovered some really good German-made shin-pads, whose package was torn and therefore discounted for 69 Yuan, as well as some good knee high soccer stockings.

Since it was getting late, and I was in the area, I stayed over at Colm’s place. He wasn’t feeling too well, so he went to sleep early while I watched 21 grams.