I've had this same feeling after spending time contracting for Microsoft. Contracts are necessarily simpler jobs; they want you to just plug in and do the work, so I'm usually bored after a month with two to nine months more to work. And this is what that feels like.
Marie has said she's looking forward to a job she's good at. She seems to feel like she isn't cut out for exciting people, basically kids, about English. I think she does fine, but she's worried about the kids' experience, which probably makes her a better teacher. But she's said she's had feelings like she's done with this job.
I'm looking forward to a shower that doesn't start cold and take five minutes to get lukewarm, then warmer and when I turn it down it's cold for a minute, then warmer and warmer, and when I turn it down again, really cold!
I'm looking forward to not hanging all our laundry in a closet and using a dehumidifier to dry it in less than a day or two.
I'm not looking forward to having to get up at 6:30 or 7 a.m. five days a week. I like getting up anywhere from eight to ten six days a week and going to work around three or four.
I am looking forward to having Saturdays off again.
But we did have a Saturday off a couple weeks ago. We went to the beach, and it was good.
Our Saturday off was the result of a holiday several weeks ago. Everyone, including kids, got a Thursday or Friday off, so they had to make it up at their regular school.
Don't ask me why, we still don't have answers on why they have loan holidays not actual holidays. But it meant that our kids were in their regular schools this Saturday, and everyone else was at work, so the beach was almost certainly much less crowded for it.
This's most of the group, current and former teachers from Marie's school: Dorothy in red, then Belle and Melissa. Lying down are Aileen and Fiona. Vera's around somewhere. Dorothy is holding Bom-Bom and Kiki is in Melissa's lap. Not pictured is Belle's chihuahua Chi-Chi.
Marie asked if it sucked going to the beach with a bunch of hot Chinese women... and my wife. The obvious and safe answer was no, but it was also true. Mostly what this reminded me was that I'm old, and I was never cool, and I'm certainly not cool by any kind of Taiwanese standard. There's no badly written English on any of my shirts. Arf.
It was really just great to sit on the sand, in the sun, not at work, not in the city, not yelling at kids, and look at the water. Next stop, Japan.
I thought this was funny. The kid here has a kendo stick, a wooden samuari sword. The bag at his feet has a watermelon in it. He's blindfolded and his friends would guide him to the bag which he would smash the daylights outta and then they'd eat the cracked watermelon. I'm thinking about trying it. Good beach entertainment, and food.
Besides the people, we brought a dog.
Or two. Actually three, but I didn't get Marie with the third.
They were these little toy dogs that rode around in oversized purses, which brought to mind a cartoon that shows a woman rummaging through her bag trying to find something, and her friend asks, "what'd you lose? Wallet, cell phone, car keys?" The woman replies, "dog."
Marie and I both got scorched. We're outta practice for being out in the sun for six hours. We're just peeling now. Oh, and thanks Patti, for the aloe. We nearly used it up after we got back. They must have something like it here, but I haven't seen any.
It was well worth it tho'. We had what felt like a long weekend, even if it was only two days. We played in the South China Sea. The lifeguards wouldn't let us go deeper than about waist high, but they went home at five, so I got a chance to swim out a little in this protected cove.
I think I'm only a bit disappointed we didn't walk around the beach to the far point. Maybe we'll make ourselves go back later in the summer, well after our skin's recovered.
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