You Can Have Two Cuz' Your Mouth Is Big

It's been another long week here in Weihai. It was our second week of teaching and our classroom control is getting better. We are getting to know our students much much better. Along with the classes we teach, we are being taught too. Twice a week we get Chinese lessons; and once a week we get Tai Chi (a slower form of Kung Fu).
So, one thing to know about Chinese school systems is that there are about 10 principals and about twice as many vice principals for a single school, and even more coordinators/directors! One of these people is a 5'5" late-forties man named Tim. I think his main function is to drive us crazy! The first time we met Tim was at the Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival marks the end of the New Years, and it's a pretty big deal. We were sitting at our table for dinner examining the whole fish they had served us (skin and bones and all), trying to decide what was eatable when one of the principals noticed we had not opened our beers. He came over to us and tried to convince us that we should drink. Tim was his translator. All he kept saying was, "It is, um, Chinese tradition, um . . ." Thank goodness there were three other English teachers there who could communicate with the principal better. None of us had to drink and we did not offend anyone. But as we covered our cups with our hands, they poured beer over some of our hands to get it in the cup. So, for our first week of Tai Chi we had Tim, one of the many coordinators (we really aren't sure what his role his . . .) translating for our real teacher. We couldn't understand the majority of what he said, although we did catch one sentence: "You need to twister your waister." (Tim's way of saying we needed to twist our waist). Other than that, we have been enjoying trying new foods at the grocery store. I found salt, garlic powder and butter to make my rice more tasty. Bruce really enjoys these little muffins we get at the bakery near 'Big World' (a multi-level barter shopping center). We just switched from a private internet provider to the government provider so I hope my proxy site still works! Thanks for reading!