Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Martial Law A Viable Option

To say it was a bad morning carries no nuance. To say it was a frustrating morning insinuates personal involvement with the source of the problem. To say it was an annoying morning doesn't convey the magnitude. I think I should say: "It was an SPS year one morning!" (WOP knows what I'm talkin about here.) Naw, it wasn't all that bad, now that I look back on it. But I was steaming mad for a good Irish minute or two. The morning witnessed a near perfect storm of administrative shortsightedness, Chinese 'little emperor/princess syndrome,' TA unprofessionalism, Communist (almost Byzantine actually) bureaucractic compartmentalism, topped off with what I've found to be a peculiarly Chinese avoidance of giving clear and consistent information.
[stopped writing at 4pm - started again at 10pm]
Ok, let me ammend the above already. It was that bad. And got worse this evening when we had field-study briefings for tomorrow. First of all a group of 16 students missed the entire briefing because their dinner lasted too long. Ok, I can deal with that. Oh, and by the way, on the written schedule we received for the week 'Dine In' apparently means we take the kids OUT to a local restaurant. Hmmmm, curious you might say. It gets even better. Mr. Kwan, hale and hearty at table, finger on the pulse of the market, Asia-maniac, refuses to follow the practical route and actually give usable information to his administrative team.
---- For fuck's sake...what a day. It's now 2am and we've been dealing with a window-breaking incident since 10:30pm - more bout that maybe later. -- For double Fuck's sake...it's now 12 noon the following day and the State is buckling from confusion and discontent. The angry mobs have yet to take to the streets, but they are certainly gathering in the dark recesses of the city. We've been forced to issue an October Manifesto of sorts to retain some loyalties among our Teaching Assistants (after I sort of bit the head off of one who tried to tell me this morning that she was offended that I had read a newspaper about a Chinese sports commentator who openly rooted for Italy against Australia and was shamed into apologizing to the nation) - the pampered pukes! It's almost time to secure the armory and sieze powder supplies.

To paraphrase Sullivan Ballou: I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how the Program now leans upon the triumph of the Administration. And how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of previous years and I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all the joys of my life to repay that debt.

5 comments:

Will Wilson said...

Come now, we all know that the REAL problem is that you're going through nicotine withdrawal. Just buy a pack of cigarettes... It's so easy... You can have just one, and stop then... Come on, they're so cheap in China... Just one isn't going to hurt you...

- The Reaper

Anonymous said...

That might make matters worse, since I'd be inclined to put one of em out in the forehead of one of my TAs.

Anonymous said...

Paddy, this is your calling. Call upon the maoists who are gaining power in Nepal (not that they will help your cause much)and strike down upon the subservient TA's. Burn the infrastructure with your rage. Fulfill your destiny Paddy, just as that TA told you.

Anonymous said...

As Tom Waits said in the movie Coffee and Cigarettes:

"The beauty of quitting is, now that I've quit, I can have one, 'cause I've quit"

...either that or some good beer?

Anonymous said...

Having ideas different from yours, Will's and Taeko's doesn't make the TAs "pampered princesses." And speaking of princesses, missing her plane does not make a student "some silly princess from New York". You're a teacher, do you talk about your students from home like this? Think of who else is reading this (as in, I know a few other people from GOC session 1 besides me who have read this)