So, against all better judgment, we went to Hefei this weekend for our regular dose of Lucrative Testing. Hefei is an odd one for us– it’s 4 tedious hours away by train, quite grey and dismal at the best of times, with over heated, stifling rooms at the hotel and bad pillows for D’s cricky neck, and we don’t get back until nearly 11pm on Sunday night; however, it does attract a far less annoying batch of testers (because the usual snotty, whiny twits would never accept an invitation to test there), the hotel bath tub and bath goodies and coffee are top notch, the energy is really chilled out at the test venue, the sweet, perky monitors on each floor have their hot water thermoses ready to make you fresh leafy tea any time you pop your head out your door, and the test rooms are actually kind of cushy (mine had a big padded manager-chair, polished wooden desk, a brand new corner heater that warmed the room immediately and a wall-mounted flat screen tv). It’s a tough call.
Today is my first day of unTeaching til March, so I’ve hauled out the espresso pot and made myself a double shot latte. I am insanely tired.
I’m going to run myself a stolen-bath-goody bubble bath soon, then catch up on some Lite Reading. My brain still can’t process the Margaret Atwood I’d optimistically packed for the train ride. I ended up playing the one game installed on my phone that I don’t hate for about two hours (hitting borbs with orbs or something), then i started reprogramming my phone so that when D. calls me, there’s a blue-tinted light show on the clamshell cover and when I answer, his photo is on the screen. Same for Kevin, our head teacher who happened to be in Hefei testing with us. My screen pic of him is one I took around 10pm, leaning over the back of my seat and catching him bleary eyed with a stack of marking on his lap. His light show will be purple. Apparently I can assign different ring tones to different people so I may do that on our next 4 hour ride to Hefei– go through my phone book and give all bazillion people, including real estate agents and ex-colleagues, their own special ring tone. I have way too much time to kill.
My test room, which was actually on the 5th floor and labeled room 9. Being No.1 Oral Test Room, I was surprised to not also see the plaque for "Model Worker" or suchlike.
The bleak yet charmingly juxtaposed view from my No.1 Oral Test Room, with bonsai resting on AC unit outside, in the sleet and snow
The view from the hall window immediately outside my No.1 Oral Test Room.
At the train station, waiting for our train home. I was trying to figure out if the landscape in the sign had any connection to Hefei at all or if it was just wishful thinking.
Eating noodles standing up ‘cos you certainly can’t eat them lying down.
D. about to step through the metal detector to nowhere. It was just propped up in the corner. Very high security. TSA, take notice.
The snack cart on the 4 hour train ride home had only 2 lukewarm crappy beers and we snagged them. Everyone else was out of luck.
