Barely had one term finished then another began

And it began early.

It’s not even term time and already we’re back at school till half four every day this week. There’s good, bad, and ugly.

The good is that Vlad is not such a bad chap.

The bad is that the timetables were revised, and mine got worse, with classes to the bitter end four days a week. Since then, the timetable has had to undergo further revision, but I’m not holding out much hope that my timetable will change significantly and for the better.

The ugly is the bullying headmaster. During the holidays, I heard that the parents had to give him a smack or so because he’d gone and signed a contract with some other company in spite of the present contract having another three years to run. Of course, someone has to be punished, and we’re the whipping boys.

I assume that the contract has always included some statement about school hours, but it’s never been rigidly enforced. We’ve even had an informal agreement with the school that let most of us go a bit early. But now, Attila the Han has obviously demanded that on the matter of school hours, the contract should be fully implemented. As a consequence, this means our day will be about ten hours in length.

One question I do have, though, is what the length of lunchtime is going to be. The ridiculous length of the school day in China is because lunchtimes are typically long, two hours, which pushes the ends of the day apart. However, when we made other arrangements, lunchtime got shortened, and I’m wonder­ing whether it’ll remain that way, which would make things even worse.

Just to add some warts to the ugliness, staff meetings will mean a very late Monday, and other activities will affect Wednesday or Thursday.

I can see a mad rush for the gate at the end of the day. Unlike last year, when I rarely left on time, I can’t see people spending more time at school than they can possibly avoid or willingly doing anything extra.

[Edited 18.10.14.]