End of the school year

I officially finished the school year when I turned in the last of my grades at 3:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday (the school year is nearly 10 months long!). My final final exam was that morning and later I took the final exam for the beginner Chinese class in between grading the last of my exam papers. It was hard to write so many characters and I did pretty poorly on some of the grammar and vocabulary – I just could not recall quite a few characters.

I wanted to study for the Chinese exam but revising and editing my English reading exams took longer than expected and I was locked out of my apartment for a couple hours last night. I went for a run and my key broke in two when I tried to unlock the door. Lately, it had become more and more difficult to get the key in and out of the lock because I think it was starting to rust inside the keyhole. Every time it would stick and I had to pound on it to get it in, I would think, “please don’t break on me!” Well, it finally happened that night.

I went upstairs to another teacher’s apartment and called someone at the school. They searched but could not find the spare key, so they sent a locksmith. By sliding a stiff, thin square of plastic along the door frame, the locksmith was able to pop the latch open. It was a good thing I didn’t lock the deadbolt or the entire door would have had to be taken out. The door handle and lock was replaced pretty swiftly, and it is now much easier to unlock the door with the new lock and key.

I now have two days to pack and clean up my place before moving out on Saturday morning. We have a few last events at school – a basketball game this afternoon, a party for the high school class tonight, lunch out with all of the teachers tomorrow, and an assembly with some awards and final remarks. On Saturday I’ll go to Changzhou with some of the Chinese students to say goodbye to a few teachers there who will be leaving China and stay for the weekend and leave for Beijing on Monday.