it's all in the timing

I apparently have absolutely no natural defenses against Chinese germs and viruses. I have a cold. Granted, I was attacked from within my home (Ben was sick last weekend with a cold he probably brought home from his many sickly teenage students), and maybe anyone would expect to fall prey under those circumstances, but this isn't the first cold I've had since I've been here. In fact, I think this is the third. If it's going around, chances are I've had it, am in the throes of it, or will very soon get it.

This cold comes at a kind of bad time for me. I found out on Monday that the Chinese Speaking Competition I signed up for about three weeks ago will be this Friday. Yeek. Not a lot of fore-warning. Last Friday, when I asked when the competition would be held, I was told that it would be "in November sometime." I don't know about you, but "November sometime" does not mean the same thing as "one week from today," even if "one week from today" is actually in November.

But that's the funny thing about scheduling around here. It's not really done far in advance, and if it is done in advance, it's not often clearly communicated to those involved. This isn't the first instance where Ben or I have experienced that kind of last-minute notice. In fact, Ben experiences this kind of situation on a nearly weekly basis. He is constantly finding out that two days from now he won't be teaching such-and-such a class, because the students are participating in such-and-such an activity. Sometimes it works in your favor, like when I found out one Thursday that all my classes were cancelled on Friday, because the teachers were all participating in a sports day like the one my class had to participate in. On the other hand, it can work against you. Like when you find out on Monday that you will be reciting a speech in Chinese on Friday, and you haven't even chosen the speech yet.

Ahem.

So, in the midst of fighting off this cold, I have also been furiously memorizing a three-minute speech in Chinese, which I will present in competition tomorrow. I've memorized about 3/4 of it, but that doesn't mean I can present it well. There's a big difference between being able to stumble over three minutes of memorized Chinese, and being able to present it as if it were your own ideas. I have a lot of work ahead of me . . .