marathonerexposed

This May Put Us Over the Edge

A quick glance at this poor screenshot may not mean much to you, dear friend. Suffice it to say, this may very well put us over the edge. Various duties on top of full course loads on top of day to day coverages twice weekly extracurriculares on top of meetings on top of…. Now, residence…

Orgasmique

Subway station—Shanghai, China I’m sorry, sir, for stealing a pic. Please understand, I had to do it. I suspect this jacket logo not licensed by Gucci:

The White Hair

It’s back. With a vengeance. Fellow teachers didn’t much notice last night’s hair incident mistake, when I attempted to cover up some white hair but slicing it off—promptly opening up a larger expanse of shorter white hair. Then my hair became much shorter on one side in front. Shorter and whiter. It took students in…

Escape

Wednesday, October 12: Day X of “3 day” lockdown—Escape from Xishuangbanaa ESCAPE from the inside—accomplished! We have finally departed. It was 13:34.We first arrived in the neighborhood which would become our prison ( of sorts) around 20:00 on Sunday, October 2nd. We awakened the morning of October 3rd to find out our downtown Jinghong neighborhood…

Lockdown Day VII: Wandering Again Within Razor Wire Perimeter

Sunday, October 09–Day 7 of a “3 day” lockdown The doors have opened! We are freed! (Kind of) Transportation passes good for 48 hours are being distributed out front. Private cars began exiting this morning. But the grocery below is locked up. The fruit store would not allow me to buy. Virtually every business besides…

Padlocked Inside

Friday, October 07: Lockdown Inside Quarantine Zone Reaches More Horrific Point Beyond Anger. Breathing Fire It’s like they’re spitting in our faces, saying, “We don’t care if you die, so long as we save our jobs.” Look what we woke up to: Yes. Those are indeed padlocks on the entry-exit doors. Yes, we are indeed…

Walls Are Closing In

Thursday, Oct 06 —Lockdown inside quarantine zone Day IV Walls closing in now. It’s a true race against time. Soldiers are now sealing off every business Every single one, we believe. Government will provide meals but for a vegan it will be crap. White rice and one oily vegetable, more than likely. Preparing for the…

My Own Private Teahouse

Thursday, October 06–“3 Day” Lockdown Day IV, Xishuangbanaa, Yunnan, China Appreciate every moment. Who knows when your new lockdown neighbors will hand over the keys to their Pu’er teahouse? Now, I’m on the inside, drinking delectable “shen” Pu’er tea to my heart’s content.

Lockdown, Day III

Yes. It’s happened again Sunday night-Monday morning, October 02-03, 2022, Yunnan province, China—215 miles to the Laos border: Like so many experiences in China, it began as another exciting, culturally shocking, yet subdued night, before morphing as we slept into a wholly unexpected, startling phenomenon. Thrilled as I was to see the Cambodian (or Dai)…

Hurtling Along

Sunday, October 2nd, 2022. 44 years old. Periodically, including in the middle of sleeping last night, my mind rushes me into thoughts I’d rather not rush into. Like, I graduated from high school 25.5 years ago. 25 years from now, G-d willing, I would be 69 years old. That’s the kinda thing that blows the…

Missing Kid

That’s another thing about the life of a teacher—searching for missing kids in the bathroom. I found R. He says he was not on iPad because it had no power. But with R, it’s hard to know the truth. A sixth grader new to our school. He’s already been suspended for a week from the…

6th Grade Nightmare

Was getting the class back, pulling em from the brink, until W. threatened to kill C. Then C threatened to kill W. Then W hit C. That’s about how it went. W got sent out to teacher office, as I stood in doorway talking to C. Meanwhile, V—1st grader impersonating a sixth grader—was engaging in…