My best friend at the school – the South African, ginger, Baby Jane – was fired on Christmas Eve!  WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She sent me a text that she was leaving China.  I was just completing my class when it came in.  It was right before lunch so I went by her classroom to see what was up.  She then told me that she had a meeting with the school administrators and that they decided to cancel her contract because she was teaching the native and advanced English speakers and the school’s budget could not afford to keep a teacher who only had 34 students. They had decided to cancel the program.

She was gutted and so was I.

The night before I had booked a last minute trip for Christmas to Phuket (Thailand for my geographically challenged friends – remember the Tsunami?).  The school finally agreed to move our 2-day Christmas holiday from Wed. (Dec. 24th) & Thurs. (Dec. 25th) to Thurs. (Dec. 25th) & Fri. (Dec. 26th) so we could at least have 4 days together.  Perhaps you remember my earlier post where I had written about fighting about the days off.  At any rate, I decided to get out of China for 4 days and go to the beach – not my usual choice for a holiday but not enough time to trek for orangutans in Borneo. So at midnight I booked a flight and a hotel.  The following afternoon, my friend was fired.

I felt bad because I would not be around to talk to her and cheer her up or at least drink and bitch.  Our lives had become kind of fun because we both invested in barbecue grills and had started grilling meat and drinking in the evenings after school on our balconies.  We would play Sugar Man, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, and J-Lo and dance our troubles and boredom away while chomping on grilled meat and veges.  Our rule was no drinks after 10:00pm on a school night.

By the time I returned from Phuket, she had made the decision to leave early and not finish out the semester, which ends on Jan. 30th.  I got back on Sunday night so I missed her farewell party.  I did get to see her on Monday before she left.

It turned out to be a blessing.  Her father had been very ill.  A week after she had returned to South Africa, he died.  She was able to spend time with him so it was for the best.

Farewell my friend! You are missed!