Not only am I a teacher to students from the ages of 7-50(I teach extra classes to children and professors), a debate and speech coach (they made me the new coach this week), but now I am also a matchmaker. My boy students have been complaining about not having girlfriends and they want me to have my freshman girls come over more often when they are over so they can meet them. Plus, they want to see the pictures I took of my freshman girls. That was going too far.

Then one of my students asked if he could invite the girl he liked over to my house and wanted to know if I would cook both of them dinner to make it easier for him to get to know her! So I am a big sucker and I did it. The thing is in China there is absolutely nowhere for people to go to have any privacy. I don’t mind letting people use my apartment for such things, especially when there are eight people to a crowded dormitory room, no kitchens or lounge areas, no good places to study comfortably, only crowded classrooms and libraries, the weather is too cold to be outside, and there is nowhere to go for privacy.

However, the other night it went too far. The same student who wanted me to create a dinner date for him came over the other night at 11:45 pm with his girl (curfew is 11:30). He told me that the two of them had been out taking a walk and lost track of time. Before they knew it was too late for them to go back to their dorms. He wanted to know if they could sleep in my apartment. Their alternative was to sleep outside in the cold! Of course I let them stay. A few days later he confessed to he had planned the whole thing so that he could have a night alone with his new girlfriend. I was not very happy when he admitted this to me, but I think it is interesting he felt that he could tell me what his real intentions were. Maybe I need to be more a teacher figure from now on and less of foreign friend so things like that don’t happen again.