The security at my school has increased this year. There are a lot more locked doors nowadays, and getting them opened can sometimes be a trial. There is nothing more obdurate than bureaucracy, nothing more intractable as people who accept senseless orders, and nothing more frustrating to someone who does not.
I teach a computer class, and one day I was told that we couldn't use the computer lab because the teacher who had the key was sick in bed at home. My Chinese assistant kept saying this to me, and didn't see the insanity of the statement that because one man was sick, everyone else had to suffer. So I had to go to the head teacher to arrange for the computer lab to be opened. It just seemed to me that somebody must have an extra key somewhere.
And so they did.
And so we had access to the lab for our class, as usual.
Sometimes I roll my eyes.
The dorms, where the students and some teachers have rooms, are also locked up, even more than they were last year. The doors are padlocked with chains around the handles, which makes me wonder what would happen if some students were trying to get out because of an emergency. I shudder to think.
Anyway, I need to get into the room I was given in order to put medicine on my bad skin. I'm seeing a doctor who has prescribed some traditional herbal ointment to rub on my eczema. It's doing the job slowly but surely. I usually put the stuff on after lunch, when the students have to take a nap. The doors are open, and access is freely granted.
Except on Friday, the day the students go home. They take their suitcases out and store them in the departmental office in the morning, so someone decided there's no need to open the dorms after lunch.
I have to get one of the Chinese teachers to call the attendant in order to get the door opened. And then I have to get another call put in when I want to be let out.
The guards at the school are a friendly crew, and they're always helpful when called upon. I always felt safe when I was living at the school, and I know they'll always take care of me and the rest of the students and staff. Also, no one dances or drinks more whenever we have a staff party. Their table is always the one with the most empty bottles on it at the end of the evening.
But I digress.
As you know, I'm an absent-minded fellow. One of the things that I'm afraid I will forget is to take my key when I leave my apartment. Well, I was locked out the other day, but it wasn't because I had forgotten my key. There's an extra little security device on the door lock, which is a cover that denies access to the keyhole. Someone had closed it while I was out, and I couldn't for the life of me get it to open. I had to call someone from the school to call a locksmith, who was able to pry it open and then replace it with a new one. It cost me 280 RMB, which is about $56.00.
If I ever find out who did it...
Fucking mooks.
