Sept 10 2013

Tuesday

IT WAS A HOLIDAY

OUR HOLIDAY

WHAT HOLIDAY?

TEACHER’S DAY!

Okay, this was legitly cool. They told us how sometimes the school gives gifts, and some funny stories, and we saw them putting up banners and they even had a blow-up banner outside of school which was super cute. And of course as we walk in for breakfast this morning, everyone is saying “Happy Teacher’s Day!”

To be honest, that took me a little while. With their English, you know. They’d fumble the words and often end with “Happy” and then they’d giggle. It was so cute, though- they were doing that all day long!

Breakfast was pretty decent. They had the fried sweet potato thingies, and we like those. And I swear they’ve been redoing some of these sweet roll things- they’ve just been getting browner and browner. It’s super funny, actually, and each of them taste okay… but it’s hard for me to stay away from bread so… anyways, pretty decent food, yay.

My first class: CRAZY.

I had my Grade 3 Class 2 again. I had hopes because the kids came in and helped lead me to class. I thought I had come up with enough for them to do, which I did, but there was so much noise going on, it was ridiculous. I have no idea… and the teachers’ office is right next door! I have such a hard time with it sometimes, how do they survive listening to this? And no, there is no noise when they teach. They are absolutely silent. Psht.

Oh well-

So Katie finished hers as well, and after dawdling for a short while, we headed over for lunch.

Now that was awkward.

So the lunch was the main meal for the Teacher’s Day Celebration. They even had this three layered cake, but we were supposed to wait for the boss to cut it before food came out and stuff, but he was stuck in a meeting. And of course no one told us this, so we just sat and waited, but then Shan-Lee came over and we chatted for a while [her husband went to America for a short while and now they have a 5-month old son! Cute!], and they explained what was up. It was still awkward!

And they even gave the two of us a dish of food to eat until more came out. That was embarrassing, and we had tried to say no, but we felt guilty so we took it. But they didn’t give anyone else any food, so we didn’t want to eat it without them. It was a very stressful occasion, especially as more teachers piled in and had to wait for food.

But finally it arrived! Katie and I dove in right away. They had fried wings… Duck or Chicken, I don’t know. Tasty but too messy. Some dumplings that tasted like potstickers [but after 3 you hate them], and this delicious potato casserole- pretty yellow with some light peppers for flavoring, SO GOOD], and then like… chicken sandwiches… but a super thin patty, I don’t know if there was even chicken in there, to be honest. Oh and they had some tiny breaded cookies, a sweet shortbread of sorts. Super yummy!

HUGE line of teachers for good food! Oh, and the cook, the Head Cook [handsome sweet man that can’t speak English], even brought us a Pepsi over [they still call that Coke. Would the companies be offended?], whereas the other bottles stayed with the food. I told you: we are so spoiled!

Anyways, Katie and I ate some and then got in line for more! Katie thought there would be twice as much goodness, but it was the same dishes, plus a ton more. Like shrimp- large antenna and eyes and all. See, if it was like a cocktail shrimp or something, I could probably eat it. But with the… oh gosh ew please no! 

Anyways, there was a few more fish dishes, rice, spicy meat, and noodles.

I felt like an American at a buffet, whereas most of the time I get just enough, if not a tiny bit extra, on my plates. But this time, it was packed and loaded. It was ridiculous, and I felt so absurd sitting in front of it.

And right as we sat down, they finally cut the cake and of course had to serve the first pieces to us! Jeez, it’s ridiculous. But it was very pretty and pretty tasty! Katie got a piece with a tomato on it. No joke! She ate it, but it’s definitely weird with cake. Greg had dragon fruit on his. Lucky me I got a chocolate shaving on top of mine [just the way I like it!], and though mine was draped in a chocolate syrup… it was very odd not very chocolatey kind of syrup. I didn’t really like it, to be honest. But the inside was delectable! Half of it was whipped cream, but you won’t find me complaining. It was delicious overall!

Oh, and they gave teachers ‘Lucky Money’ in these gorgeous red envelopes. Greg and Abby got those with everyone at a Teacher Picture thing, but that was when Katie and I were teaching in the morning. So Nicole brought those to us at lunch [our round table fits like four, but we stuffed seven there, yay!], for Katie and I.

When they first mentioned it, I thought, “Okay, yeah, I get it! We have lucky pennies for our money, after all, and so this’ll be what, five yuan at most? Totally cool!” How wrong was I?

I was off. Very off.

200 RMB.

Nicole said they used to do even higher sometimes! That’s crazy! CRAZY. If I had known, I would have definitely tried to say no. That’s so insane, I just couldn’t believe it… But now I have it, yay… Haha. But I’m definitely going to keep some “Lucky Money” in there, that’s for sure! And hopefully a picture of the school or something. And I’m keeping that envelope, it’s gorgeous. Very slip, and a bold red with large gold characters on it- spectacular!

After lunch, Katie left because she didn’t have to be back until dinner time. Lucky girl! I had already planned my next classes, and didn’t have to do anything for about 3 hours. I probably should have gone home, but I fiddled on the internet a bit, as well as trying to gather some things for future classes- teaching them songs, more games, and more things to look at for the lessons. Oh and it turns out I DO NOT have the right book for the 4-5 Graders…

With all that food, I got so sleepy, and tried dozing off for a good while. Until class started, really. I started off with my Grade 4, and some of them came to get me as well. To be honest I wasn’t sure it was them at first- they looked so young! But hey, age isn’t much of an issue here, I suppose, so I let them lead me on.

They pounced on me at class- they LOVE high fives and the more tricky you make it the more they LOVE it. We did that a few minutes until class began, and I started off with my die/box to start asking them questions. That always gets their attention for a good while, so we did that for a few minutes before I pulled up my powerpoint and we covered some shapes and patterns. This class, I never had much of their focus which was very frustrating. But the moment I start up a game of some sort, I have several kids literally shouting “Teacher! Teacher!” So I don’t know if it’s better if they’re not listening, or screaming out my title.

Anyways, it was decently entertaining before I got out and the kids dragged me into the next class, Grade 5. This one ended up going a good bit better. I only used the Question game for a few minutes- it quickly gets out of hand- before I passed out scraps of paper and asked them to write things down.

Their names: I have one smart alec, super cocky and gets bored with me. His name? Stark. The little stinker!

Their age: they have a hard time with the phrase “how old are you?” So I have to explain it often.

Their favorite fruit: Ice cream, yay!

Their favorite color: thank goodness they know this one.

What they like to do: usually swim. Always swimming.

And what they want to learn in English: so this was a disaster with my Grade 4, and I thought it would do much better in Grade 5. Not really, to be honest. Half of them wrote down ‘Funny Day’ which is a show or something? I don’t really know. Then some boys wrote down the NBA, and many of the girls wrote down Dance/Music and just a few more variations. But it was very hard to explain that!

Then we covered more greetings, and other words than answering with “I’m fine, thank you.” That’s what I am trying to make them stop! But then Stark said “I’m terrible.” Which led the whole row to saying that. Not funny! And yes, they were fine, trust me! Haha… But it worked, over all, I believe.

Between the next ten minutes, I walked down the hall to grab my other book and returned to teach my final class, Grade 3 Class 3. That started off the same- the kids tackle me for high-fives, and try talking to me and I’m all “English, English! I don’t speak Chinese!” Oh, and I always get at LEAST five kids around the computer to turn it on for me! Kinda cute :D

This is the class that Journey is Head Teacher of and she came in and I THINK she told them to behave for me, I don’t know. Not that it did too much good. But you know kids- the moment you’re not bossing them around, they go craaaaaazy.

But this was probably one of my better classes. Okay, that’s a lie. It was still insane. But almost controlled today, so that’s pretty exciting, right?? Hehe… Anyways, so last week Journey asked that I start working with them in their English book, so that’s we did. They had to put rhyming words together, which is still very tricky for them to understand. I probably should have put in the CD she gave me, but… I opened it on MY computer and it was ALL in Chinese and just really confusing and odd so I don’t really want to touch it again- although I probably will. I should enjoy these confusing moments, right?

So yeah, they had to match rhyming words together, and I went around helping them to do that. It was a bit crazy but the kids love using white-out so I guess I won’t stop them. There is this tiny little jewel of a girl that sits right in front of my desk and has NO idea what to do most of the time because her English is not so good. So during my rounds [I do a lot of those, I don’t like to just be in the front], I paused with her for a while and showed her a trick or two- and after that, she was a speedster!

The kids LOVE showing you once they are done. They scream my name and shove it in my face. Five of them at once, usually- even if they’ve shown me twice! So I say good job, and give them a high five. Then there was a crossword puzzle above that so they started on that as well, and that helped a little- although they started going to each other for help and running all over the room!

Class was about to end when I had them shut their books and look at the three words I wrote on the board- Flag, Hand, Grape. It’s three of the words they’re supposed to learn by the time they finish Unit 1 in their English book. They get confused with my instructions, but we figured it out. They rewrote the word, and I drew a picture, and got them to do the same to make sure they understood the words. After the first kid, a few more rounded up and made a line, so I had to start coming up with some words for them! That was pretty tricky, but the song/bell was sounding so I grabbed my things and waved goodbye. Although I did have two of the girls take my arms and walk me back to my office, which was sweet!

Dinner wasn’t too exciting- although YoYo came around, and asked if we were free on Saturday. 

Apparently one of the girls from my Grade 4, Wendy, wants me [and the others?] to spend extra time with her and practice her English, so we’ll all play Badminton together! That should be a lot of fun! I just wish I could remember which one Wendy is…

Sorry. Yes, I do have some favorites. But I don’t even know their names. It’s terrible, but I’m working on it. There’s just so many! I teach 5 different classes, and I have at least 40 in each class. That’s at least 200 kids! THAT’S A LOT! But I’m working on it, I am. I had two kids try to make me remember… that made me feel bad. But it was Lisa and Lily, so hopefully I remember that next time!

In my defense, most of them do NOT remember my name, so there.

J

Dinner was pretty decent. They had this dish of fish heads buried under noodles with these tiny red peppers. I figured, don’t eat the fish but try the noodles yes? Sure, it’s a little spicy… I NEARLY DIED. It was so spicy. Thank goodness I grabbed some of that lettuce dish- except then I spent the next 10 minutes, literally trying to get a chunk out from stuck in my teeth. The toothpick didn’t help much. Katie couldn’t stop laughing. It was awkward. Moving on.

Activity Time! Our favorite!

Guess what Katie played? That’s right! Catch the Fish!

I had two girls hanging on me the entire time, which was fun and cute. They read my paper about my neck again, and I had a few new readers check that out. I’ve even had a few feel my neck, but I think they were expecting a little more strangeness… sorry to disappoint, kids!

[To any new random readers, and to random friends who didn’t know, my vertebra is fused together a little to the side, as you may see in some future pictures on this blog, so my head is a bit crooked and leans to the right. It’s much better than it used to be, although there’s extra muscle built over the bones, basically, and it’s a little odd if you’re looking for it. Kids notice it more than adults. Unless the adults notice it because they’re the kind of adults looking for things wrong with people…]

We played Rock, Paper, Scissors [they call it Paper, Scissors… Stalk?], and that two-person slapping game [hands hovering over another pair, pair underneath try to slap above pair], and that kept them pretty busy! Then a bunch of little girls came over, and we danced Ring Around the Roses a few times- until they all got distracted with the kids around Katie.

The girls pulled me over there, as well, and we did some more high-fiving games. Katie got a few of the kids to do the Macarena, but we might have to wait until we have music to do any more with that! We goofed around a few minutes before the kids had to start running off to classes. I got a kiss on the cheek from the girl who could never get enough of me [she is so precious!], and they were gone!

One of the girls got her tooth knocked out. That was sad, and very bloody. They tried to make her go back to class, which didn’t make sense, but hey I’m a silly American. Eventually one of the guy teachers brought her a cup of water, but by then there wasn’t anything Katie and I could really do with the other two teachers there talking and helping her, so we headed up, packed our things, and headed out.

We bought more yogurt, yay!

Oh, one of the kids gave me a milk box. Juice box with milk. All the kids get a box through the day and one of them found a ‘special’ one for me. Another kid gave me… I don’t even know. It almost looked like chocolate covered peas, to be honest. Something random like that! But I’ll try them out soon and find out?

FINAL THING BECAUSE I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT IT:

Nicole has asked that we come early every day for the Gymnastics, she called it. A short ten minute-ish break where all the kids line up in their classes for some stretching and exercise. We stood to the side and watched, and the first one had them doing all these random arm-swings, jumps and more! Nicole came by and suggested we lead them.

Sorry, not yet! The instructions were in Chinese and most of the kids were off anyways and looking around at each other so we had no clue what was really going on. But one of the next ones sounded like a line dance. Basically was a line dance. And they did a version of Cotton-Eyed Joe. But less jumpy. Less everything, but still a line dance. Katie and I tried joining in half way but I was totally thrown off and probably humiliated myself but HEY ITS CHINA!

We backed up after that. One of the teachers may have glared at us, I’m not really sure… but it was pretty fun. Katie definitely liked it, the enthusiastic woman she is! I was just confused. And yes, that kind of covers our friendship-relationship, but I’m okay with that!

Anyways, then we headed off to our office. That’s all. It was a very fun Teachers’ Day after all! Yay!