Friday, December 27, 2013

12/17/13: The Good, The Bad, and The Crowded

Tuesday-
Bad news: it wasn’t getting warmer. Good news: Katie was already feeling a little better.

Good enough that we headed off to school for breakfast and made it okay on the timing. Unfortunately, the food wasn’t quite up to par. Kind of disappointing- we don’t know why the meals have been going downhill, we just know that they were. However, there was still a decent piece of breakfast or two to enjoy, so we feasted on those before retiring to our office.

Soon we both went to teach our morning classes. Grade 3 Class 2 did all right, about the same as the day before with being super enthusiastic but still pretty good. I ended up hanging out a few minutes late because they were giving me a ton of hugs. And Katie hadn’t felt like eating lunch, so she went home right after class and I didn’t end up seeing her go.

I had taken some bread to go that morning after breakfast, so I didn’t end up going to lunch myself, but munching on that in my office to chill for a while. I plotted a few lessons in advance, watched pieces of Emperor’s New Groove and tried to make the internet work better for the next few hours until my following classes.

Like Monday, about 4 of my Grade 5 girls came through during ‘nap time’ and wanted to study and chill instead of being in their rooms. We didn’t really like the idea of letting them stick around [they get awfully nosy], but they worked us over a little and ended up letting them chill out at the table in the middle of the office. During that time, my girls began telling me they were going to be singing and dancing in just a short while, without classes.

Which may have given me a little hope.

I went to teach my Grade 4 kids after a while, and the kids nearby said they weren’t there but in the other courtyard. Turns out, my girls were correct- everyone was gathering on the big steps to watch kids perform- practice, I suppose- and not be in their classes basically. I watched them for a while, singing and dancing and doing some kung fu. Super cute! Except it was freaking cold outside so I didn’t stay the whole time. So I didn’t teach Grade 4 again because of that.

Grade 5 was still out as well when I went to check on them… however halfway thru that class time, one of my kids said I had class! I was super worried that I had missed something, and I tried not to freak as I grabbed my things and ran to the classroom.

I wasn’t late- all the kids were beginning to file in. We were basically just going to do half of class for the day. So we ended up doing a word game with a basketball hoop I made, although I had kids filing into the classroom the entire time which was definitely a bit distracting. The game didn’t go over too well either- they didn’t get the English-word tidbit but eventually it worked out and lasted for the twenty minutes I taught them. As usual, they didn’t get a DVD piece because there was so much fighting breaking out.

Grade 3 Class 3 was chaotic in their own way as well after that. It was a bit nutty and tricky trying to work with all the kids. I never suggest putting more than 40 together at a time, seriously. With so little adult supervision, come on… there’s going to be some chaos!

When I finished with them, Katie and I chose to meet at our bus stop and go into town for dinner. It was super cold out, but the bus eventually came and we boarded, even getting seats. Like I’ve mentioned before, the cold season has everyone riding the bus and its always super packed! It’s ridiculous, I swear… And crossing the street sucks, especially because Katie hates it so much. We ended up walking up towards the next stop and crossing at a slightly better intersection to wander through the red tents to see if there was anything decent.

Cute stuff, but there wasn’t much that we really want now, so it was a bit boring and super cold!
So we walked back down to the corner, picked up our drinks and held on to them while we sat in the crowded dumpling shop. They were the stalest bunch we’ve had yet, but they still tasted all right! Still super delicious.


We caught the next bus home, a little less crowded but definitely still intense. We watched a bit of shows before finally going to bed after that.

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