Today was too many Calories... like way too many. It all started out with me heading to Grimm Kindergarten. With a name like that I should have known something was gonna happen ;) I got to the gate and the guard pointed to the little orange car I remember from last time so I got in and I was the first teacher there... in the front with a sweet lady who knew no English... hmmm. So we just sat there trying to imagine what I would be saying right now if I had a Rosetta stone and checking the mirrors to see if anyone was coming when I noticed myself singing along to a song... wait a min! That is English! And this is one Direction! I know this song! I might or might not have looked at the driver and pointed to the radio and said English!!! yes!! good! … you dummy, she knows its English and if she didn’t like the song she would have changed it... haha hence the awkward laugh and nod of the head... hmmm... I’m a psycho.
The rest of the teachers finally came and we headed off to the school. On the way took a trip to the 90's and listened to Brittany Spears but it was when the one and only “Call me Maybe” was when we couldn't hold it in anymore... yes all 4 of us Americans crammed into this little orange Chinese car swerving in and out of lanes and cutting off busses were singing “Call me Maybe” at the top of their lungs. Id tell you what the driver was doing but I was so caught up in the moment I didn’t even care to make a mental note... long story short it did just the trick to energizing us for the day! We got to the school and walked up to find our sweet miss. Um.. fu fu. Fo fo, loo loo. Or whatever her name is waving a warm welcome. We went to walk into the school until she pointed to the bulletin board to show us that our pictures have been proudly displayed along with a description of ILP. So pretty much, we are famous... not to brag or anything ;)
After our lessons were over and I didn't spill my water all over me, we went to lunch and got waaay more food than necessary.. my tray was over flowing but I am not supposed to waste it so yes, I ate it... fat. But that wasn't the end of it. We were walking out when Miss, la la , fu fu or tu tu ( I really need to figure out what her name is) stopped us and told us that it was a little girls birthday so we had her come over and we sang happy birthday to her and she was SO excited! Haha then Another girl came to us and turns out it was her birthday too soo we hit replay and sung her a song too.
 |
| Happy Birthday ! |
Today Casey, one of the directors came to visit our school and have interviews with us so he can make sure that the communists aren't brainwashing us and conducting permanently damaging tests on our psychological state... or just to see if we are doing okay and if we have any questions etc.. I had an interview at 1:50 so when I got to my room and got an important text with news from home I was able to get myself together and head down to meet with Casey. The interview really was just fine. Do you feel safe? Is your room okay? How is the food? Are your head teachers good? Stuff like that.
I got back to my room and rested for a little bit and then got a blessing from Mark, Sam and Josh. Just one for comfort. I am very thankful for guys who keep themselves worthy to perform blessings like today. It really did help to get a blessing. But it was time for our dinner so I got all fixed up and tried to cover my blotchy face and headed down to the gate to head to dinner ( Casey took us out to eat )
Dinner was... monumental.. I sat next to Kelly, our coordinator and she is so freaking hilarious!! the only time I have been able to spend with her I have only been able to see her in her business persona but tonight we laughed so hard about so many things. But the best part of dinner had to be the chicken foot. You heard me right. One of our dishes was bones with meat. We had no Idea what it was until we started stirring it around and we saw a chicken claw sticking up and the bowl got passed to one person then the next till it got to me... 6 years ago I went to Korea and I have regretted leaving there without eating one of these... im in China... what have I got to lose?? you know how you go up to bear your testimony and you think okay im going to do it and then you are all of a sudden standing up in church in front of everyone thinking “how did I get here?! What was I thinking?!” well the next little bit happened just like that... I picked up my chop sticks and dug in fishing out my victims foot, put it on my plate and then picked it up pinching its finger with my pointer and thumb, trying to not let any more of my hands touch this little claw than I have too, as if it even mattered .. for heavens sake , I was about to devour the thing!
On our way home, I was talking to Josh and Sam about tucking in the kids for the night. I REALLY wanted to see Leslie. Her smile is so contagious. I can't help but be happy when I am around that girl. She is the kind of person I hope to be when I am around people. She radiates positivity and optimism. It doesn't matter how hard or awesome my day has been she makes it that much better. I don't have any guilt saying she is my favorite or only going to tuck her in because I don’t teach any students on our campus. As you can imagine, I was so pumped to be back by 8:00 so we could head over to tuck in our sweet angels. Josh lead the way because he had gone before but then realized he wasn't sure which one of the identical buildings he went in last time so we asked a boy named Sam (there are so many of them here!) where they sleep. In amazing English he proceeded to tell us which building and which floor for specific grades and the genders of each grade.. I was amazed. ILP must really work because that kid can speak English for sure!
We got to the right building and I headed straight for the 4th floor where Leslie should be. I started walking down the hall when I heard the sweet sound of the familiar squeal/scream “Teacher Dell!!!” and I found my sweet Leslie’s arms around my neck!
Oh my gosh I love that girl. For the next 30min I had the biggest grin on my face as she showed my her comb, slippers, hair tie, outfit for the next day etc. I brought her a sticker, one that say's “im Special” with a giant smiley face on it. I felt like that sticker fit her perfectly and all my students love their stickers. Leslie was no exception! she finally got ready and sat in her bed and asked me to sit next to her followed by the request that I sleep there as well! I told her there is not enough room because I am too big but that was easy, she slid over jamming herself into the wall to make as much room as she possibly could to increase her chances of me surrendering to her request. After a million hugs, laughs and blowing kisses, I forced myself to say goodnight and head back to my room. I can't think of a better way to end my days. I walked back to my room grinning
ear to ear like a fat kid with two pieces of cake after singing happy birthday and eating a huge tray of food for lunch... oh wait. Anyways. We heard that we can only tuck our kids in on Wednesdays, but Sam said that the teacher on her floor asked if she was coming tomorrow so I am going to try to tuck Leslie in tomorrow as well. Fingers crossed because that was easily the highlight of my day. That little girl is A light that cannot be hid. I hope that the pictures from tonight help show how sweet this girl is. I hope that no one ever tried to take that darling smile off of her face. Her's is one that can move mountains and melt my heart.. instantly. 
No comments:
Post a Comment