Day “Off”

3-21-13 Thursday

Today was nice, I actually got a day off! It is Casey's last day here and he is evaluating all the teachers except for the kindergarten teachers (me) so all my friends were a little stressed last night trying to get everything ready, while I was picking at my belly button lint cuz I found out that I got the day off today. (just FYI I wasn't really picking at belly button lint... I’m not THAT dirty) the kindergarten we are supposed to go to is ocean pearl. But only 8 students have signed up so far. With that being said, there is no point in having 4 teachers come to a kindergarten to teach 8 kids. So, I got a day off today with Rachelle while Maddie and Hannah went this morning to teach 2 20min classes and then headed home. Next week Rachelle and I will take ocean pearl and trade off back and forth.

With that being said, 7:00am rolled around and my eyes were wide open... so much for sleeping in! I got ready and headed to the school supply room to get ready for tomorrows ELE lesson (cut papers into 4s so I have enough for 75 students) I am teaching the same lesson that I taught last week only this time I shave more than 30 seconds to be prepared for it! I also got all my stuff for next weeks lesson AKA topic 2 which is “school” my spin off of that is “things I see at school” I am starting out my lesson by presenting a picture of a school. And a picture of home and then I can teach the kids the concept of a school verses their home and then start by pulling out a stack of papers that have “things I see at school” and numbers 1 – 10 down the side then pull out the 30+ pencils that I spent a majority of my morning manually sharpening and developing carpel tunnel so that they can write on their papers things such as “we use paper at school” “we learn from our teachers” “i eat in the cafeteria” “we don’t wear hats at school” etc. I have 10+ Items we can discuss in class so I hope they are engaged and enjoy the lesson. After I had frozen over from working on my stuff, I collected my things and headed downstairs and met Sam (my roomie) and I helped her with her last 3 classes. She is a really good teacher so I had fun being a part of her class and helping out.

Lunch was same old same old except for the part where Crista and I smuggled our group’s apples up into our rooms and divvied them out evenly. P.S. Ben never saw those oranges again.. Yumm. I have always loved fruit, in fact, it’s been my favorite for as long as I can remember! But now as I fill my stomach with starch and empty calories I become a barbarian/con artist when detect a fruit in the vicinity... oh China how you have changed me!

After lunch, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed about how dis organized I as feeling and how much I was trying to get done at once. Ben was a gem and offered to take my “Things I see at school” paper to the copy room while I got things organized. I was doing my thing trying to get pictures off the internet. (we all know how much I love doing that... not.) when Ben came into the room saying he had a surprise for me... what is it?! He couldn't tell me but he did have urgency about him. I was trying so hard to figure out what this could possibly be and finally curiosity got the best of me and I found myself following him down the stairs to my “surprise” I thought since the packages get sent to the copy room for us teachers and ben had just come from the copy room that it could be the package from home I am waiting for, but then why not just bring it up?? I really was hoping that this so called surprise was worth going out in the cold for... we walked out of our building and headed towards the track under the gym, a trail I have taken countless times to and from the track, when Ben stopped and started messing with a door... Ben where does this lead?? I was beyond confused and slightly disappointed I wasn’t getting my package up until he got the door opened and I saw mats, bags, sparring gear and a Chinese black belt going crazy with the nunchaku I turned to see the Chinese and Korean flag on the wall with “taekwondo” displayed underneath it... * Jaw drop * what the heck?! So I did none other than stand there and watch this guy go to town with each weapon. Throwing crazy kicks with such ease... oh man this is too good to be true! Ben headed back to the rooms while I stood there watching like a creeper until Bruce Lee offered me a chair. I sat and watched for a while and then he came over to talk to me. He doesn't know much English and I know next to nothing as far as Chinese goes so I yes I am stretching it when I say he came to “talk” to me but I wasn't about to let this chance go! I asked him what his name was and I told him my Chinese name. I gave him an American name Lee you can guess how I got that one ;) and I found out that he is the teacher here at the school! I told him I would love to learn from him and I could teach him English he said okay and his class is in 121 at 3:00 perfect. I am so in! So I ran back upstairs, gave Ben a hug and emailed Kelly making sure that everything is okay with the school and that she and I are on the same page. Oh man I am so stoked. I really hope that I can do this! Too bad I didn’t pack my uniform...

After that, we watched a movie in Rachelle and Crista's room and then headed to dinner. After dinner we had an in-service because we were out to dinner yesterday with Casey instead and that was just basically “make sure you keep them talking and Casey was impressed with you guys”. After in-service, we had a travel meeting because we have our second vacation coming up April 4th I think? Anyways, Me, Rachelle, Crista, Sam, Ben and Josh are planning a trip to go to Shanghai and “the Venice of china” which is just 30min away. But then we find out that if we are taking a train we have to let them know to and from where and when etc by tomorrow... shoot boy, I have no clue.. we have no clue!! we tired to figure it out for a while but I had to take a break and go tuck in my cute Leslie.

Tonight I brought a book for us to read before we said goodnight. I headed upstairs and waited for my oh so loved familiar squeal/scream. There it is!! “AHHH!!! TEACHER!!!” she ushered me in and pointed to my spot on her bed and then ran out. It didn't take long before I realized that tonight was shower night. As I saw squealing little girls run up and down the halls some totally naked and others wrapped like a cocoon in their towels going in dirty and coming out washed and clean. Dropping dirty underwear in one pile and socks in another. While I was waiting I saw Carrie a student of Ben and Josh. I remembered her from when I team taught with Josh she came over and took my book out of my hands and started pointing at pictures and we had a fun time “reading” the book. I can't help but laugh at the dynamic of China compared to America. In America, Bathrooms are sectioned off for girls, privacy is a must. Doors and toilet paper have become an expectation while these girls are going to grow up living in dorms where communal restrooms, showers and bedrooms are everyday life. Squatters are normal, toilet paper comes in packets if you use it and who cares who is looking while you are changing or peeing.

Leslie and her little roomies all got back and changed into pajamas in time for us to read our book. They really loved it and I actually had to rush through it to make sure I was done by 8:30 (lights out)



Story time !



When I see Leslie I can expect 3 things no mater what.

Squeal/scream

A hug so big it belongs in the record books

Me walking away with the biggest smile on my face.

I learned something today. While I was talking to Leslie, I told her I have been to Beijing. She very excitedly told me that her mom lives there. When I asked her if her Dad lives in Weihai, she gave me a prompt nod of the head impressed that I knew that already. I knew that because that is who she was with when I saw her at the market. But can Chinese couples get divorced? I ask that because in order for them to have a baby and to get a certificate that says their child can go to school etc. they have to be married. So I need to figure out how that works.

When I got back we worked on our trip again and ended up emailing Kelly and asking her what the heck we should do because lets face it, we don't speak Chinese let alone read it! So hopefully we can figure everything out in time tomorrow.

Crista stayed in our room for a little bit talking and then all of a sudden Sam gets up and says I think I’m going to throw up and gets into the bathroom and we hear it, Crista and I just looked at each other mortified and had no clue what to do... in fact I think she said “ we are gonna be terrible moms I have no clue what to do!” me- “crap, you are right.” turns out Sam felt just fine after dispelling her food all over our bathroom floor and we did find that in some circumstances our drain in the middle of the floor and sorry excuse for a shower can become real handy...