Sorry it has been awhile since I have posted. I should have posted last week instead because last week was great. The weather was mostly warm up to the low 70's. Since I have so many breaks throughout my day, I started going outside to play with the kids. A normal day's schedule goes like this:
6:30-6:45 – Wake up
7:00-7:15 – Leave home
7:30-745 – Arrive at school
8:25-8:50 – Dolphin Class
8:50-9:20 – Play with kids on my break
9:25-9:50 – Seahorse Class
9:55-10:20 – Anemone Class
10:20-10:55 – Play with kids again on my break
11:00-11:25 – Conch Class
11:25-11:50 – Seagull Class
11:50-12:15 – Sea lion Class
12:15-2:30 – Lunch/Nap/Walk around neighborhood
2:30- 2:50 – Coral Class
2:55-3:15 – Jellyfish Class
3:30-3:50 – Starfish Class
3:50 – Go Home!
My day generally plays out roughly like this. Someone is currently sick in my Sea lion class so it is now my last class for the next two weeks. The kids have mostly been great. Last week I started playing with them a lot and they really like that. They like to race me, chase me, have me chase them, etc. They sometimes make me race them while carrying one on my back. This is the same for when they chase me. Today I played tug-o-war with the boys from my Dolphin Class. Since I am out of shape and last week was really warm, I got tired really quickly. So I would sit down on the ground and the kids would tackle me. They were really cute because they knew I was hot and tired, so started rubbing my back and saying “massage” in Chinese. Others would blow on my neck to try to cool me down.
Both this weekend and the previous weekend, we wandered the area quite a bit. There is no shortage of things to see. We have probably spent about 9 or 10 hours just adventuring around the area. I also asked one of the teachers I work with about a movie theater near me so she found one for me. Last Thursday, Cheryl and I went to see Avatar (阿凡达) because Cheryl had not yet seen it and it was leaving theaters. It was good, however, the parts that are subtitled in English in America were subtitled in Chinese here. Luckily, it was easy enough to understand what was going on.
Today was probably the most frustrating day I have had since I started. Normally, most of the classes are well behaved besides maybe a couple of students. Today, however, more kids were not listening, talking, not sitting down, or just generally being disruptive than normal. I almost lost it. Only two of my six morning classes went smoothly. My afternoon classes were great as usual, but my mood was already set for the day. That is why I said I should have posted last week and not today. Today is cloudy and a Monday, while last week was perfect.
This last weekend we had two other teachers come visit. They are from CIEE, but teach roughly 20 km away. Though, it takes them about two hours to get here by bus. They stayed one night because one of their cousins was in town. It was nice to see friendly faces besides the ones we usually see. We went out for a little while to a bar with them. On Sunday, we wandered for about five hours and ended up going with some other teachers (Lenore, Rachel, and Elisabeth) to a small traditional music show. They played three different instruments. They played the erhu (the only one I knew the name of), one that was practically a flute, and another that was played like a drum and a harp. The erhu was my favorite. Er means two and I am guessing that hu means string because that is all it is. It is similar to a guitar but with two strings and a cup on the end. It was very difficult to find and the area was a little scary, but I was glad I went.
I also wanted to talk a little about the Chinese teachers that I work with. I was initially nervous about working with them because many of them do not speak much English or choose not to. For my first few days they were not too friendly to me. That does not mean they were mean, they just didn't really talk to me because they assumed I could not speak Chinese. But I started talking with them a little in Chinese and now they are very kind to me. If I am in my office in the morning, they always ask if I have had breakfast and try to make me go eat. My school provides breakfast and lunch for me. At first I did not go because I was to nervous about preparing for class. But they began to bring me back food to eat every morning. I felt bad so now I go eat every morning with them. I also brought in candy to get on their good side. They told me the teacher before was not as social as I am. The previous teacher did not speak any Chinese so she read a lot. In the classroom, they mostly just watch from a distance and translate only if I ask them to. Sometimes they are not even in the room. It was a little intimidating at first when they would watch over me. But now I feel more comfortable. They are really helpful when the kids are misbehaving. Other teachers are having a problem with disciplining the kids too, so it is not me. I should also mention that there are about 2 or 3 Chinese teachers per class.
P.S. Our TV randomly decided to start working again. I am not sure why, but I am happy!
6:30-6:45 – Wake up
7:00-7:15 – Leave home
7:30-745 – Arrive at school
8:25-8:50 – Dolphin Class
8:50-9:20 – Play with kids on my break
9:25-9:50 – Seahorse Class
9:55-10:20 – Anemone Class
10:20-10:55 – Play with kids again on my break
11:00-11:25 – Conch Class
11:25-11:50 – Seagull Class
11:50-12:15 – Sea lion Class
12:15-2:30 – Lunch/Nap/Walk around neighborhood
2:30- 2:50 – Coral Class
2:55-3:15 – Jellyfish Class
3:30-3:50 – Starfish Class
3:50 – Go Home!
My day generally plays out roughly like this. Someone is currently sick in my Sea lion class so it is now my last class for the next two weeks. The kids have mostly been great. Last week I started playing with them a lot and they really like that. They like to race me, chase me, have me chase them, etc. They sometimes make me race them while carrying one on my back. This is the same for when they chase me. Today I played tug-o-war with the boys from my Dolphin Class. Since I am out of shape and last week was really warm, I got tired really quickly. So I would sit down on the ground and the kids would tackle me. They were really cute because they knew I was hot and tired, so started rubbing my back and saying “massage” in Chinese. Others would blow on my neck to try to cool me down.
Both this weekend and the previous weekend, we wandered the area quite a bit. There is no shortage of things to see. We have probably spent about 9 or 10 hours just adventuring around the area. I also asked one of the teachers I work with about a movie theater near me so she found one for me. Last Thursday, Cheryl and I went to see Avatar (阿凡达) because Cheryl had not yet seen it and it was leaving theaters. It was good, however, the parts that are subtitled in English in America were subtitled in Chinese here. Luckily, it was easy enough to understand what was going on.
Today was probably the most frustrating day I have had since I started. Normally, most of the classes are well behaved besides maybe a couple of students. Today, however, more kids were not listening, talking, not sitting down, or just generally being disruptive than normal. I almost lost it. Only two of my six morning classes went smoothly. My afternoon classes were great as usual, but my mood was already set for the day. That is why I said I should have posted last week and not today. Today is cloudy and a Monday, while last week was perfect.
This last weekend we had two other teachers come visit. They are from CIEE, but teach roughly 20 km away. Though, it takes them about two hours to get here by bus. They stayed one night because one of their cousins was in town. It was nice to see friendly faces besides the ones we usually see. We went out for a little while to a bar with them. On Sunday, we wandered for about five hours and ended up going with some other teachers (Lenore, Rachel, and Elisabeth) to a small traditional music show. They played three different instruments. They played the erhu (the only one I knew the name of), one that was practically a flute, and another that was played like a drum and a harp. The erhu was my favorite. Er means two and I am guessing that hu means string because that is all it is. It is similar to a guitar but with two strings and a cup on the end. It was very difficult to find and the area was a little scary, but I was glad I went.
I also wanted to talk a little about the Chinese teachers that I work with. I was initially nervous about working with them because many of them do not speak much English or choose not to. For my first few days they were not too friendly to me. That does not mean they were mean, they just didn't really talk to me because they assumed I could not speak Chinese. But I started talking with them a little in Chinese and now they are very kind to me. If I am in my office in the morning, they always ask if I have had breakfast and try to make me go eat. My school provides breakfast and lunch for me. At first I did not go because I was to nervous about preparing for class. But they began to bring me back food to eat every morning. I felt bad so now I go eat every morning with them. I also brought in candy to get on their good side. They told me the teacher before was not as social as I am. The previous teacher did not speak any Chinese so she read a lot. In the classroom, they mostly just watch from a distance and translate only if I ask them to. Sometimes they are not even in the room. It was a little intimidating at first when they would watch over me. But now I feel more comfortable. They are really helpful when the kids are misbehaving. Other teachers are having a problem with disciplining the kids too, so it is not me. I should also mention that there are about 2 or 3 Chinese teachers per class.
P.S. Our TV randomly decided to start working again. I am not sure why, but I am happy!
RSS Feed