Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Guilin We Go!

I can't believe we're actually leaving tomorrow to go to one of the most beautiful places on this Earth. I lead one happy and blessed life, friends.

This afternoon we went to a store downtown called Carrefour. The purpose? They have an American/European import section. Let me just say, I got my hopes up for nothing. They didn't very much at all, and what they did have was mostly pasta and tomato sauce. And salad dressing. I am glad that we went though. I got a big thing of peanut butter for 16 kaui which is usually what it costs for a jar half the size. I also got some strawberry jam, crackers, apples, and oatmeal. Basically, train food. You know, for that 22 hour train ride that I'm about to be a part of. I've clearly lost my mind.

Most supermarkets in China have huge tanks of fish, crabs, turtles, etc. for people to buy. Well Carrefour is no exception to the rule. I couldn't walk past there without gagging. Anyways, when I did have to walk past, what do I see? A fish that has somehow flopped out of the tank and it's wiggling all over the floor. Naturally, the lady overseeing these tanks comes over with a big net, scoops him up, and throws him back into the tank. I'm afraid I don't agree with the five second rule in China, where people poop everywhere, including inside markets. I wondered today what the incidence rate of E.coli was in this country. I was also wondering how these fish were surviving when there were roughly three ten-pound fish per every square inch of water. Oh, yeah. They weren't. A lot of them were belly up. The gross part? I'm sure they still sold them anyways. Sometimes I am legitimately perplexed as to how people survive here.

We had lunch at a KFC. It's amazing how they can Chinese-ify Kentucky Fried Chicken. The Chinese actually think that the chicken breast is the worst part, so my popcorn chicken was mostly fat chunks with some shreds of dark meat. The french fries were pretty good though and so was that hot fudge sundae. We came back to the school where the cooks made us popcorn chicken and fries. This is actually really, really good popcorn chicken. It's just like what you would get in the U.S.

On the way home, we passed this adorable little lady working in the fields.

Fields with apartments in the background.

Beautiful :)

I'm pretty bummed that I didn't get any of my packages before I left, but that just means I'll have something to look forward to when I come back! Besides my cutie children, of course. I am hoping to have internet in my hostels so that I can still update my blog. If you don't hear from me for a week, just know it's because I'm having the time of my life in Guilin and Yangshuo.

This is really random, but I forgot to talk about it the other day. We had some extra time at the end of class so I allowed the kids to color for the last five minutes. We walked all the way back to the class where I drop them off and Ricky comes up behind me and tugs on my shirt to get my attention. "Teacha Kayla, this for you!" He handed me a piece of paper. "You take to America, okay?" I smiled and said okay. When I was walking away, I realized that he had written his phone number above the picture of himself. Being the sap that I am, I seriously cried. I don't know how I am going to leave them. I love them so much. 

Slacking

I've been doing that when it comes to the blogging world. Sorry folks.

Thursday:
I had an uneventful ELE class, talking about colors and fruits. The kids had never heard of grapes or cherries before. With my ILP classes, I played Hot Potato with several different objects as the "hot potato." These kids are so competitive, they love any game where someone gets out, or as they say, "game over." Megan, Laurra, and I went to the night market and tried these wraps that were SO good! It was a tortilla filled with egg, spinach, green onions, carrots, bean sprouts, and all kinds of spices. Kate took a picture of me eating it but it seriously might be the most disgusting photograph ever taken. I'm doing you the favor of sparing such photograph from your vision. I'm going to be craving this kind of stuff when I get back to America.

Friday:
By the way, I've been sick. Again. At least this sickness doesn't involve losing 23 pounds in less than three weeks. Getting out of bed today wasn't really my thing. My throat and head hurt SO flippin' bad. The last thing I wanted to go was go chant about colors and fruits for the fourth time this week. Last Friday, the computer was broken in my ELE class. The situation was unresolved when I showed up this morning. I had to read a book, which felt so amazing on my blistered throat. This ELE class is taught with Angela, the child beater, and every single thing I say, she makes them repeat it. Repeat is not even the word. They yell. Yell so loud that I leave that class with ringing ears every Friday. That did wonders for my headache as well.

ILP class consisted of reading a book and talking about the story. My SPE this week is Gym. I'm really good at following my lesson plans, obviously. And- it was Parent's Day at the school. So I had a bunch of parents coming into my room to observe me. They could care less what I was teaching, they were just focused on my hair. I've had to get over the urge to shower every time someone pets me. If I hadn't, I'd be showering 27 times a day. It was really sad, because some of the kids were expecting their parents to show up and they didn't, so they were hysterical. It broke my heart a little bit.

Jackson was crying today because he didn't get candy in Teacher Laurra's class. Mike, being the good little soul that he is, was consoling him nearly the entire class period. He is just the sweetest thing.

I actually ventured into the cafeteria for dinner today. I gagged my way up the stairs to eat like four bites of green beans and then I left. Many of you know that I work in a hospital. I am exposed to several gag-worthy occurrences and smells every shift. Puke, poop, phlegm, you name it, I smell it/see it/get it splattered on me. Nothing there phases me. The smell of the cafeteria is comparable to roadkill being microwaved or something. Or even like that time I cooked a rotten roast in the crockpot because it had been in the freezer so I assumed it was good for like ever. My mom was in Mexico. That's what happens when your kids try to make a decent dinner while you're gone!

After dinner, we met at the big statue in the courtyard because we had been invited to eat moon cakes with the kids for the mid-Autumn Festival. This is something that is so hard to get used to about China. I don't mean eating moon cakes, I mean the fact that they tell you one thing and then drag you into something completely different. The Chinese teachers showed up and divided us into groups depending on what grade we taught. The next thing we know, we're being led into the classrooms one at a time with trays of moon cakes and being handed plastic gloves, all the while someone is filming the event. We were serving the kids moon cakes. It was a ton of fun and the kids loved seeing us walk into their classrooms. It was just totally different than what we were expecting. Welcome to China.

Kate and I then walked some of our students out to the gate where their parents were waiting. Most of the kids stay at the school all week but a few go home every night. When I got back to my room, Megan came over and we were talking about what it will be like to leave our kids. I teared up at the thought, knowing that I will never see any of them again. It's a beautiful but somewhat cruel fact of being an ILP teacher.

A flower I found outside my students' classroom. For some unknown reason, I can't rotate the picture to it's correct position. Just tilt your head to the left. Same effect. 

Catching Up!

Sorry I didn't post last night, I forgot! Okay, that's a lie. I didn't forget. But it was 2 in the morning before I remembered and this girl was sleepy. My post for today will be for yesterday and today.

Yesterday I played musical chairs with my little Asians. On the playlist? Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber. All their favorites! Whenever one of the kids would get out, they would come stand by me and my computer and I let them take turns starting and stopping the music for those kids that were still playing. We took some pretty adorable pictures, which you already know about if you're my friend on Facebook. If you're not a part of Facebook world, here you go :)

My babies. Aaron, Ricky, Jake, and Audrey.

Nick, Robbie, and Andy.

Thanks to Krew for taking this picture.

I'm so in love with this little girl :)

After teaching, I took a nap and went to my meeting where we discussed nothing of importance. Kate then proceeded to drag me to night market kicking and screaming where she forced dumplings and spiced potatoes down my throat. She even threatened me that if I didn't also buy a bowl for today that she would leave the bathroom light on from now on (I'm constantly having to remind her to turn it off :)). Girls from Washington are pretty scary, clearly.

When we got home, we watched Crazy Stupid Love until we fell asleep. I just called China home. Weird.

My class has been flooded several times this week, and it's only Wednesday! I like to deal with my kids by myself. I don't like to enlist the Chinese teachers because they're just plain mean and the kids are terrified of them. I can usually handle whatever antics they're up to, but there are some circumstances that I just won't deal with.

For example. On Monday, Jackson punched Nick in the face. Seriously dude? That was a Chinese teacher offense right there. Out he went, and he came back crying. I felt bad, but you can't punch people in the face. Totally unacceptable. This is the same day that we were playing balloon volleyball. Candy tried to hit the balloon and missed, so the balloon hit the floor and the other team got a point. Charlie got in her face and chewed her out, making her cry. She didn't want to play anymore because of him. I wanted to thump him... Candy is the sweetest child and she is so good! It broke my heart to see her crying because she is always so happy and bubbly.

Yesterday I happened to notice that Charlie had a mountain of tokens in his token bag. Seeing as how it was only Tuesday, I knew there was no way he should have 200 tokens. They usually earn around 2-8 per day, depending on the activity and how well they participate. I asked him where he got them and he stubbornly refused to tell me. The nice thing about seven-year-olds? They love to tattle. Everyone else wasted no time telling me that Charlie stole them from Teacher Laurra. Guess what, Charlie? No tokens for you. I took them all away, and he protested, saying that he had had four tokens of his own. I didn't give them to him because I had no way of knowing how many tokens he really had, and if he hadn't stolen them in the first place, it wouldn't be an issue! Cue the waterworks.

Andy is one of my difficult kids. I believe it's because he is behind the other kids in his English. He gets bored easily because he doesn't understand much. I try to give him a lot of attention to keep him engaged. When the kids come to my class, they have to line up on the wall. They get to sit down or get in line/position for a game in order of who is "being good"- no talking, arms folded, standing still. Today I had to tell him "No Chinese" three or four times within one single minute. He got to choose his place for Simon Says last, meaning there was only one place left so he didn't get to choose at all. I start the game only to notice he's not participating. I go over to him to discover big crocodile tears streaming down his face. I allowed Mike to be a rebel and speak Chinese to ask him what was wrong. Mike said "Teacha, Andy sad because 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10. 10. Andy sad because 10." (Andy was sad because he was chosen last, in tenth place.)

Sometimes I don't understand these kids. They can be so mean to each other and when they're bad, we yell and try to be really stern with them to get them to listen. That stuff doesn't phase them. It's when we take their tokens or choose them last that warrants the life vest.

Today was less exciting overall. I played Simon Says with my kids and the day went by pretty fast. After teaching we decided to try this Korean place. It was okay. I wasn't impressed, really. I probably won't be going back. I much prefer Muslim food.

On the way back to the school, we may or may not have stopped for ice cream for the upteenth time this week. Megan's bladder is roughly the size a snap pea and so she was relieved to see what appeared to be a bathroom. This is what we found.....

Probably the hardest I have laughed since I've been here.

Yes. That is a trough. I honestly didn't think it could get much worse than a squatter and I was very, very wrong!

I found this little cutie at the night market :)

Just Another Monday

What is it about Mondays that are so unattractive?? I wouldn't be opposed to every weekend being a three day weekend, that's for sure. It's just so flippin' hard to wake up, get up, or do anything except think about going back to bed.

ELE is not bad. It's not bad. It's not bad. It's not bad. No matter how many times I go and realize this, I still dread going every day. It's just a waste of time. I'm sincerely going to work on changing my attitude about it, though, because there's no way around it. If you can't change something, change your attitude about it. Right? Right.

ILP classes were pretty well-behaved today, especially for it to be a Monday and my SPE for this week is Gym. Here is a random fact that I have learned about children. They must, must, must have a designated place to sit/stand in order to avoid complete chaos. They need a space to call their own. I put tape on the floor for each child to stand on and it helped a lot. We played balloon volleyball and they had such a great time! Despite Jackson punching Nick in the face, which left me no choice but to take him to Chinese teacher. He came back in tears and I felt bad, but you can't punch people in the face! Charlie also had Candy in tears today because she tried to hit the ball and missed. I swear, kids can be so mean.

My first graders.

Brayden, Nick, Jackson, and Lily

My homeroom. They are insane. But so much fun :)

Guess what gets me through Mondays? Yup, Muslim Monday. Of course we went out for that tonight. I tried something new, and once again, I was slightly disappointed! I don't know if I'll ever like anything as much as I like Chow Mien. After, we stopped by a candy store. The lady told Sam that she had only ever seen three white people before in her life. And there were 13 of us in there... She was overjoyed and of course she wanted to be our friend. She asked us to come back often.

Megan bought some tea in there that was delicious so when we went to the market, I bought two bottles of it myself. Along with four red gatorades, peanut butter, bleach, trash bags, a tupperware container, strawberry jam, and water. That's right, I had to buy water. The school hasn't delivered any for us since we ran out and we don't know when we'll get more. Fabulous, right? I'm not impressed with this situation. Of all the things we can and do do without, water should not be one of them.

When we left the market, we passed the night market. Guess what girlfriend had to stop for? I have a serious problem. I need help. I can't stop eating dumplings. I will die when I go back to America and get their version of dumplings at some "Chinese" restaurant. Which, by the way, is the biggest scam you guys buy into! That's not real Chinese food!!! But it is still good, I will give you that. In my defense, I only ate half of them three and put the rest in the fridge for my lunch tomorrow.

Jerry Springer at the Night Market

I love lazy days a lot. Nothing feels better than being able to spend my time however I please. However, it also makes me miss home. I was missing Lucas a lot today. It probably doesn't help that I have been watching sappy romance movies and listening to Backstreet Boys.

Kate, Sam, Laurra, and I went out to the night market. Guess what for? Dumplings, dumplings, dumplings. I am addicted. They are soooooo good. I wish I could make you understand! We always go to the same little stand. Today there was a different lady working than usual. I noticed that she had a goiter and it made me kind of sad. I don't know much about them, just that it's caused from a deficiency in iodine, but it made me sad for her. It seems like such a simple thing to prevent. I have a feeling that the night market is a sole source of income for those who work there.

While Kate and I were waiting for fresh dumplings (they always make us wait for fresh ones, they won't give us ones from the bowl, it's so sweet), a police car drives up with its lights on. What an interesting scene that played out before us.

There was a man and two women standing on the sidewalk. The guy was making out with lady number one while lady number two was proceeding to try to beat the crap out of him. If I had to guess, I would say we had a serious love triangle going on. The police take the man and his women to the center of the night market where a crowd gathers. I couldn't see what was going on, but I did see one of the cops beating the man around a little bit while one of the other cops got it all on video. I've said it before, I'll say it again. China is CRAZY!

While we were sitting at our table eating our dumplings, I recognized one of my students! We started yelling his name and Charlie came right on over! I just love him. He's so sweet. His mom works at the night market and when she saw that he was talking to us, she gave him a bowl of food to give to us. We think it's lotus root, but you never can be too sure.

Kate and I are now waiting for Megan to get done with her skype date so she can come over and we can resume our nightly tradition of watching a movie. Last night's pick was "P.S. I Love You," one of my favorites! I love, love, love these two girls. They're trying to convince me to move out to Idaho with them in January. Sorry, ladies. Ohio is the place for this girl.

Why I Don't Read the News

Being in China is wonderful for several reasons. Among those is that I don't have to listen to political garbage plastered all over the TV or in newspapers.

I used to use Google Chrome as my browser and for some reason it stopped working. Now, I use Internet Explorer and MSN is set as the homepage. I could change that, and I'm going to, because I just hate the news. Not all of it, but most of it. It's usually the same old Who-Got-Shot-Doing-What or "Guess What Lindsay Lohan Did Now!" A large majority of the time, the news is about things that I simply don't care about.

I had heard random tidbits about this movie made in America that ticked off people in the Muslim world, which is clearly not difficult to do. So today I read a story about how a Pakistani official offered a $100,000 bounty on the head of the filmmaker. I like to rant. Just ask my sister. So here is my rant on how this article made me feel.

I'd like to point out that people do or say things every single day that I don't like. They also do or say things that I completely disagree with. In my mind, it is completely and utterly ridiculous that this official is calling for someone's life because he doesn't agree with them. This filmmaker didn't kill anyone, to my knowledge. Is he an ignorant asshole? Probably. But guess what? The world is full of people like that and all you can do is ignore them. It's like a child throwing a tantrum. I think the Middle East is a little too old to still be in the terrible two's stage.

It's interesting to me that every other religion takes flack about their beliefs without putting bounties on people's heads. But it seems like people will do anything to avoid stepping on the toes of Islam. The rest of the world could get along with the Middle East much better if they put on their big girl panties and stopped trying to turn grains of sand into mountains.

People won't always agree with you, and they don't have to! Should you make it a point to bash people's beliefs? I don't think so, but people have the right to do that in America. Saying you don't agree with someone is one thing, calling for their death is another. What's wrong with having some humility? I'm glad that people in America can excercise their right to free speech without fear of being killed. It would be terrible to live in a country where it's acceptable to kill people over such petty things. I'm thankful to be living in the greatest county of this world, more so now than ever before.

Friday Funsies

I have a love/hate relationship with Friday. I hate them because they're jam-packed busy, but I love them because we're done at 2:15 instead of 4:45. The beginning of the weekend is also a plus.

In class today, we made hand turkeys out of paper and feathers. I forgot my camera so I'm afraid I don't have any cute pictures for you. They were much better today than they were last Friday. Progress, progress, everywhere!

I walked into ELE today for the teacher to tell me that the computer wasn't working so I couldn't do my powerpoint. "Do something else." ARRRGHHH. These people drive me INSANE. It's not her fault that the computer wasn't working, sure. But they seriously expect us to have twenty lesson plans prepared and I'm not having it. If nothing else, I'll get good at improv.

After teaching, Kate, Alec, Jamesen and I just went exploring through town. We found a park where people were playing basketball and dancing. Jamesen joined the basketball players and Kate joined the dances. Me? I documented for them by taking pictures which I'm currently too lazy to upload. On the way home, Kate and I stopped for Muslim food. It was delicious, as always.

Tonight, I will be totally content to watch a movie until I pass out. I think we'll be going exploring tomorrow, I can't wait! I'm living the life, my friends.

P.S.- Thanks to everyone who emails, skypes and keeps in touch! It means a lot to me :) Also, I want to thank everyone who donated to my program fee, donated supplies, or attended my fundraisers for me to even be here! You guys are the best!

WE GOT TRAIN TICKETS TO GUILIN!!!!! (and some reflection)

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Ohhhhhhhhhmahhhhhgaaarrshhh. We got train tickets!!! Let me publicly say how awesome my head teachers are, for sitting in a room in front of a computer since this morning. So at least twelve hours. The way that you buy tickets in China is kind of dumb. Everyone gets put on a waitlist and then they manually select the people that they're going to give tickets to. We had planned on leaving next Saturday, but those were already completely booked. Instead, we're leaving Sunday. I am way okay with this. I was trying to come to terms with the fact that I might not be going to Guilin after all, and I was super bummed about that. But we officially have tickets and we are absolutely going :) Yay my life!

As if today needed help being more awesome, my kids were amazing today. They have been all this week, actually. Besides Monday... But I feel like Mondays and Fridays will always be hard. Monday still has some weekend left in it and Friday is off schedule. We made cat puppets out of paper bags. They had such a good time making them. I'm pretty impressed with all the things that I've come up with for them to make, and they've truly enjoyed them all.

Is it obvious that my homeroom is the craziest???

It's kinda funny how different I feel as a person since I started teaching. On the way home from the night market tonight, Megan and I were talking about how much more mature we felt. I have felt like an adult for a very long time, and I didn't think it would ever get any deeper. Then I came here and met my kids. I'm responsible for them. What I teach them will stay with them for forever. That means I will have a lasting impact on their entire life. How cool is that? Since I arrived in Changzhou, my world has literally been rocked. In an awesome way, I should add. Let me explain.

I live in a foreign country. I don't speak or read the language. I stand out every single place I go. There's no blending in for me. I take public transportation, even though I can't read or understand the language, and I have always made it to my ultimate destination. My horizons have exploded since I got here. Not widened or broadened, but exploded. Three weeks into this adventure (next week will be the one month mark... what?!?!?), I have a new sense of confidence. I feel comfortable in a foreign country. I can survive outside my element, my culture, my country, and my comfort zone. That feels pretty damn amazing, if I do say so myself.

Hey, life. Got any lemons? Cause my pitcher is ready to go :)

We found this humongous caterpillar on the way to the night market. He was probably 3 inches long! I should have captured him and sold him at the night market. I probably could have gotten a couple kuai from someone who wanted to fry him.

Walmart in China! Well, sort of.

Today was amazing for the simple fact that I didn't have to teach ELE. It was wonderful to sleep in and not have to teach until 2. In class, we made butterflies out of tissue paper and pipecleaners. The kids loved it! They were so well-behaved and cooperative and I really felt like they were enjoying the activity.

From left to right: Candy, Henry, Frank, Miya (pronounced Mia), Josh, Emily, and Colin.

These are my first graders. Left to right: Tina, Tyler, Remy, Julie, Michael, Anna (you can't see her), Emily, Alex, and Katie.

Starting with Jackson's arm on the left, Lily, Nick, Selena, Bob, Mike, Julius (the white sleeve is her),  Robbie, Brayden's arm, and Andy's head.

My homeroom! Audrey, Aaron, Angela, Krew, Apple (pouting because she was being a little butthead today), Ronnie, Jake, Jason, and Ricky. 

After teaching a few of us decided to go downtown to Walmart. One of the busses that we were on broke down. It never fails to be interesting in some way. Chinese people are infatuated with us on the busses. They talk about us and point to our features. Megan thought this one group of boys was laughing at us for having big noses. I wasn't in a very good mood and I thought to myself, "Oh, so just because ours don't blend in with the rest of our face, that's something to laugh about???" This was on the way home, though, and I wasn't feeling well. I tend to be a grump when I don't feel good.

We passed a McDonald's on the way, and being the fat Americans we are, we had to go in. I am fully and completely regretting that decision as we speak. Anyways, Walmart was weird. I did not feel like I was in Walmart at all. There was nothing in there similar to what's in a Walmart in the U.S. I didn't buy much, just some Gatorade and a neck pillow. We also went to DVD store where I bought the all the seasons of Big Bang Theory, The Little Mermaid II, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and The Dark Knight Rises all for 90 kuai. So $15 dollars. If anyone wants a particular movie or series of a show for dirt cheap, let me know! I'll be taking requests :)

Downtown Changzhou.

 We received some disappointing news when we got back to the school. We were unable to get train tickets to Guilin. With our hostels already being booked and everything, we're all frustrated. The only thing we can do is try to get a train to a city near Guilin, and then take a bus or something. We only have 10 days until we leave so I hope everything works out.

Twenty on Tuesday

1. My children were angels today.

2. There have been 3 bloody noses in my class since the beginning of the school year. I promise there is no correlation between this fact and my method of discipline.

3. All my kids' legs are covered in mosquito bites. It's so sad to me, and kind of breaks my heart a lot.

4. I got invited to one of the Chinese teacher's weddings. I'm sad to say that it's the day after we leave for vacation :( I would love to go!

5. I have a wife beater sitting in a bag in my suitcase. It's the one that Lucas wore the day before I left. Am I ridiculous? Yup. Have I opened it yet? Nope.

6. Did you know that if you say "green rectangle" fifty bazillion times that you start to feel like you're speaking a foreign language yourself?

7. Ricky did a Michael Jackson impersonation today while singing "We Are the World." It was priceless.

8. Sometimes I watch sad movies and chick flicks solely so I have a reason to cry. (Kate and I watched "The Notebook" tonight, "Steel Magnolias" is next)

9. I'm convinced that there are at least 9 mosquitoes per every person in China.

10. If I could have one single thing from home, it would be my car.

11. I miss animals!!! There are seriously no animals in China  besides stray dogs and cats. I miss deer and birds and even raccoons. Apparently, the plural of raccoon is raccoon, and not racoons. I keep getting the red squigley line telling me that I spelled something wrong. My editor in chief Elysia will be sure to let me know.

12. I only brush my teeth once a day because having to brush with bottled water is a pain in the arse. If Pam sees this, I know I will be hearing from her.... BUT! I do wear my splint every night :) Promise!

13. My room has recently become a breeding ground for flies, moths, and mosquitoes. It's on, bugs!!!

14. I wear the same clothes multiple times because doing laundry is on the same playing field as brushing my teeth.

15. The squatter was a male invention. No questions asked. As Kate says, we need an adapter to be able to use that thing.

16. I'm really glad I brought flip flops to China. At ILP training, they told us it was "offensive" to wear them in public. Uhh, I'm gonna go ahead and call BS on that one, guys. Chinese people wear flip flops everywhere. I still don't do it because, you know, they poop everywhere. But for the bathroom and stuff they have been a must.

17. My kids touch my hair every single day. Jimmer always acts like it's going to shock the bajeebies out of him. It's hilarious.

18. I'm adopting a Chinese child one day. They are so precious and hilarious and I love their accents! I'm going to record it so I never forget them saying, "Teacha, look!" or "Teacha Kayla, do we have four class today?" (asking how many rotations we'll be doing)

19. Thanksgiving of this year will be the most depressing day of my life. Well, not really, but it's gonna suck.

20. I am loving life here in Changzhou and I'm already kinda dreading having to leave. Funny how things work out, huh?

Jason and Krew. Fun fact: The "r" sound doesn't exist in the Chinese language. A lot of times they use the "l" sound instead. It took us a couple days to figure out Krew's name because he pronounces it "Kaloo". 

It was Monday, Alright

I'm not sure what was with today, but my kids were being SUPER bad. Being completely honest, I wanted to choke nearly every one of them. I had to rearrange my seating chart and even then they would not stop touching each other. So frustrating.

Except of course, my girl Audrey. She is coming home with me, and she said she wants to. When I take them to their next class she always holds my hand. I tell her she's my favorite and she smiles with that toothless smile (she's totally rocking the two missing front teeth) and says, "Teacha Kayla, you are my favorite." I'm in love, there's no other way to put it. Every day when she gets to class, the first thing out of her mouth is, "Teacha, what time is it?" I've never seen a kid so concerned with the time, but it makes me smile every time she asks. She can tell when I get frustrated with the other kids and that's when she starts yelling at them or trying to help me. When everyone else lines up to leave, she stays behind to help me clean up. I could learn a lot from this seven-year-old beauty. We all could.

A large part of teaching, is learning to choose your battles. This is hard for me, because I care so much about their education and I want them to learn as much as they can. I want the lessons to go perfectly, and they never will. As a matter of fact, the only purpose that a lesson plan serves, is to make you feel prepared, when in reality, you'll be lucky if 10% of the class period goes as planned. That's just how it is. The real challenge isn't making good lesson plans, it's learning to roll with the punches. Most of the time when the kids act out, it's because they're bored or tired. I have to remember that they have class 13 hours every day and they are only kids, even if the Chinese education system doesn't treat them that way.

By the way, ELE today went pretty well. I love that I'm finally getting the hang of it and don't necessarily dread it anymore. But I still don't enjoy it, and I don't think I ever will, just because I don't feel like I'm teaching them anything.

 The awesome thing about Mondays, is that it's also Muslim Monday. Yum. Yum. Yum. I tried something different today than my usual Chow Mien. It was good, but I like my usual better. The people that work there are so cute. They get way excited when we walk through the door! We stopped by the market and night market on our way back. If I don't stop eating these damn ice cream bars, I'm going to have a major problem. But they're soooo good. They were actually out of strawberry today, so I got vanilla with chocolate swirls. Absolutely heavenly!

Superawesomeamazingdelicious.

Your eyes do not deceive you. Those are potatoes indeed.

I'm Boring

I really am. I did nothing today except sleep for an embarrassing amount of time. I left my room twice. Once to heat up my leftover dumplings from last night, and once to make Easy Mac.

Megan came over and we had another lovely life talk. She's just the greatest, seriously. We then tortured ourselves by watching clips from The Notebook on Youtube. We're getting that movie and we're going to watch it one night this week along with P.S I Love You. Sob fest is on the way. If only we could find Steel Magnolias... That really might be my favorite movie ever. I could watch it every day and I would still bawl at the scene in the cemetery where M'Lynn has her rant about how life isn't fair.

I guess I did do two productive things. I made a powerpoint for my ELE first grade classes this week about shapes and colors. Hopefully it works well for them. First grade is so hard because they are starting out from scratch and don't understand or speak any English. This is especially clear when I teach my first grade rotation with ILP now. They're cute, they really are, but I will stick to second grade.

I also planned out nearly every detail of my imaginary wedding on Pinterest. Don't judge me, people.

Someone asked me what my daily schedule was like here in Changzhou. Since I'm such the people pleaser, here you go.

10:55-11:40 (Monday and Tuesday) 10:00-10:45 (Thursday and Friday)~ I teach ELE. I teach first grade every day except for Friday, and that's when I teach second grade ELE.

11:30ish-2:00ish~ I skype with friends and family, email, and finish lesson plans for my ILP classes.

2:15~ I go pick up my kids!

2:20-4:45~ I teach my ILP classes. (12:00-2:30 on Fridays because their parents pick them up at 3)

4:45-5:00~ I drop my kids off to their next class.

5:00~ Dinner starts at five, but I don't usually go.

Sometimes after dinner, we go to the night market or get Muslim food or do whatever we want! When we get back it's catch up on Facebook, email, and then bed!

Lazy Saturday, Complete with Dumplings

Ever since I arrived in China, it's been nonstop going. Except for this week when I was sick. I didn't do a lot of going but that totally does not count as relaxing. So today, I lounged around all day. I didn't even get in the shower until 5:30. Impressive, right?

Megan came over this afternoon morning and the three of us decided to watch a movie. Kate went through all the movies on her computer but with nearly every one she said, we got totally sidetracked and ended up planning the details of our upcoming vacation instead of watching a movie. I got so excited with booking our hostels and everything. It's going to be such a blast! We're going to Yangshuo for three and a half days and Guilin for three and a half days. Do your research so you can be insanely jealous of where I'm going.

All this planning worked up an appetite. For the first time in over a week, I ventured into the cafeteria. Only to discover they didn't cook for us because there weren't enough people there. Street food it was!

Megan, Kate and I headed to the night market. Megan and Kate wanted dumplings and who am I to turn down dumplings?? The place that we went to gives you this heaping bowl for 5 kuai. Less than a dollar. We also got some spiced potatoes that were really good. The nice man let us sample the potatoes and they were pretty spicy. I was waving at my mouth and he goes over and hands me a drink. It looked like beer but tasted like water... I'm not too sure about that combination.

I am now fluent in chopsticks. 

The night market! Well, a small part anyways.

Heaven in a bowl. AKA dumplings.

Two of my favorite things in China. Kate, and dumplings :)

I'm so glad that I can eat now! It's crazy how much my stomach has shrunk though. I eat a few bites of something and feel completely full. Never too full for ice cream, of course :) I am addicted to these strawberry bars. They have an outer coating that tastes like shortcake. Ahhh they are amazing.

Awesome cotton candy!

  After wandering around for a good bit, we headed back to the school. It's nights like tonight that make me realize how much I love being here. I am going to miss the night market terribly.

Me and my girls <3

No Cheese in China

Sorry for not posting last night. I've gotten word that a few people were disappointed that there was no new post. Well, here ya go.

Yesterday morning, I taught ELE and it actually went okay. I'm starting to figure out what the Chinese teachers want. They think that the kids don't learn anything unless they repeat every word I say and say chants about whatever it is I'm teaching. Alrighty, mindless memorization it is! Have I told you that these kids go to school from 6 am to 7 pm everyday? I bet they hate life.

My ILP kids were kind of terrible. I think it was because it was it was Friday and we did store. Store is where they can buy toys and things with tokens they've earned throughout the week. They eat it up. It was so cute for them to be calculating how many tokens they have to get next week in order to be able to get a certain prize. I just love most of them.

After teaching, I went to the market with Sam and Allen. First we went to the night market and got some yummy mystery melon on a stick. I also found a flash drive there, which is amazing because another way to the Chinese teachers' hearts is through powerpoints. Chants and powerpoints. I can do this.

Me and Sam with our Mystery Melon

We then went to the regular supermarket where I found conditioner. I did a happy dance.

I came back home and just relaxed. It was super amazing wonderful fantastic. Megan came over and we had one of our long life talks that I love so much! After she left, I was ready to sleep and so I laid down. Silly me. Little did I know, the fun was not over yet.

Kate comes back into the room around 2 in the morning. We realize there's a huge mosquito problem goin' on up in here. It's ridiculous, ya'll. We've never had an issue with them in our room and last night we killed at least ten. It was hilarious. Kate is terrified of bugs, but she decided to put on her big girl panties and try to do some work. The mosquitoes like to congregate on the ceiling, as if they think we can't reach them there. Maybe they're just used to short Chinese people but Kate and I are amazon humans. She pulled up a chair, of course the one that swivels (can you see disaster happening yet?), and starts smacking at them with her shoe. Almost all of them got away but I give her props for trying. She did kill a few. All the while, laughing hysterically at my lisp that I have when I have my splint in my mouth and try to talk. I have to get her impersonating my lisp on video. It's priceless.

I love this girl!

The mosquito fell off the ceiling and onto her.

Doin' work.

We're planning our vacation to Guilin and Yuangshuo (I think that's how you spell it) this weekend! We only have two weeks until we go. I am so excited, I might die.

Oh. And this is my mosquito net. Kate found it to be worth documenting.

Oh, and the title of this blog post is courtesy of Leah Fry. I have awesome friends.

Normalcy

I'm feeling much better today. I took the lazy route teaching and just read them some stories to pass the time, so that helped since I wasn't having to run all over creation to catch them or yell "NO CHINESE!!!" in my mean voice. Okay, so I still yelled the no Chinese thing a few times. ELE went smoothly today also, but I'm still dreading tomorrow. I'm with the teacher who likes to smack her kids with a stick. The anxiety over teaching this dumb class is enough to keep me awake at night. I hate feeling inferior or like I'm not doing a good enough job. Here are some cute pictures of my kids! Prepare for your heart to melt...

Frank! Probably my smartest kid. 

Sweet Colin.

Ricky and Angela. Second grade lovers for sure.

Audrey and Apple. I love these girls.

Ricky. He was in Chinese Chair. You can tell he is so upset about it.

Aaron, Apple, and Jason.

Apple and Jason. Two of my favorites. 

After teaching, I decided I was tired of starving to death. I've lost 17 pounds since I left home two weeks ago. I'm all for losing some weight, but that's a little scary and extreme. So me, Kate, Megan, Laurra, Alec, and Paul went out for Muslim food and ice cream. We hardly ever go into town without coming home with a story.

So it was a little drizzly on our walk tonight and Megan had her umbrella out. We crossed an alleyway and when we got to the other side, these two guys pop out of the shadows and get under Megan's umbrella with her. One of them says, "Do you speak Chinese?" and Megan says, "No... Do you speak English?" "A little". Well, if that doesn't tell you it's about to be an interesting night, just stop reading now. About 23 seconds had gone by when we pass a building and the man says, "Here! Come into my office!!!" and points to the doors of this random building. Megan politely explained that we were on our way to dinner and of course they took that as an invitation. At this point, I was personally wondering what "my office" was code for.

When we get to the restaurant, they make Megan sit with them. Of course being the darling soul that she is, Kate sits with her so she's not with the creepers by her lonesome. The man wasn't kidding, his English was really limited. Megan told him we were from America, and like all Chinese people, he said how he really would like to go, but didn't have the opportunity. Megan starts thinking that they want to marry us in order to get them into the U.S. Around this time, another guy walks into the restaurant and just so happens to know the two guys that followed us in there.

Megan and Kate with our new friends.

Megan says out loud to our table (because they couldn't understand anything we were saying), "Well this is a scene straight from Taken. There's the getaway driver." I was dying laughing. Eventually it comes out that the man just wants to learn English from us, and he is a student at a local university. When we were done eating, he insisted that we come to his "office".

Guess what? We were crazy enough to do it. We walked into this building and up some stairs, Laurra freaking all the way out the entire time. "Guys, this is NOT okay!!!" We get to the top of the stairs and he opens a door. What do you know? It's an office alright... Laurra still stood up against the door in case anyone tried to "lock us in from the inside."

So now we know where to meet this guy to teach him English on Tuesday. Oh, and his name is "Thanks." Welcome to China.

I also rode in a Tuk Tuk for the first time on the way home!

The best way to describe it? Like riding a lawn mower.

There was ice cream on my lip.

Hysterical and I don't even remember why.

There we go :)