Pizza Hut, My First Taxi Ride, and Maybe I Like My Kids Now

Today has been the hardest day to drag myself out of bed so far. I had a morning class at 10, my first ELE class. ELE is English Language Enrichment. We go into the classrooms of the Chinese teachers who are teaching English to their students. Kind of like how we have Spanish, French, German, etc. teachers in the U.S. who are still American, they just speak those languages. We are there to supplement and help those teachers with teaching the kids.

The class that I went to was a first grade class. I'm so happy to be able to say that it went well. When I walked in the room I was immediately swarmed by the entire class. These kids don't speak any English at all yet but they can say "Hello!!!" so I heard that about a million times but it was adorable. I got down to their level and they kept pointing at my face and saying something to their Chinese teacher. I asked her what they were saying and she said, "Your eyes. They say Americans have rainbow eyes. They like them." That took me off guard. I can't imagine what it would be like never seeing anyone with different color eyes than me.

There are 38 kids in that class and I was so impressed with how well she handled them by herself. I taught them a song and then did a short lesson on how to introduce yourself. It was a fast 45 minutes, praise the Lord.

Even more good news for today, teaching my ILP classes went GREAT. I could not be happier with how today went. All it took was me being a complete jerk to them. Sounds terrible, right? Well let me tell you, it's the only way they will take you seriously. I also threatened to send them to their Chinese teacher and whenever I did that they straightened up real quick. I read the story "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" because my concept of the day was questions and answers. After the story, we went through animal flashcards where I would ask them what they saw. They ate it up! Everyone was so involved and I loved it.

Today at dinner, someone brought up going to Pizza Hut when everyone was finished teaching. I nearly sprang out of my seat. So guess what I had today, guys? Yep, freakin' Piizza Hut. It was stupidly expensive and 30-40 minutes away, but I do not even care. I ate two pieces of my 8 inch pizza and felt pure heaven. Yeah that's right, I only had two teensy pieces and I was full.

Which brings me to my next interesting topic of the day. I'm a total nerd and I brought jeans with me to China that are way too small. Or used to be way too small... Just for fun, I tried them on today and they came right up, buttoned and zipped with no problem. I left home 8 days ago wearing a size 10 and today I fit into a 6 with no problems. Yeahhh if you want to lose weight really quickly, just come to China.

Totally skipping backward, when we left Pizza Hut, we had to take a cab home because it was really late and the buses had stopped running. Allow me to explain the cab system in China. There is no limit to how many people you can cram into the car- we shoved five people in- and there are no seatbelts. They literally cut them out. Besides completely terrifying, you know what else it was? So much fun! These are the things I will miss about China. Crazy cab rides being way too close to people I already love. Oh, and I'm also going to miss Kate, Megan, and myself laughing until tears stream down our faces. They are the best.

Four of us in the backseat and one in the front! Kate, Sam, me, and Megan.

Laurra trying to communicate with the driver who was in his own little bubble. Literally.

Oh, and Megan had to sit on the floor.

I love China. 

P.S.- Just so everyone knows how awesome/wonderful/amazing/cheesy my boyfriend is, I have included the email that I came back to after teaching today. He is simply the best.

A poem for the most beautiful girl ever!

I love you more than words can say,

I love you more than a horse loves hay.

I love you to the moon and back,

I love you till the sun turns black.

You make me smile everyday,

Even when you are away.

Some may call our love cuckoo,

But I don't care because,

I've

Got

YOU!

:]]]] I should put that up for a copyright or something.

Have a wonderful day. I love you so much!