So yesterday, Sunday, the four of us got up and gathered for church over the phone. Basically we just call this number (we used skype) and listen to church! The speakers, prayers, everything is just done my people calling in. Evan and Chris got permission to administer the sacrament so we bought some bread the night before and had sacrament. Church is usually 2 hours but we only listened to sacrament because April was coming to pick us up.
Her and Marcus came, loaded up our stuff and took us to lunch. Then Marcus took the boys to their dorms on their new campus and April took us to our apartments. We also met Sylvia who is also an English teacher that will actually be teaching on mine and Lindsay's campus and will be helping us out. She's very nice and helpful.
So Lindsay and I are in apartments in the same building, both on the 14th floor, just a few doors down from each other. It is weird having an apartment all to myself! The apartments are pretty big and nice but reeeally dirty. They don't clean them between tenants apparently. My bathroom was especially dirty. And whoever lived here before left lots of trash and even some shoes and other random junk. So Sunday was a lot of cleaning.
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| Living Room (don't mind the laundry hanging on the balcony...) |
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| Table, fridge and microwave |
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| Bedroom before bedding |
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| Dirty kitchen |
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| Really dirty bathroom |
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| View from bedroom window |
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| View from balcony |
April and Sylvia left and Sylvia said she'd be back at 3 to give us our schedules and text books. We both swept our apartments, cleaned up a little and did some laundry but we didn't have a lot of cleaning supplies. We didn't know what to do because they said to wait here for them and we didn't know where to get supplies. Finally at like 4 or 5, another English teacher from the school, Cici, came with a couple of the kids to practice our speeches for Monday. They asked us to speak at the opening ceremony. They were like 4 sentences each and the kids practiced translating. Then Sylvia came with our books and schedules! I am teaching only grades 1 and 2. Lindsay is teaching 3-6. Then they all went with us to the supermarket nearby to get cleaning supplies and a bit of food. Then we headed to the school cafeteria to get dinner. We sat with Cici who is super sweet! She's 23 and this is her first semester teaching so she is as nervous as us. She also just loves us! Haha she's never been to America but I guess she really, really wants to go.
We met Chris and Evan at dinner because I guess their cafeteria wasn't serving food yet. They ate on our campus and then they came over to do laundry because their place doesn't have it yet. We also got the bedding for our beds! The school bought us super nice silky sheets and new pillows and stuff so that's pretty sweet. The boys did laundry while we cleaned. My bathroom though... but I got it pretty well clean! Then the boys left and Lindsay and I went out to explore a little... and buy popsicles. And we bought shower shoes and these little slippers to wear around the house! Then I came home and crashed!
First day of school!
So we weren't sure how everything was going to work today. I was scheduled to teach two classes today but I didn't have much time to prepare because we just barely got our schedules. So before heading to school I just prepared a quick powerpoint in case I needed to teach. So we got the school around 8 and Sylvia showed us our desks in the foreign teachers' office. The ceremony was at 10 and I was suppose to teach at 10:20. We spent the morning working more on our lessons and getting situated.
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| Our desk! For some reason the picture cut off... dunno why. |
Then we went the ceremony. It was cute! Even though I didn't really know what was going on because I don't speak Chinese.. haha. Then me and Lindsay gave our short little speeches and all was well! The kids are so cute! They love to wave and say hello.
So the ceremony ended and I had about 20 minutes for my first class. Oh boy. For one thing, I underestimated how difficult it would be to teach 1st graders when I don't know Chinese and they only know a small amount of English. Luckily there was an assistant teacher who could help quiet them down as well as translate. Also, my lesson did not take nearly as long as I thought and even with only 20 mins I was struggling to come up with what to do! Luckily it all worked out, I survived. And I had plenty of time to prepare before my next class!
I had about an hour before lunch to go back and add more and adjust my lesson. Then Lindsay came back from her class and we went and got lunch with Sylvia. The cooks are so sweet and made (well tried to make) us some American food. She made hamburgers which ended up being a bun with nothing but tons of mayo, tomato and a tiny bit of spam (I think). I managed to eat some of it but honestly I'd rather just have the Chinese food!
After lunch I had a couple hours before my next class so I continued to prepare and over-prepare my lesson for my next class of 1st graders! This time it went better! My assistant teacher was Sylvia and she was super helpful! I had them do a worksheet this time and that took a good amount of time. These kids really are the cutest though. I just have to accept that they are not going to understand me half the time and make the best of it!
Luckily that was my last class today so I have plenty of time to prepare for tomorrow when I have 7 classes!! I'll admit all this prep is stressing me out but wish me luck!
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