One Week Down!

Finished my first week of teaching!

It definitely was not easy considering I have never taught before and now I am teaching 11 classes of 40ish 1st and 2nd graders each who I can barely communicate with. In fact, this has hands down been the hardest thing I have ever done. BUT, I can tell it is going to be one of the most eye-opening and life-changing experiences of my life. I have already begun to love these kids and their happy faces. They are so eager for my approval and most of them genuinely want to learn. I can totally feel that even after just a week. That is how I know I will be able to do this!

So despite the homesickness, the stress, the exhaustion and the somewhat loneliness of living in such an unfamiliar place, I am excited to spend the next 4 months with these amazing kids! I haven't taken many photos of my classes just yet, but I did snap a picture of one of my second grade classes working. I promise, there will be more to come because seriously, they are just so darn adorable! When I first walk into a class they all swarm me and just want to say hello and maybe good morning or whatever greeting they know in English. Sometimes they will just start talking to me all excitedly in Chinese and I feel so bad because I have no clue what they're saying! I also love that even just as we walk down the hall, all the kids love to say hi and give us hugs or high fives. It doesn't even matter if they're my students or Lindsay's. We are like celebrities at the school! It definitely brings a smile to my face!

I have a half Irish boy named Leon in one of my classes and he speaks great English. On Thursday evening, Lindsay and I were walking past the school on our way home from exploring when Leon's dad (the Irish one) saw us and came over to talk to us. It was nice to chat with someone who speaks English! And he has a sweet Irish accent. Anyway, we talked to him about the school and how he's lived here for 5 years and doesn't speak like any Chinese even though his wife is Chinese. Haha and he works and lives nearby and I guess there are some other foreigners that work with him. One of them teaches Chinese classes so we are hoping to get more info on that! He also told us some good places to eat and shop and what-not and that was super cool! It is always exciting to see other white people, especially when they speak English!

So on Friday, we both had only 3 classes which was nice! And no school on Monday because of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival a.k.a. Moon Cake Day. They had a special lunch of Friday and gave everyone moon cakes so that was exciting. Then the English teachers gave me and Lindsay these huge gift boxes of moon cakes that I guess is pretty customary around this time. We see them in the stores all the time. It was so sweet of them! These teachers seriously take such good care of us! It is so nice to know I always have someone to go to if I need anything at all. Sylvia invited us to go shopping and to a movie with her on Monday so I am excited for that! She can show some cool places to go.

We were done with classes by about 2 on Friday so we decided we were going to head into town and go to the Walmart there! We waited at the bus station forever then finally got on and it was super crowded! I guess we hit rush hour or something because traffic was also crazy. It took over an hour to get there. But hey, for only 1 yuan (about 16 cents) it ain't a bad way to get around! We first went to this place called Highland's Coffee which was near Walmart. It is an American coffee shop so we figured we had to check it out. It was started by an American guy (he wasn't there) but all of his staff speaks English. And most importantly, they have American food! Mostly coffee and tea but I ordered a honey ham panini and an orange pineapple a smoothie. It was delightful!! It was nice to have American tasting food that wasn't fast food. And meat that wasn't a mystery!

I forgot to take a pic of the place so I stole one off the internet... ;)

Deeeelicious!

After we ate, we headed to Walmart in search of some western food. The Walmart is HUGE! and it is underground. It still had a mostly Asian influence but we found PEANUT BUTTER! I've never been so excited about peanut butter in my whole life. We also found granola bars and goldfish and CEREAL which are all very uncommon in China. What can I say, sometimes you just need some good ol' comfort foods!
We walked around the city for a while, just soaking it all up. Plus, we were not eager to get back on a crowded bus. We saw some cool shops we are planning on coming back to and then we were tired so we headed to the bus stop. We were pretty proud of ourselves that we didn't get lost at all! It was a miracle really. We got home, watched Lie To Me on Netflix, ate some of our snacks then went to bed!

Entrance to the underground Walmart

There is a river running through the city. It is really brown & dirty but at night it looks colorful!

WESTERN FOOOOD!

Today, Saturday, I need to do some more cleaning in my apartment and maybe some laundry. Then we don't really have any plans but maybe we'll do something with Chris and Evan. I'd love to explore some other places around our city! It's beautiful!