HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

Happy Birthday Dad! I hope your day is better after watching this. This is one of my classes. They are seniors in high school and really great to work with. Please note that on the board to the left is a drawing of my face that one of the students drew. It says "father I love you." haha i love these students and their peace signs. Hope you enjoy!

A little adventure and getting siiiiick.

After we got back from Wuhzen, life was pretty relaxing. I did some lesson planning, went on a fun adventure around Keqiao. It was a good time. We found an indoor ski place, what?! Definitely going to need to try that before I leave. We also climbed a hill, got a little lost, but had a good time just exploring. I also skyped with Kara Koerner, which I really enjoyed!

So Saturday morning, the first day back from our Holiday. I woke up and it was just a normal morning. I drank some coffee, ate some oatmeal, and got ready to go teach. I had a class at 7:30 that morning, so I arrived in the office around 7:10. While walking out of my apartment, I started to feel dizzy and saw some spots. I knew that this was not good, but I needed to teach. I went to class and it got very complicated. I couldn't read my lesson plan or book, so needless to say, class was probably less than good. Oh well. After class I ran into Brady, who asked how I was doing, I said that I was not doing well. Thankfully, he mentioned to my boss that I was not feeling well, and my boss advised me to go lay down. Right when I got up to my apartment I threw up a few times. No fun. I had a pounding headache and could not sleep after that. Maybe I just needed some rest? I strongly believe that it was the fish that I ate the night before. Whoops. I taught classes in the afternoon, because my stomach wasn't feeling queasy anymore. Thankfully, Gregory took over the "ball games" for me that Brady and I are supposed to do together, so I didn't have to go run around.

The next day, I woke up and felt great though, so thankfully it was quick!

A little travel...

 So before I came to China, I was told I was going to be placed in Xiamen, which obviously did not happen. There is one other person from EC teaching in China through the same program as Brady and I. Her name is Sarah. She was placed in Xiamen. This week we had a national holiday. Sarah was traveling with her roommate, Ivy, to Ivy's hometown. We thought it would be fun to all meet up. So Brady and I decided to join them in Tiongxang, which is right next to the ancient city of Wuzhen. We really left everything until the last minute, and it really could not have gone smoother. One of the other teachers, Thistle, was going to the bus station, so she helped us get our ticket and on the bus. We got there, borrowed a phone from strangers, and met up with Sarah and Ivy. It was fun to be with another American.

We got to our hotel, which was super nice, and centrally located to Ivy's house, so that was great too. We set out to explore the town. In this city there were a lot more people that spoke english too, so that was fun.  We stopped, got some tea/lattes, went to walmart, experienced the coolest dinner. The dinner was fondue, but really fun. One broth was spicy, the other one was mild. Ivy's friend Sophia joined us. It was a good time. After we went to a tea place where we got some "jasmine pearl tea" very good. They also served snacks like dried pork and crab, that was a little much for me after dinner.

The next morning we got up to experience the great city of Wuzhen! It was really cool. They call it the Chinese Venice. It was really pretty. Ivy's parents bought us our tickets, which was incredibly nice. We went through a lot of museums, and my favorite one was the foot-binding museum. There was so much information and shoes that people would wear when they got their feet to only be 3 inches. Ow. We also saw an ancient chinese shadow puppet show. I really enjoyed that. Ivy's parents made us a delicious lunch to eat at her grandparents, and it was so great. It was also fun to be in a Chinese house. After that, back to the Ancient city, where we explored more, made our way through the herds of people, and just had a good time. There were fun snacks to try: goo stuff, sunflowers, among other things. It was a good cultural experience.

That night, Ivy's parents, who don't speak any english, took us to a family restaurant. It was so good. We finished it all. After that,  we went back to the hotel and I fell asleep pretty fast.

The next morning, we ate a great breakfast at the hotel, and then went to the train station to figure out our way home. Ivy helped us get a ticket, and then we said our goodbyes. We met some super nice people once we got on the train, Elaine and Jake (their english names) Jake is an engineer, and Elaine is studying law. Their english was super good, and they really helped us take a lot of time off of our traveling. It was great. They were fun to talk to as well. 

All in all, it was a fun trip. A good experience as well. Something that has been consistent since we have arrived in China is how nice everyone we have run into has been. Not only do people go out of their way to help us, but they also will pay for us to do things. Even if we don't know them. It is crazy to me. They will go so far our of their way.  I want to be like this. It has been such a blessing and so much fun. They also really love America. Whenever we say we are from America, people get really excited. It is nice.

This morning, back in Keqiao, I was doing my laundry. I was checking to see how it was drying on the rooftop and I locked myself out of my room. Not the first time, but my roommate had to fly back to the Philippines to get her visa, so I had no way to get back in. A man from the security office came up, kicked down my door, and just started working on a new lock. Whooops. I felt really bad. He just laughed. I think I may have increased the "stupid american" thought a little more here with that.  Oh well. I will try not to lock myself out in the next two weeks. 

Break Time!

So today is the first day of the National Holiday. As far as I can tell, its like a fall-break, I don't think there is a cultural holiday or anything like that. We have off until next saturday which is really nice. Today, the new Chemistry/Math teacher comes from Pakistan. I am excited to meet him. It will be nice to have all the teachers here. And, now I won't be the new person, so that is also good! All the foreign teachers are going out to a lunch tomorrow, so that should be fun as well.
Classes have been going really well. I teach IELTS (the exam to go to school in other countries) to two grades. So my main goal is to get them to speak as much english as possible and correct the grammar and teach them new words and such. One grade only has 3 girls in it, they are the "juniors" of the school.  I really enjoy them. Then there are the seniors, who have 11 students. They have a lot of fun and get a little rambunctious at times, but they are really fun to work with. The last class is A-level. I believe they are the smarter sophomore level students, so they get a ton of homework and kind of have attitudes, but I enjoy them nonetheless. The content for A-level is the least fun to work with, so I am trying to find ways to make my lesson plans more exciting. I think one of my biggest challenges in teaching is the fact that in each class, there are all different levels of students. Some students can speak english really well, and others find it hard to piece together a sentence. It is hard finding the right pace: challenging the students that already understand and know the information, while not leaving anyone behind. I think this will be a continual problem that I work on.
Last night, three of the Philippine teachers were making dinner and invited Brady and I to join. It was super good and a nice relaxing night. I went to bed around 10:30 but woke up to really loud noises at about 3:30am. I look out my window and there are TONS of fireworks going off. Maybe it is for the national holiday? or maybe just because its friday. I will never know, but it was pretty to see. A little confusing at 3:30 in the morning too.
It has been very rainy here. I believe it has rained everyday this week except for one. Today there is a breach in the rain as well, so I am doing some long awaited laundry. We dry our clothes outside, so the weather is a key factor in when to do laundry.