Monday, October 21 and Tuesday, October 22
It's been a crazy two days! Classes are going well but I need to find some more materials to show my kids...they're too darn smart! Plus I have to look into what the kids are tested on during their English tests because I teach it and I guess they're doing okay, but not great. More work for me!! YAY!! NOT! Today (Tuesday), I got all of my new furniture!! I'm so excited! There were about 4 workers and me putting everything together. Hooray for IKEA! My whole classroom is furnished with their items now haha. The chairs were a pain but we got through it! They were all older guys and kept trying to talk to me but I had no idea what they were saying. They were very nice and helpful though so I'm glad they were there. It's getting late again tonight though so I'm going to keep this short. Enjoy the picture and sorry they're sideways. I take them on my phone and they show up like this...oh well. I have more things to do so I will be updating with more pictures.
It's been a crazy two days! Classes are going well but I need to find some more materials to show my kids...they're too darn smart! Plus I have to look into what the kids are tested on during their English tests because I teach it and I guess they're doing okay, but not great. More work for me!! YAY!! NOT! Today (Tuesday), I got all of my new furniture!! I'm so excited! There were about 4 workers and me putting everything together. Hooray for IKEA! My whole classroom is furnished with their items now haha. The chairs were a pain but we got through it! They were all older guys and kept trying to talk to me but I had no idea what they were saying. They were very nice and helpful though so I'm glad they were there. It's getting late again tonight though so I'm going to keep this short. Enjoy the picture and sorry they're sideways. I take them on my phone and they show up like this...oh well. I have more things to do so I will be updating with more pictures.
Wednesday, October 23rd
Exactly two months from today is my birthday! Yes...I still count down to my birthdays. This one is special because I'll be 25 AND I'm in CHINA!! I think I may ask for the day off so I can have a long weekend visiting with friends and then maybe they'll even give me Christmas Eve off! That'd be so great!! We shall see how things go though. Today was a pretty good day. It was the first time the kids saw the new classroom and they were all pretty excited. I spent a lot of time explaining to the students how to sit in the new chairs, not to write on the desks, how there are group buckets and you can't grab everything and fight over things....all that good stuff you have to teach 6 and 7 year olds. It will take some getting used to for them. I admit, the tables are a wee bit low for the students and small to fit 4 kids at each one but they work a lot better for group work and will overall fit my needs better. Maybe the legs can unscrew a little bit to raise the tables. I'll have a gander tomorrow.
I did some more decorating today...don't you like my Fox in Socks?! I'm sooo proud of him!! I want to take him back with me when I come home...let's hope he lasts that long! I've started reading the book to the kids a little bit just for some tongue twisters...they seem to like it....plus he's good autumn colors : ) It was quite the project to trace him so he'll have to stay up for a few months to get some good use! I had the kids decorate socks and I'm going to hang them up and say "our socks for fox". CLEVER?! Thank Pinterest haha. Well...I'm off to bed now. I FINALLY am getting to bed early!! Goodnight everybody!
Exactly two months from today is my birthday! Yes...I still count down to my birthdays. This one is special because I'll be 25 AND I'm in CHINA!! I think I may ask for the day off so I can have a long weekend visiting with friends and then maybe they'll even give me Christmas Eve off! That'd be so great!! We shall see how things go though. Today was a pretty good day. It was the first time the kids saw the new classroom and they were all pretty excited. I spent a lot of time explaining to the students how to sit in the new chairs, not to write on the desks, how there are group buckets and you can't grab everything and fight over things....all that good stuff you have to teach 6 and 7 year olds. It will take some getting used to for them. I admit, the tables are a wee bit low for the students and small to fit 4 kids at each one but they work a lot better for group work and will overall fit my needs better. Maybe the legs can unscrew a little bit to raise the tables. I'll have a gander tomorrow.
I did some more decorating today...don't you like my Fox in Socks?! I'm sooo proud of him!! I want to take him back with me when I come home...let's hope he lasts that long! I've started reading the book to the kids a little bit just for some tongue twisters...they seem to like it....plus he's good autumn colors : ) It was quite the project to trace him so he'll have to stay up for a few months to get some good use! I had the kids decorate socks and I'm going to hang them up and say "our socks for fox". CLEVER?! Thank Pinterest haha. Well...I'm off to bed now. I FINALLY am getting to bed early!! Goodnight everybody!
Thursday, October 24
Another day down, another day I get to mark off my big wall calendar! Tomorrow is the "opening day" for parents to come in and watch all of their kids classes and such so it's been kind of crazy at school! Everybody is preparing to look good for the parents. Teachers have been "practicing" their lessons with other classes...so this is all kind of rehearsed...but whatever! I'm just going to do what I normally do and hopefully everything goes okay! The kids all know the material that I will be covering...it's sort of like a review day. We'll be doing some games so it should be fun! I had the kids clean a little bit today....they were more cute than helpful haha. The "crayons" that the school got for me are actually oil pastels so they make a HUGE mess and already have the tables all gross! I'm so mad! Hopefully I can find some kind of cleaner that can get it off. I also made my Halloween costume today. I'm thinking about going to an Expat Halloween party in the city this weekend so I figured I better be prepared. I am going to go as a Price is Right contestant! I'm super excited about it and think it's funny that no Chinese people will really understand it! Oh well....at least I'll enjoy it. Well....off to bed! Gotta get some good sleep before the big day!
Another day down, another day I get to mark off my big wall calendar! Tomorrow is the "opening day" for parents to come in and watch all of their kids classes and such so it's been kind of crazy at school! Everybody is preparing to look good for the parents. Teachers have been "practicing" their lessons with other classes...so this is all kind of rehearsed...but whatever! I'm just going to do what I normally do and hopefully everything goes okay! The kids all know the material that I will be covering...it's sort of like a review day. We'll be doing some games so it should be fun! I had the kids clean a little bit today....they were more cute than helpful haha. The "crayons" that the school got for me are actually oil pastels so they make a HUGE mess and already have the tables all gross! I'm so mad! Hopefully I can find some kind of cleaner that can get it off. I also made my Halloween costume today. I'm thinking about going to an Expat Halloween party in the city this weekend so I figured I better be prepared. I am going to go as a Price is Right contestant! I'm super excited about it and think it's funny that no Chinese people will really understand it! Oh well....at least I'll enjoy it. Well....off to bed! Gotta get some good sleep before the big day!
Friday, October 25 to Sunday, October 27
Hello! Long time no write. I've been busy in the city this weekend! Let's start with Friday though. On Friday, the school had an opening day and so the parents all came to the classes to watch their kids being taught. Thursday night I put together the room and made it all pretty and then when I walked in Friday morning, it was TRASHED! The workers had come in over the night to install my PPT screen and projector but then left the garbage everywhere, dust and dirt was all over, there were cigarette butts lying all around, and the desks were all pushed to the side. I was so MAD!! I appreciate them coming in to do their job but come on! No way all my things should have been moved all around and then nothing cleaned up...grr!!! And the cherry on top was I think they took 2 of my whiteboard markers!! So, I had to spend the whole first period cleaning up the classroom and getting ready for the parents to come in. I was kind of nervous but it seemed to go pretty well : ) After all of the classes, the students had a ceremony to upgrade them to the "Young Pioneers" program...not really sure what it is but apparently it's a big deal because all the students, parents, teachers, and administration was there. I had to sit in the first row next to all of the head administrators so that was fun..not! Way to make me feel awkward! Oh well....the assembly was pretty interesting but overall I thought it was nice. After that, the students all left with their parents and so there were no 1st graders in the building! Hannah, the Chinese teacher, and I took the long distance bus (leifang) and went into the city. Joy had made me a reservation at the same hotel that I stayed in last weekend but it was a lot cheaper so that was good! When I got off the bus, I made a quick stop into Walmart to get a needle and thread because the pockets of my coat ripped out...darn you Walmart! So, of course, I go back and support their business more haha. I arrived at the hotel and rested for awhile because I was sleepy! I watched a lot of Jimmy Fallon and Ellen...my favorites! I wandered out a little bit later and got something to eat. I walked around for about an hour just figuring out where things are. It was a nice night so it was a good time to walk around. You always see very interesting things while walking around here...like a group of teenagers all riding these really cool vintage bikes and one had a leader sticker on it with lights. Very interesting, but their bikes were really cool! After that, I just went back to the hotel and stayed in the for rest of the night.
Saturday, I Skyped with my parents (and the animals) for awhile and sewed up my coat...thanks for calling! Sorry Aunt Julie...I missed your call this evening but I'm about to go to bed now...long weekend. I stayed in for most of the morning then went out adventuring in the early afternoon. I was so hungry so I had to go out! Sometimes I get too nervous to order at a Chinese restaurant so I choose to be hungry instead...silly...I know. My hunger finally won though and I had some noodles at a fast food place. The busy street here is Taiyuan Street and there is an underground fashion street and it's so crazy busy! It's these tiny little stalls that have anything that you could possibly want in them. It's really like a small hallway....you can fit probably 3 people across shoulder to shoulder. It's really cool though and you definitely find really good deals. Chinese people have a crazy fashion sense so you can find some wacky things! Definitely somewhere I will be visiting again! I got a really cute sweater for 70 Yuan so that was pretty good. I need to start stocking up on my warmer clothes! I then went back to the hotel room so I could get ready to go out to a Halloween party.
When it was time to go, I had made sure that I had the address but apparently I had the wrong address! I had gotten the address for a place with the same name but it was a coffee bar, not a regular bar. Oh well. I then had to take another cab to go to the correct place...thank goodness for my phone! When I first got to the bar, there was a ton of people there! I won't go into details of the whole night but it was so much fun! I met some really great people. I actually met a girl who is from Tawas and has lived here for 5 years! I think if I go into the city next weekend, her and I are going to hang out. She is a kindergarten teacher so we can bounce ideas off of each other. I also met some people who work for Michelin and they're from Puerto Rico, Spain, and France. I met another guy who's a teacher and he is from Missouri. We went to 3 different bars and then went to a night club afterwards and danced the whole night away. It was so much fun! It was funny because the guys from Puerto Rico and Spain were super tall and they had these Tigger and Eeoyre pajamas that were obviously made for children so they didn't fit them at all. It was probably the best costume. There were a few Walter White's too so that was funny. The one high school teacher from my school was dressed as Walter and he really looked just like him. I was so impressed! My sign broke almost immediately after arriving and I lost my name tag....so I basically went as an American haha. It was a really great night and I hope to hang out with some of them again!
Sunday, I pretty much had a lazy day. I stayed in the hotel until I had to check out and then did a little more walking around. It stinks having to carry all of your things with you so I wasn't really in the shopping mood. I ended up sitting at Dunkin Donuts for about 3 hours reading a book to waste some time. Joy picked me up around 4 and then we drove back to the school. I pretty much just hung out the rest of the night then. Lots of things to prepare for this week! It'll be another long one! See ya later.
Hello! Long time no write. I've been busy in the city this weekend! Let's start with Friday though. On Friday, the school had an opening day and so the parents all came to the classes to watch their kids being taught. Thursday night I put together the room and made it all pretty and then when I walked in Friday morning, it was TRASHED! The workers had come in over the night to install my PPT screen and projector but then left the garbage everywhere, dust and dirt was all over, there were cigarette butts lying all around, and the desks were all pushed to the side. I was so MAD!! I appreciate them coming in to do their job but come on! No way all my things should have been moved all around and then nothing cleaned up...grr!!! And the cherry on top was I think they took 2 of my whiteboard markers!! So, I had to spend the whole first period cleaning up the classroom and getting ready for the parents to come in. I was kind of nervous but it seemed to go pretty well : ) After all of the classes, the students had a ceremony to upgrade them to the "Young Pioneers" program...not really sure what it is but apparently it's a big deal because all the students, parents, teachers, and administration was there. I had to sit in the first row next to all of the head administrators so that was fun..not! Way to make me feel awkward! Oh well....the assembly was pretty interesting but overall I thought it was nice. After that, the students all left with their parents and so there were no 1st graders in the building! Hannah, the Chinese teacher, and I took the long distance bus (leifang) and went into the city. Joy had made me a reservation at the same hotel that I stayed in last weekend but it was a lot cheaper so that was good! When I got off the bus, I made a quick stop into Walmart to get a needle and thread because the pockets of my coat ripped out...darn you Walmart! So, of course, I go back and support their business more haha. I arrived at the hotel and rested for awhile because I was sleepy! I watched a lot of Jimmy Fallon and Ellen...my favorites! I wandered out a little bit later and got something to eat. I walked around for about an hour just figuring out where things are. It was a nice night so it was a good time to walk around. You always see very interesting things while walking around here...like a group of teenagers all riding these really cool vintage bikes and one had a leader sticker on it with lights. Very interesting, but their bikes were really cool! After that, I just went back to the hotel and stayed in the for rest of the night.
Saturday, I Skyped with my parents (and the animals) for awhile and sewed up my coat...thanks for calling! Sorry Aunt Julie...I missed your call this evening but I'm about to go to bed now...long weekend. I stayed in for most of the morning then went out adventuring in the early afternoon. I was so hungry so I had to go out! Sometimes I get too nervous to order at a Chinese restaurant so I choose to be hungry instead...silly...I know. My hunger finally won though and I had some noodles at a fast food place. The busy street here is Taiyuan Street and there is an underground fashion street and it's so crazy busy! It's these tiny little stalls that have anything that you could possibly want in them. It's really like a small hallway....you can fit probably 3 people across shoulder to shoulder. It's really cool though and you definitely find really good deals. Chinese people have a crazy fashion sense so you can find some wacky things! Definitely somewhere I will be visiting again! I got a really cute sweater for 70 Yuan so that was pretty good. I need to start stocking up on my warmer clothes! I then went back to the hotel room so I could get ready to go out to a Halloween party.
When it was time to go, I had made sure that I had the address but apparently I had the wrong address! I had gotten the address for a place with the same name but it was a coffee bar, not a regular bar. Oh well. I then had to take another cab to go to the correct place...thank goodness for my phone! When I first got to the bar, there was a ton of people there! I won't go into details of the whole night but it was so much fun! I met some really great people. I actually met a girl who is from Tawas and has lived here for 5 years! I think if I go into the city next weekend, her and I are going to hang out. She is a kindergarten teacher so we can bounce ideas off of each other. I also met some people who work for Michelin and they're from Puerto Rico, Spain, and France. I met another guy who's a teacher and he is from Missouri. We went to 3 different bars and then went to a night club afterwards and danced the whole night away. It was so much fun! It was funny because the guys from Puerto Rico and Spain were super tall and they had these Tigger and Eeoyre pajamas that were obviously made for children so they didn't fit them at all. It was probably the best costume. There were a few Walter White's too so that was funny. The one high school teacher from my school was dressed as Walter and he really looked just like him. I was so impressed! My sign broke almost immediately after arriving and I lost my name tag....so I basically went as an American haha. It was a really great night and I hope to hang out with some of them again!
Sunday, I pretty much had a lazy day. I stayed in the hotel until I had to check out and then did a little more walking around. It stinks having to carry all of your things with you so I wasn't really in the shopping mood. I ended up sitting at Dunkin Donuts for about 3 hours reading a book to waste some time. Joy picked me up around 4 and then we drove back to the school. I pretty much just hung out the rest of the night then. Lots of things to prepare for this week! It'll be another long one! See ya later.