And life continues....

This week thus far:

1. Nothing crazy fun on Monday but I did catch up with some friends, no classes, went to stationary street with Jeremy to get some supplies for his Kindergarten job.

2. Tuesday, The HanKou Ren met for dinner with Ed at the Farkle. He came to China to bring a new batch of teachers about two weeks ago and he saved the best for last because he flew out today and we're closest bunch to the airport. Dinner was good. I drank a coke which kept me up later than normal. It's amazing the affects coke will have on you after you stop drinking it.

3. Today, I saw a guy wearing wranglers!! Not the country tight wranglers, but a pair of normal fitting jeans but they were wranglers... IN CHINA! I was amazed! I've been catching up on grades today. Yes, I'm a week and a half into classes this term and I'm a little behind on grading! I have babysitting... opps... I meant tutoring tonight at seven. I'm teaching the parts of the face. We'll see how that goes.

4. My Thursday 8am that I 'moved' and I was so excited about! Nope.. didn't work out. I have to be in class at 8... boo. I don't ever want a real 8-5 where you have to get up early everyday.

Thermal Theory Thursday

8 am - Class.. I hate 8am's, My class and I agreed that 8am was too early and we changed our class time to Thursday at 2pm. Exciting!

10 am- Class... Again, my students weren't scheduled to have me but after learning I was their teacher were extremely excited. One of my favorite boys tried to have a conversation with me before class and his oral English really isn't good at all but he tries so hard that I adore him! Also before class one of my students, Vicki, shared the exciting news that she passed the IELTS exam which the foreign language test that one must pass before being allowed to study abroad in an English speaking country. (it's very difficult to pass) so next December she will go to England! After class my student, Edgar, came up to me and was obviously quite nervous. He told me that he will take the same test in April. While visibly being very nervous he asked if I could give him any suggestions to make his spoken English better, because he "is a shy boy". He said that he knows his spoken English isn't very good and that he gets nervous when he "opens his mouth". He was so precious!! So, we devised some situations for us to work on his spoken and listening skills and because China is a country that if someone does a favor for you, you MUST return a favor. So, he said he will make me a dish that he learned to cook over Spring Festival (the long break we just had)

12 - 6 lesson planned for a long time!! Watched High School Musical 3. Wrote in my Journal. Cleaned my apartment. Read out of the Old Testament (I want to finish the Old Testament before I come back to the States, so hold me accountable!!)

6:00pm - dinner

6:30 pm - group

10 pm - Chinese movie with the gang....

Well, that was my day. I had a lot more free time this after than I'm used to. But, that will change having changed my 8am class to 2pm. DONE!

Back to Classes: Day Three

Wednesday: Day Three of Classes

Woke up early this morning for no good reason... Got up had some cereal, got ready for my classes. Went to class at ten with my new freshman and read an American short story with them that I assumed was going to be extremely over their head but I wanted to push them and see what they could handle and I was very surprised and happy to learn that it wasn't extremely over their head, just a little over their head! Ha, it went really well. So, after reading this short story with vocabulary that they have never heard of in their life I broke them up into groups and we did some group discussion.

I had my sophomores at two which was great. It was the first time I've seen them since I've been back and their schedule told them that they had a different foreign teacher, so when I walked in some of them got really excited that I was their teacher again and that always makes you feel good! I gave them kind of a lot of homework so we took it easy in class. After wards they had to stick around for forty minutes for a meeting so I stuck around with them (specifically one girl, Tina) and we talked about our breaks and what we did. And then all my old freshman started walking through the door! I didn't realize how much I missed them until I saw them again! I went over and talked to my favorite ones (yes, I had favorites! They were the nice ones that try really hard...) and they were really upset that they didn't have me again. That felt good too!!

Went home for about two hours and then I was off to my tutoring job. It used to consist of three five year olds and a barely four year old. WELL!! Today it was the regular four, another three year old, another fiver, and a seven year old!! How do I teach a range from three to seven!!! One doesn't listen and the other is a genius! Anyways, it was loads of fun and I taught them the names of clothes and I had them put all my clothes on, it was sooo fun!!

Teaching: Day Two

Official day number two back to teaching... but my first day with classes! Today I taught Daniel's freshman who are headed to the Philippines in March (I have them tomorrow as well). We played a few games to get them used to speaking English in front of me because they were really nervous having a different foreign teacher, especially the boys! They are more advanced than the freshman that I had last term which makes it a little more fun for me!

Stephanie and her friend Amy came over for dinner tonight. My Chinese cooking got their approval!! I was excited about that! The two of them went to a bakery and bought a cake for dinner tonight! You really buy cakes for special events! (the cake had a cow on the top made out of whipped cream!) They are so sweet!! We had dinner, I let them look through my new English books that I bought and read over Spring Festival (I read ten books in one month), and then I called my dad and let them talk to him to practice listening to another English speaking accent (my dad's accent is getting more and more southern the older he gets). I love those girls! Oh yeah, Stephanie gave me ham as a present.. some kind of ham in a bag. I'll try it out later and tell you about it.

First Day of Classes

Today was the first official day back to classes here at Wuhan Polytechnic University and I did not have classes! Exciting! I spent about three hours on my lesson plans and schedule. I spent time with one of my favorite friends, Stephanie, and met her classmate Amy...

Valentines Day

My Valentine's Day in China turned out to be my favorite Valentine's Day ever! Daniel, Danielle, Jeremy and I got all dressed up and went out to the ever fancy restaurant Pizza Hut! We ordered from pink Valentine's Day menus and shared 'lovers' meals where everything was made for two! After dinner Jeremy, Danielle, and I went out dancing and made a ton of new Chinese friends!

Random Pictures