I'm surprising myself!

There are many things I'm doing here that in the past I said I could not do and would not do.

3 main things come to mind:

Speaking another language
I never thought I'd want to embrace a language like I have embraced Chinese. Chinese of all languages.  I haven't had the best experiences with learning languages in the past.  Learning German in school was sometimes worse than the dentist.  I lived in Mexico for 6 months and never applied myself enough to learn the language.  I have big regrets about that.  I've always wanted to learn another language but never thought I could do it.

Singing in front of kids and parents
I don't actually sing much in class but I've surprised myself by doing it at all.  I hate introducing a new song infront of a class of little kids and parents.  Since it takes a while for them to learn the song it's basically me singing it over and over and over.  It can be mortifying and uncomfortable.  But I'll do it! (This also includes animals and jumping around like a rabbit, cat, dog, etc)

Drawing pictures on the board in front of a critical class of Chinese students
Drawing is something I've always been embarrassed to even try because I'm sooooo bad at it.  Like REALLY bad.  The first time I drew a picture on the board was to introduce the words apartment block, elevator, and balcony.   I found out those words are actually very easy to draw and my students totally got it.  This past weekend I had to draw kiosk, stadium, market, and train station.  Wow did I get roaring laughter out of those kids.  They were the worst drawings EVER.  It actually turned out to be sort of fun because it engaged the students by getting them to figure out my horrible drawings.  I don't care how bad my drawings are - I'm doing it!

 I thought about posting a picture of my bad drawings but decided to post amazing neighborhood artwork / inspiration.

Life is more interesting when you surprise yourself!