End of the 2nd, beginning of the 3rd....

Class photos from semester #2:

 (There are 2 sets of twins in this class.  Every week when I walked into the classroom they cheered.  Love them!)

(This is my favorite class of little ones.  They are so miniature and cute.  They behave perfectly and I'm lucky to have them again this semester.)

 (This is my least favorite class of little ones.  They're cute but out of control.  During my last class they started to say 'bye-bye!' about 3 minutes early.  We couldn't get them to stop so I left.  Of course I'm 'lucky' enough to have them again this semester too.)

 (During one class I was kneeling down next to one of these girls and she put her arms around me and gave me a kiss.  So cute!)

 (Probably my least favorite class.   2 hours of trying to get these students to participate.)

 (This is my highest level class.  They were talkative and all had different personalities.  It was fun to be their teacher!)

Time is flying now. A year ago I was starting my very first semester as a teacher.  I was completely out of my element, overwhelmed, and definitely not confident in my teaching skills.  It was hard not to think about what I had given up to come to China.  A year later and everything feels so much better.  However, my schedule this semester is rough and absolutely would have made me quit if it was my first semester.  I have 25 classes.  18 of them are with 3, 4, and 5 year olds. This means the parents are in the classes and I sing and jump around for 18 classes.  It's funny how during my first semester these classes were my least favorite and during my second semester they were my favorite.  18 is a bit much though.   They've luckily scheduled breaks for me!

I also had the highest resign rate at my school!  Out of the 5 foreign teachers I had the most students resign for this semester.  They gave me 500元($71)!

Highlights from my first weekend:
*A little 4 year old boy couldn't get anything to come out of this mouth.  He would move it but he couldn't make any sounds.

*There are a handful of students that have me for their 3rd semester in row.

*I had to sing 'If you're happy and you know it' all by myself for about 5 minutes. (Usually I refuse to sing in class.)

*Now that I can understand a lot of what the kids are saying it can be cute and it can also be surprising.  Many kids point at my nose and say it's long.  A 4 year named Sunny said my nose was long and he didn't like me (the foreign teacher).  He was also telling the Chinese teacher that her mouth was not pretty and her eyes are dark.  He's evil!

*My premature 'bye-bye' class started saying '听不懂 (I don't understand)' to everything.  Billy started it at one side of the room and it spread to the other.    Billy loves attention and he's actually cute -he smiles with his whole face, from his mouth to his eyes.   It's hard to be mad at him.

*It's entertaining to learn everyone's English names.  This semester I have Rainbow, Smart, Teddy, Fanny, Cinderella, Vampire (again) and other funny ones that disappeared into the blur of the weekend.  I still have Julie and I named a kid Jonathan (after my brother and sister).

*My least favorite moment was when I sat in a 4 year old's chair and put my hand right in snot.  Sooooo gross.  I wiped most of it on a chair and the rest of it on another kid. When class was over I ran to the bathroom to wash my hands with the watery soap.  YUCK. 

Don't leave me behind!

I am still amazed by China on a daily bases.  I realized the other night when I went for a walk that I can love and hate China within 5 minutes time.

It's been cold lately.  Not Chicago cold but pretty cold for a country that doesn't use heat much.  I walked by these old men STILL playing their game with the round tiles outside - despite the cold.  There was even a normal size crowd watching them. I thought to myself nothing stops the Chinese - not even the cold - from living their normal life.  I love it.

Then I walked by a restaurant and saw a couple people eating by themselves.  I love that it's completely normal to eat by yourself.

Then I got to the bank where I wanted to use the ATM.  There were people, security guards - I didn't know where the line was.  I stood behind an old woman that must have been the front of the 'line'.  A guy walks in and goes and stands right in front of her.  Someone finished at the ATM and he walked right up to it.  Then a woman did the same thing.  I was really getting mad.  Obviously we're standing in line.  I didn't know what else to do except the same thing -so I did.  

I'm not sure I will ever get used to people cutting in line but I'm trying to understand it.  Before I couldn't see what message it sends except they think they are better than whoever they cut in front of.  It seemed to be a sense of entitlement.  But I've talked to a few other foreigners about it and I've come to a different conclusion now.  They don't want to be left behind.  This country has 3.3 billion people in it and there is always someone behind them waiting in line to take their place in whatever they're doing - even buying groceries.  They run for the bus because they're worried it'll leave without them.

One of my Chinese friends didn't even finish high school but some how she talked her way into a great job at an English school.  She feels pressure on a daily bases because she knows she can be replaced in a heart beat by someone who can do the same job.  I suppose this pressure is the same in any country and basically any job.  I feel like it's severely magnified in China though.  I know in past jobs it's never a good feeling to know you're easily replaceable.  I'm TRYING not to care so much about someone cutting in front of me in line or annoyed at people running for the bus.  I never like to feel left behind either.

Why it would take a lot of convincing for me to date a Chinese guy....

I wanted to title this blog 'Why I Will Never Date a Chinese Guy'.  But I know as soon as I put that out there my next post will be 'I'm Dating a Chinese Guy'.

So, I'm at a bar, having a normal conversation with my friend when all of a sudden I notice a guy crying in the booth infront of me.  He was crying so hard I thought it had to be a joke.  I couldn't hear what the girl was saying to him but it was causing him to cry an uglier cry than Oprah could ever cry.  Chinese MEN have beat Oprah in the ugly cry department. 

So if it stopped here I might still be writing this blog post - but it did not stop here.  He literally crumbled before our eyes.  After many minutes of crying, and me trying not to look at the uncomfortable train crash happening in front of my eyes, the girl gets up and walks out.  Oh boy, what's going to happen now???  First he cried with his head down on to the table, then he started banging his head on the table.  Then he laid down in a pool of tears on the booth seat.  At this point the next part seemed inevitable - he fell right down onto the floor - still crying the ugly cry. 

We looked around and realized we were the only ones witnessing this scene.  As I've said before the Chinese are not afraid to stare and that's about all the waitresses did when we told them.  An older gentleman walked in, looked at the sobbing blob underneith the table, and just kept right on walking.  No one helped this obviously troubled man.  Eventually his girl came back and tried to console him but he was weeping even louder at that point. 

When we couldn't watch it any longer we decided to leave, go home alone, and be thankful that we are single.  We assumed this girl was breaking up with this guy.  She actually looked older than him so in our made up story she was his first love, but she is married, pregnant with his kid, and refuses to leave her husband.  He can't handle it.

This isn't the first public sighting of a crying Chinese man but I know this is an exaggerated version.  I am purely judging on what I saw.  Obviously I don't know all the information but my side of the story was just too good not to share.  Poor guy - hope he's ok now.

I'm a University student!

(I didn't take this picture.  The sky has been so hazy lately I decided to wait to take pictures.  It's actually a huge and beautiful campus)

This week I started at Jiao Tong University (交大学).  I am taking 24 hours/week of Chinese classes!  I felt like I needed to throw myself into something.  This past year I've done endless hours of life contemplation, self realization, traveling, relaxing but I was starting to lack motivation without a schedule of any sort during the week since my tutor left a couple months ago.

Throughout my year in China the language has been something equally fascinating and frustrating for me.  University seemed to me like the perfect challenge to dive into face first.

It's only been a week but it was really nice to have something to get up for each morning (8am start - sooo early).   I have reading, speaking, writing, and listening classes.  The teachers are all very different from each other and being a teacher myself now I haven't decided how I feel about their teaching styles.   The 12 other students are from all around the world - Pakistan, Korea, Japan, Australia, Germany, and Canada.  I hope to learn more about their cultures as I get to know them.

Even though I've been here a year I decided to start at the beginning again.  The first week was very basic with pronunciations, tones, writing pinyin, and reading and writing basic characters.  I felt like we drilled pronunciations for 4 hours straight every day.  It was a much needed review.

One of my goals for the next 6 months is to not run from situations where I feel uncomfortable because of communication.  I really believe China is one of the best countries to live in if you want to learn a new language.  Most people don't speak English (the only way to communicate is through Chinese) but they are very interested in speaking with a foreigner.  They very rarely give up on me when I don't understand something - almost always I'm the one walking away first.   I think it's been my lack of confidence that I don't always embrace these situations.  It can be humiliating to stand there confused.  I've walked away many times feeling defeated.  But, when I can get past the uncomfortable feelings I experience and embrace the situation I walk away feeling confident, accomplished, and excited.