Spring Break 2012—Huangshan, China

So...I planned on posting this earlier, but I kept forgetting...

For Spring Break this year, I actually went to 2 different places.  On Sunday, a small group of us went to Shanghai for some swing dancing.  That was SOOOO much fun!! 

Then, on Wednesday evening, a different group of us took a night train headed for HuangShan (Yellow Mountains).  Being on a night train was a unique experience because there were no doors on our little compartments, so you either changed in the bathroom (not a smart idea since there was a squatie on the floor), under your covers, or slept in whatever you were wearing.  I ended up doing the third option. 

When we finally arrived, we ended up splitting into 2 groups--one group wanted to hike all the way from the bottom to the top of the mountain.  The other group took a cable car half way, and hiked the rest.  I chose the latter of the 2 options. 

View from the cable car

After we got off of the cable car, we had a lot of hiking to do.  And I mean A LOT.  It wasn't easy trails where all you do is walk on paths.  There were stairs...stairs...and more stairs!! 

These things are EVERYWHERE!!

Some of the stairs were easy because there would be about 3 of them, and then straight walking, 3 and then straight, etc.  Other times, it was very difficult becasue the stairs were continuous (like in the above picture) and some were at very steep angles.  One set of stairs we had to go up was so steep, you couldn't stand straight up.  You literally had to crawl up the stairs on your hands and knees. 

By the time we got to our hotel, I no longer had legs.  I had cooked spaghetti noodles attached to my hips.  But I was very pleased with myself that I had made it to the top w/o giving up!! 

The next morning we began the hike down the mountain.  We got up early so that we could see the sunrise.  I wasn't too keen on the idea because I was exhausted.  However, once we were at the place everyone had recommended, I was quite glad that I had gotten up early.  I really enjoyed seeing creation and everything that Dad had made.  It was breathtaking, and when the rays of the sun peeked over the horizon, I was overcome at the beauty of everything.  We really do have an awesome Dad!!

Shot I got of the sunrise.

For the next few hours, we continued to hike down the mountain, and down, and down...more and more stairs!!  I will say, going down stairs is waaaaaay more enjoyable (and easier) than going up. 



Shot on the way down.  The Yellow Mountains are famous in Chinese paintings.



Another picture from the trip down the mountain.



We made it to the cable car, and finished the rest of our journey.  However, there were still several hours until we had to catch the bus to the trainstation, so we toured the area at the base of the mountain.  We found a really fun ancient street that kind of reminded me of where I had been in China before.  There were little shops everywhere, and the majority of them were selling calligraphy stuff, chop blocks, and other odds and ends. 



This is a picture from the ancient street.



On the train ride back, all 5 of us were actually on the very top bunk...and there were 3 bunks in each stack.  I could not sit straight up in bed, which made things quite interesting.  However, thankfully, I was able to sleep.  We got to the trainstation here in Wuxi at 5 a.m., got a cab, and were back in our apts by 6 a.m.  Since it was a Saturday morning and I didn't have to be anywhere, I dumped my stuff on the floor, changed into PJs, and collapsed into bed. 

Spring Break was exhausting, but also tons of fun, and so many good memories!  However, I don't think I'll be going back to HuangShan for a while...Maybe they can put escalators in! 

Spirit Week 2012

Spirit week 2012 was full of fun outfits, lots of laughs, friendly competition, and much more.  As promised, here are pictures!



Monday:  PJ and Crazy Hair Day. 



Tuesday:  Twin Day







Wednesday:  Fashion Fail Day



Thursday:  Superhero or Cartoon Character Day.  A friend dressed up like Elastigirl from "The Incredibles."







We were watching the staff vs. students soccer game.  Not sure why they were hugging, but it was cute!

Friday was Fake-an-Injury Day, but I didn’t get any pictures from then. 

Over Spring Break, I got to go to Shanghai and Huang Shan (Yellow Mountains).  I will post more about that later, pictures included.  Enjoy these pictures! 





Kindergarten Gems

            “Teacher, this dirty!”  Those 3 words may seem like something very little, but to me, they made my day. 

            In January, I got three new students, and all of them had very low English.  One of them had practically no English.  So, in order to communicate with them, my co-teacher and I have had to rely on 3 of our 5 year olds to help translate.  In March, I got another new student, who also had very little English.  My first reaction at seeing how low they were, was to wonder how on earth I was supposed to teach them anything when I couldn’t even speak their language.  However, I began thinking of a student I got last year.  He came on the 2^nd or 3^rd week of school, and the extent of his English vocabulary was the numbers 1-10, yes, no, home, and “batrum.”  I remembered being worried about the same thing—how am I supposed to teach him??  However, he is now one of the 3 that my co-teacher and I are relying on for translating.  He soaked up the English language at an incredibly fast pace!  He came the last week of August, and by November, he was speaking almost full sentences, and able to communicate much easier.  As each month passes, he becomes more and more skilled at the English language.  Whenever I think of that story, I remain optimistic about my 4 new Koreans, that they will also get to that point.

            The other day, we were cleaning up after an art project, and one of my new Koreans came over to me, and got my attention.  He looked me straight in the eyes, and said in clear English, “Teacher, this dirty!”  I was so surprised that he had spoken in a full sentence!  Until then, he would usually only say one word, which was good.  However, this was his first full sentence!  I grabbed him up in such a big hug, elated that he was also learning! 

            Another one of my students has no problem communicating and understanding English, but he STRUGGLES with academic stuff.  For the longest time, he could not recognize the numbers 1-10.  He could only add 0+0, 0+1, 1+1, and sometimes 2+0.  The English alphabet was also quite difficult for him.  However, it’s like something clicked in his brain over the past week or 2.  He has been learning quite fast, and doing amazingly well!!  The other day, my co-teacher called me over to where she was working with the lower Math group.  She had written “4+4” on the board, and asked our student what the answer was.  Before this, he would just give you a blank stare, as if he had no clue what you wanted.  But instead of staring, he looked at his fingers, got four on one hand, four on the other hand, and proceeded to count up.  He got to 8, looked up at her, and with a huge smile on his face, replied , “8!”  Once again, I embraced the child in a hug.  I find myself doing that whenever one of them does something very very well!!  (That’s one thing about teaching over here that’s nice—you don’t have to worry about staying a good distance away from the kids for fear of being accused of doing something naughty to them.)

            Whenever I get frustrated or upset and wonder, “Why don’t they understand this?  It’s so easy!”  I have to remind myself of those little gems from our year so far.  There are several more I could put in here, but then this post would turn into a book….It’s these little gems that get me through the hard times.  I can’t wait to find more of them!  They’re so fun!

            I made a mistake on the other post…this upcoming week is actually Spirit Week.  Not last week.  I will be taking pics daily, and posting on here for you to enjoy J  Tomorrow’s theme—Pajama and Crazy Hair Day!!  I get to wear PJs to school, and not get in trouble!!!!!!
            Tuesday:  Twin (or triplet, or quadruplet…etc.) Day
            Wednesday:  Fashion Fail Day (Mismatch clothing)
            Thursday:  Cartoon or Superhero Day
            Friday:  Fake-an-Injury Day

This will make for a fun week in pictures post!  Until next time J

March Madness

“Iiiiiitttttt’s….supercalifragilisticexbealidocious….”  The other night, several of us were walking from our apartment to another one for a movie night.  On the way, we decided to have some fun, and started belting out songs from Mary Poppins.  Here in China, there are security guards placed in random spots.  As we walked by one, we continued to belt out the lyrics, not really caring who was nearby.  The guard, however, did something that we didn’t expect:  he cocked his head at 3 Americans singing loudly, and then smiled, and began clapping.  “Hen hao!  Hen hao!” (Very good!  Very good!)  He kept saying, while clapping his hands and smiling.  We were quite shocked, but we smiled, and continued singing.  Just goes to show, you never know what to expect when you live in China.  It might be things that you see the nationals doing, or changes you see in yourself (such as walking down the street, singing Disney songs quite loudly, not caring what other people think of you.) 

I am slowly getting more adjusted to having 2 vastly different ability groups in my classroom—higher English, and lower English.  In Math, I’m used to planning for 2 groups, which isn’t actually as hard as I thought…My only struggle—one of my newest kids doesn’t seem to want to learn English.  Even when we use the most basic words, he still just points.  He won’t even copy us…he just points…How can we get this kid to use English?

Next week is Spirit Week.  Each day will have a different theme.  Monday:  PJ/Crazy hair day.  Tuesday:  Twin Day.  Wednesday:  Fashion Fail.  Thursday:  Cartoon/Superhero Day.  Friday:  Fake an Injury Day.  I’m assuming that “Fashion Fail” is basically mismatched stuff…we will get more details this week.  I will try to take pics, and post some on here, for laughs J 

Look for more next weekend, when it will be full of pictures of the hilariousness of Spirit Week!!  J  Should be great!

"We're Gonna Craaaaaaaassssssshhhhhh!!!!!" (Relived)

One of my many memories from my 2 previous trips to China is actually one that would have made my mom nervous, had she been nearby when it happened…

Our group went to a nearby village for dinner.  To get there, we rode tandem bikes.  Mom and Christina were on one, and I was with dad on the other.  On the way back, the sun was setting, and dad and I wanted to have some fun.  We saw a really big hill coming up.  We rode up to the top of the hill, and stopped at the top…planned our descent, pedaled as hard as we could for about 10 seconds, and then took our feet off of the pedals.

We ROCKETED down the hill…dad trying to dodge out of the way of cars as we went.  We had so much fun shouting “We’re gonna craaaaassssshhhh!!!”  all the way down the hill.  There were countless cars on the side of the road, and one opened its door right before we passed.  When we reached the bottom of the hill, we couldn’t stop giggling J

Last night, I relived that experience…but unlike the experience 7 years ago, this one wasn’t planned.

A few of us went out to dinner at a really nice restaurant yesterday just for fun.  It had been raining quite a lot all day, but had thankfully stopped by the time we left the restaurant to go home.  We managed to grab a taxi, and headed for home.  However, a typically routine taxi ride soon turned into something quite different…

We were on a bridge, and it soon became quite apparent that our cabbie wanted to get home…he went from going at a normal pace, to almost rocketing down the road, in no time.  There were no other cars on the road, thankfully…I’m pretty sure that if our cab had wings, we would have left the road, and started flying over Wuxi.  I’m not exactly sure how fast we were going, because I’m having trouble converting from km/h to mph…doesn’t make sense…but it was scary fast.  Our speed was made even scarier by the fact that the roads were wet from a full day of rain…I was gripping the door handle very tightly, really Hoping that we would stay on the road. 

Thankfully, all four tires stayed on the road, and we got back to our apartment safe and sound!  We then dove into the massive amounts of chocolate that I had received from my kids as presents for part of Teacher Appreciation Day(s).  Nothing like chocolate to help calm your nerves down after a nerve-wracking taxi ride!!  Maybe I should keep a stash of chocolate here in the apartment, just in case something happens again...

Year of New Experiences

When veteran teachers say that your first year of teaching is full of new experiences, I certainly would never have imagined what I have experienced here!  
Teaching in an international school presents its own set of unique experiences.  While teachers in the states get frustrated when their students talk, I am overjoyed when mine talk, as long as it is in English.  It has also been an interesting experience trying to communicate with students who have very low levels of English.  You can take all of the practicums and student teaching semesters/classes that you want, but if they are solely in America, it doesn’t prepare you for how different it is to teach in an international setting.  In this situation—it’s practically a baptism by fire.  You learn as you go of what works, what doesn’t work, how to change your plans to describe what something means in English, etc.  
I have been lucky enough to arrive here during the year that they were building a new area specifically for Pre-K and Kinder classes.  We had the official opening on Friday, and I had quite an entertaining experience.  There were four of us standing around, and a Korean mom wanted to ask me a question.  However, she only spoke Korean.  Therefore, she asked her question to a mom that spoke Korean and Chinese.  That mom asked my TA who speaks Chinese and English.  My TA translated it for me.  This cycle kept going around until the question had been answered and understood by the mom.  I have seen situations like this done in the movies, but never been a part of one before…quite interesting!
During the next 3 weeks, I will also have a student teacher with me.  I was not expecting this, especially since this is my first year teaching.  The Pre-K teacher and I will be sharing her, but still….I didn’t think that I would get one this early!  I can’t help but think back to what I experienced during my semester of student teaching.  Hopefully I can be a good light to this young woman, and provide good examples not only of how to live, but how to teach.  I have to admit that it will be quite strange filling out an evaluation form…for a student teacher.  Wasn’t I just reviewing my eval with my cooperating teacher?? 
My next dilemma—How do you explain what “Valentine’s Day” means to a room full of 11 Asian Kindergarteners??? 

3 Planes + 2 Cars + 31 Hours = I'm back in China!

I am now back in China!  It's hard to believe that I am back in my own apartment, and getting ready for school to start again in a few days!  Thankfully, the fact that we had 5 weeks off,and I spent 4 of those at home in the states, meant that I was able to adequately enjoy my time off. 
During my time in the states, I enjoyed American food, time with family, and time doing absolutely nothing (quite relaxing!!)  I got to go to a teacher store, and stock up on teaching-related materials.  When it came time to pack for my return trip, I began to realize that I had purchased quite a bit of stuff to take back.  I hoped that it would all fit, and that it would be under the weight limit.  Thankfully, I have a packing expert in my mom!  We managed to get everything in the suitcases, and when we weighed them:  exactly 50 pounds.  Yay!
My trip back to China began about 3:30 in the morning on the 23rd.  Getting up that early wasn't easy...I only got about 3 hours of sleep, and I knew that I would have a looong trip ahead of me.  At the airport, I was still worried about the weight of my luggage.  Even though the weight at home was okay, I knew that the scales at the airport were more accurate.  When the lady at the ticket counter weighed my luggage, I waited with baited breath.  Final weight:  49.5 and 50.5.  When I saw that my suitcase was over 50 pounds, I was really worried, since 51-70 pounds is a $200 dollar charge.  Thankfully, she let it go, and I didn't have to pay anything!  Yay!
The flight from Norfolk to DC went well.  However, I knew that I only had an hour between flights...when we landed, we sat at the gate for 15 minutes.  I was getting quite anxious...didn't want to miss my flight.  We finally got off of the plane, and when I got inside the terminal, I had 40 minutes. After I found where I was supposed to go, I began following signs, however, after a few minutes, I realized I was going in the wrong direction.  Turned around, went up 2 escalators, down 2 escalators, across a moving sidewalk, up one more escalator, and down a really long hall, and finally got to my gate, with 5 minutes to spare.  I enjoyed watching 2 birds that were inside of the terminal.  They flew up and down the halls, chasing each other, making everyone laugh. 
After being put in a holding pattern on the flight from DC to San Francisco, I had 45 minutes to get to my next gate.  Once again, it was quite a ways away, but I made it.  There was a surprise waiting at the gate:  I looked at the screen, and saw a notification about the number of empty seats:  191.  Needless to say, I was quite shocked!  They began boarding, and first called for the first class passengers.  Nobody got up.  Business/frequent travelers./gold members/etc.  Nobody got up.  Zones 1-4.  Everyone else got up.  There were 2 lines opened, and I managed to be first in one of the lines.  Once on board, I realized that I was the 2nd passenger to get on the plane.  Quite fun! 
The flight was quite empty, which was so strange!  The flight attendants kept coming around with extra food and offering it to anyone that wanted it, since they had enough stuff for a full plane, and the plane was only half full. 
Once in Shanghai, everything went just fine, which was a relief.  All of my luggage came, and all was in 1 piece.  Customs went easily, and no issues!  One 2 hour car ride later, and I was finally back in my apartment. 
It is strange, having to get readjusted to the Chinese culture again, used to using a different language, etc.  However, it is going well so far.  I am just glad that I made it back safely, and didn't have any problems getting here like I did back in July!  Here's to hoping that doesn't happen again...