On a bit of a roll with this whole blogging thing and have a bit of time spare as everyone is having a friday nap so I thought I'd write a second blog post in two days (don't expect this to happen alot).
I can't express how happy I am that it's the weekend... literally never felt such a TGIF moment in my life as when I punched out this afternoon. While this week has been a great experience and I've met some of the cutest children in the world, I have spent every waking moment wishing I had pins to keep my eyes open with as I can't get used to the rock hard mattress + early morning starts + recovery from ridiculously long train journey + over excitable children combination that describes this week.
I probably didn't do justice in my last post describing my new students, but in a word.... CCCCUUUUTTTEEEEEE. Teaching the first grade means a lot of chubby Chinese children with equally as adorable English names.... Banana, Flower and Ceiling to name a few. When I walk into the classroom they all run up to me with a chorus of 'Hello' 'What's your name' 'Beautiful' and high five and hug me. Cute when it's one, but after the 40th high five I have to shake them off my legs and arms so I can actually teach them something. My three 4th grade classes have even been a bit more bearable today as I get to know them a bit better... still can't turn my back for one minute though or they will literally be dancing all around the room chanting my name. For most of my classes I have a Chinese teacher assistant, who shouts random orders at them in Chinese (I assume translating what I'm saying if they don't understand) and disciplines them for me so I don't have to deal with their sad little faces. Unfortunately this means I have to watch while they beat them in front of me for talking while I'm talking or for getting too exitable when we play a game. As helpful as they are to have around, I hope they don't stay in my classes for the whole few months as I don't know how much of that I can watch without getting annoyed.
I also had a surprise lesson last night with the PE and music department of the school. I turned up as asked to a "meeting", assuming I'd be sat in the corner while they spoke mandarin just to show my face. No no no. I was put at the front of the class while they tried out their English on me and had me correct their pronunciation, as well as acting out sports and singing to me and asking me to translate what they were doing. They said they would help me with my mandarin in the same way... shame I only know how to say Hello and thank you, not really worth asking for help on... but good to know they are happy to help if I need it. They also gave me a Chinese name which they now shout at me around school. It's slightly embarrasing that I can't pronounce it, but nice all the same.
This weekend hopefully we will get a chance to explore our area a bit more past Tescos and the street markets, as well as let of some steam and have a good old relax. Apparently there's a beach not too far from us which is good to camp on, so tracking that down would be handy too. It's so hot here somewhere to lay would be perfect.
Enough for now, a well deserved Tsing Tao is calling me.
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