Update on the Demon Class

I've been in China for 3 weeks now and teaching in Yangzhong for 2 1/2. It feels like so much longer. Home seems a lifetime away and China seems like it's always been here.

I've only taught the Demon Class twice because they went on a field trip during one of our class times. But I'm proud to say that we are making progress! This time, there were only a couple flying projectiles, mostly paper, and I got them to sit practically completely silent for 20 minutes. Their teacher walked over to check on them and they were already quiet. GO ME!

Even though they were totally quiet for 20 minutes, that still leaves 25 other minutes where they were crazy. I had to tell them multiple times to put their homework from other classes away during the lesson, I made two students stand up in the back of class because they kept crawling around  on the floor at the back of the class. I confiscated a watch complete with a red laser that was being shown on me. And so on. I hate having to be so strict. In my other classes I can be kind of crazy and do things to make the kids laugh, but in this class, if I do that, they all go crazy and stop listening completely. If I let them be this loud and insane at the beginning of the year, they will only get worse as time goes on and I can't have that. 

They made postcards as part of the lesson activity at the end of class and most of them wrote apologies to me on theirs. It melted my heart and I just felt more love for them. They are children still in a sense and they work so hard in school. They are there nearly 12 hours of the day 5 days a week. They have so much pressure to do well in class. Can I really blame them for having pent up energy by the end of a long day? I try to make my lessons fun so they can have a little break from the mundane. We play games and I act weird so they laugh. I would just play games all class and have crazy amounts of fun, but I'm here to teach English, too so we have to do a lesson from their book or a cultural lesson about America. I hope that by the end of the semester, we can find a balance together that works for us both. You can't help but love them. Demonesque or not.

China Days

When you are in China, sometimes you get what I call "China Days." China is unpredictable at times and sometimes, you just aren't ready for what she throws at you, or you are homesick, or just overly emotional. Most foreigners I've talked to have similar experiences. It's on those days that I learn and grow the most.                                                                                                                            

Today was a China day. But as one of the characters from a movie I love said, "When it rains, you put on a coat." We (Janny, Julie, Sadie, and myself) got into the city and we found a pet store. I asked the clerk if we could hold one of the puppies and it was SO cute! If I lived here permanently, I might have just bought it.

We also found a crane game. You know, like the ones where you try to pick up a stuffed animals with the claws and it's nearly impossible to win? Except this one was better. MUCH better. Instead of stuffed animals, it was filled with cigarette packs. Hm.... which one, which one?

And then we went to eat at a Lanzhou pulled noodles restaurant, which is my favorite food in China. This was the third one we've found within walking distance of our apartments, I might add. After eating, Sadie showed the owners some US dollar bills she had. They got so excited and kept asking us how much one USD is worth in RMB. The boy kept asking us if we wanted to trade RMB for USD, but I didn't understand that until I looked up what he said on Google Translate when I got home. We gave them the money and took their pictures with it. It was so cute!

And then something incredibly surprising happened. We took a taxi back to our school since we had walked pretty far from home and it was getting cold. When we arrived in front of the school and I asked the driver how much money, he just kept telling me it was free. I was so shocked I just stared at him as he repeated it to me several times. Finally I asked why and he said it was his treat. That has never happened before! I've met plenty of nice taxi drivers, but never any that just took us somewhere for free. By then, I was completely feeling the China love. Plus, a couple people stopped us to take our picture and told us how beautiful we are. If that doesn't make you feel good, what does?

China has been one of the hardest things I've done. It has been the best thing I've done. I'm grateful everyday that God has allowed me to live my passion three times in only two years and that he has shaped me into a person that has been able to cope through the difficulties so that I can enjoy the truely life changing and happy moments. I am a new person. Every time I come here, I come home a new person. I don't know what God's plans for me are, but I hope that China has a lot to do with it in the future. For now, I'm embracing what I have and that's to be in China teaching English in a beautiful city with my sister. 我很开心！

The Cute Things My Students Say

"Hi, my name is *something Chinese* and I want to go to Beijing. It's nice to meet you, you are very beautiful!"

Me: "Who can use 'sorry' in a sentence?"

Clever Boy: "Sorry, I don't understand."

"My father wants me to study abroad someday so he says I need to play with you a lot on the weekends. When do you have free time?"

Student: "Do you like Justin Beiber?"

Me: "Yes, I do." Er... sort of. Haha!

Student: *squeal* "Look, Justin Beiber!" pointing to her purple shoes that look like ones JB wears.

"Hi my name is *something Chinese.* You are very tall."

Me: "Does anyone have any questions for me?"

Student: "How much do you weigh?"

I always let the kids in each class guess how old I am. The youngest I got was 18 with the oldest guess coming in at 35! Two students have guessed right.

While explaining a vocabulary word in class, I took off my scarf to use as a prop, when I doubled it back up to put it on, nearly the whole class gasped.

The best thing can't be captured in a blog post, but because Chinese is a tonal language, they mimic my tones when I have them repeat a word. It can get pretty out of hand on my part sometimes. ;)

My students are the best and I can't wait for them to do and say many more crazy and hilarious things!

The Class From a Demon Pit

Sadie and I are now in Yangzhong, Jiangsu China teaching at our school. We teach 7th and 8th graders together. She has half the 7th grade and half the 8th and I take the other halves. It seems like they lump the kids in classes based on their brains and personalities. It always happens that one class is full of well behaved smart kids and another class is full of demons disguised as middle school students who can't understand the lesson every other class does. Too harsh?

I walk into my fourth and final class for the day to applause and girls crowding me to ask me what my name is, how old I am, if I have a boyfriend, etc and boys walking behind me to see if they are as tall as me. Typical. Then, Class starts and I begin to introduce myself when a ruler goes flying from one side of the room to another. Shocked. A few minutes later after a lecture on not throwing things at other people, while I'm in mid-sentence, a girl in the front row throws a paper airplane across the room at someone. I'm thinking this class can't get worse. You think I'd be smart enough to never think that because it did. The next thing I know, one kid causes another to fall off his chair, another student hits the person next to her, while someone else is yelling across the room to someone while I'm talking. I actually felt like I was in a movie. Things are always over-dramatized there. Or at least I thought that until now! Then, their teacher walks past the window and into the class and immediately, like someone pushed a button that turned them into angels, they were silent. That is until he left a minute later. It's a good thing I've had classes like this before (not as bad, of course) or I'd probably have run out crying. It's also a good thing I know it's not personal. Of course, they got a good talking to.

Twice.

And by some miracle, I got them to be quiet for the last ten minutes of the class. SUPER TEACHER AWARD! But in all honesty, I can't help but love them even though the were being demonesque. These kids are surely going through a lot since being 14 isn't exactly easy and they are in school nearly 12 hours of the day 5 days a week. I think they are allowed to be crazy sometimes.

When things like this happen, you really have to just laugh about it. I mean, the girl threw a paper airplane at someone RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE! I have to admit that girl deserves some points for bravery. It's just Foreign Teacher syndrome. The symptom is a false belief that the foreign teacher doesn't care when people throw paper airplanes or chairs or rulers at people. But don't worry. I'm up for the challenge and I will find the cure! I'm determined to make this class one of the best.

Seventh graders are my favorite! They are so sweet and we have a lot of fun in class together. There is something magical about being a teacher in a class where you can learn and laugh together. You feel connected to each other even though all you know is their favorite color. If I didn't have some crazy classes like the demon class, I wouldn't know how to appreciate my angel classes. So the demon class is a good thing. :)

Okay, now for some pictures of our apartment!!! Sadie's room is not included since she was sleeping when I took these. But it's just a mirror image of mine so it's not necessary. Also, Chinese TV is the best.