Please Sir May I Have S'more?

Much as the famed writer Charles Dickens had a gift for words, so do we here in Changzhou have a gift….with food. ;) Being here, you begin to appreciate things you always took for granted back home. Such as soft grass, western toilets, and carpet to name a few. So one night we decided to get a little creative and pay homage to one of our favorite pastimes: making s’mores. Ashley received a package from a friend of hers whose family lives here in China.

In it, among other things, were some yummy sweet crackers, a symphony chocolate bar and marshmallows.
Now the only cooking facilities we have access to are three microwaves and a toaster oven. We opted for the microwave. So we gathered in our wash room around our “campfire” and had the funnest 45 minutes ever.

Especially when Ashley almost exploded her marshmallows and Luis almost burned his tongue off haha. It was a blast and I discovered that you really can use a microwave for just about anything!

Unfortunate Setbacks

This Friday marks the beginning of two very important things: Our 10-Day travel vacation, and China’s national golden week. Originally we had planned to take our trip down to Guilin and Yangshuo to see the beautiful karst mountains which are were they filmed the floating mountains for Avatar. We were very excited, but this last thurs we found out that we would not be able to get train tickets to get down there because it’s the holiday week and everyone would be traveling, and apparently Guilin is a very popular vacation spot. We are all super sad that we had to cancel that trip but we managed to work our other arrangements instead. So now our plans are to go on a three day tour to Mt Huangshan which is in the Yellow Mountain range which is another famous scenic spot. Then we’ll head to Suzhou which is a water town with famous gardens and boats you can ride on the canals. Then it’s off to Hangzhou which has been called the “Venice of China” with a huge lake and beautiful scenery. We’re still excited about this new trip, but still a little bummed we can’t go to Guilin. However, we will make the best of it and still have an amazing adventure!

A Shanghai'd Weekend

Shnaghai

Sorry it took so long to get this post out, but it’s been crazy busy around here and I knew it would be a long one. So a couple weekends on Sept 9-11 we had a long weekend off of school and so we got to go on vacation. 14 of us decided we wanted to go see Shanghai. It was a fun and amazing weekend.

It started off late Friday afternoon as we scrambled after classes to get to the train station to catch our 4:30 train. The

bus we had to take to get there took 40 min and didn't pick us up until almost 3:45.

None of us wanted to have to buy new tickets and lose that money, so as we got to the station we ran as fast as we could, startling quite a few of the Chinese people, and got to the platform right as the train was pulling up. We were all quite proud of making it in time. It was a 2 1/2 hr ride on a slow train which cost a grand total of 34 RMB or about $5.60. When we arrived in Shanghai, we met up with our Head Teachers’ friend Robert, who

speaks English and helped us get to our hotel. It was a small hotel with tiny rooms that we squished 5 people into, its name was completely in Chinese characters and it was far away from the city center, but it was cheap, clean, and the staff was very friendly and helpful. After we settled in, the one lady who spoke just a little English showed us to a little noodle shop which funny enough looked exactly like the one we eat at here in Changzhou (it even had the exact same pictures on it’s menu). It was super delicious and we even got to watch the cooks make our noodles right in front of us. A couple doors down from there was a little store where we bought water and fruit throughout the rest of our stay.

The rest of our night consisted of planning out what to do the next day. We decided we wanted to go see three main things: the French Concession, Nanjing Road, and The Bund. When we first arrived at the airport in Shanghai, I had grabbed some English travel pamphlets on Shanghai. So when we went there that weekend I made sure to bring them and good thing too since, as it turned out, a couple of them showed very good maps of the layout of the Shanghai metro. So I was able to figure out how to get to all the places we wanted to and sat morning I got up bright and early to chat with the lady at the front desk (which consisted of a few broken English words a lot of pointing and relying heavily on the phrasebook I’m so glad I bought) and had her write down the name of the bus to take to the nearest subway station for us in Chinese characters. It ended up falling on my back the whole weekend to be the navigator around the city, which is a job that has always been my favorite, and since our head teachers opted to travel around by themselves most of the time I became an impromptu band leader which was slightly stressful but kind of fun haha.

Our journey that day started at the bus stop outside our hotel. As the first one drove up all I had was some characters on a piece of paper and one word: Ditie, which is “Subway” in Chinese. So I hopped on and quickly got the driver’s attention and showed him the name of the bus we were supposed to take while pointing forward out the window and saying “Ditie? Ditie?”. It worked like a charm as the driver smiled, nodded his head repeated the word and motioned for us all to get on the bus. I let everyone pass me as we sardined in so that I could stay up at the front of the bus with the driver. We were told it would take about 30 min to get there but as the clock kept ticking we all got a little nervous that we had missed it. However, the driver insisted it was still coming up (or at least I assumed that’s what he was trying to say), so we stayed along for the ride. Eventually one girl heard me talking to the driver and conveyed to me through broken English and hand gestures that she was heading to the subway to so she would tell us when we got to the right stop.

The Metro was definitely one of my favorite things about Shanghai. It was a simple thing but man did it make our life so much easier. Buying tickets was really easy (all the machines had an English setting) and it was quick cheap and convenient. I mastered the process quickly and soon we were on our way to our first stop: the French Concession.

For those of you who don’t know much about Shanghai’s history let me fill you in a little. Back in the day when China first began to come out of seclusion and play around with markets Shanghai

was broken up into “concessions”, each concession was “owned” by a different country which area. The French concession is famous for being a big shopping district as well as one of the areas that still has a lot of cultural influence from the old concession times. Coming out of the station we were greeted with a barrage of large department stores and flashing screens. We only walked along there for about a block until turning off down a side street to explore the less flashy atmosphere. Our first order of business was to find some had sole economic rights to that

breakfast. We came across a bunch of little street food shops that smelled uber delicious. The funny thing is that just as we could see the French influence in the architecture we could see it

in the food as well. They had some delicious egg pastries and bread that were to die for. We also got our first taste of haggling over here as we passed little carts on every street corner selling everything from scarves to trinkets, to pirated DVD’s. We were also hassled constantly on the street by the sketchy black market item people.

After wandering in and out of shops for a couple hours we hopped back on the subway and headed over to Nanjing Rd. It is the biggest shopping area in all of Shanghai, and consists of 5 blocks of street completely blocked off from cars and

only for pedestrians. Before walking along the street however we decided to stroll through People’s Park. It was a beautiful oasis in the middle of a concrete jungle. There were tons of gorgeous trees and ponds with giant lily pads and rock paths. We also passed by the Shanghai Museum but we didn’t go inside because of how long the line was. After circling around the park we walked down Nanjing rd and explored the many high-end shops and enjoyed the vibrant bustling atmosphere. At the other end of Nanjing rd we came to the Bund. Think 50’s era Chicago architecture. The Bund was the old financial district of Shanghai along the Huangpu River, there are old banks and

a city hall as well as a silk factory and clock tower. There’s a scenic overlook across from the Bund where you can look out over the river at the Pudong. The Pudong is the new financial district with some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world and the new flashy buildings that are all lit up at night. It’s way to cool to see. Saturday we left before dark though in order to walk back through Nanjing to the metro and catch it back to the French concession. That night they had a huge parade to celebrate the opening of their 2011 tourism festival. There were dancers and huge flashy floats. It was way cool and there were tons of people. While we were there we met this cool couple Josh and Sasha who had taken a sabbatical from their jobs in DC and were backpacking around the

world for a year. They were the coolest people ever. They'd already been out for a year and were telling us all about their adventures, and also giving us advice if we ever wanted to do something similar.

Sunday we decided to start off at the Yu Gardens and Bazaar. It’s this beautiful section of Shanghai in what’s called the Old Town. It’s where you can see all the old Chinese style buildings with the flying eaves and dragon statues. Heading into the Bazaar you see tons of little shops with various people haggling over prices. It’s a very different vibe from that of the high-class shopping on Nanjing. There’s the smell of street food in the air and the roads are full of pedestrians and cars alike vying for road space. Towards the center of town is the Huxington Teahouse in the middle of a small pond full of gigantic goldfish scrambling for the bread tossed in by tourists. To get to the teahouse you have to cross a zigzagging bridge designed to ward off evil spirits (which apparently can’t turn corners). The entrance to the Yu Gardens is off to the

side of the teahouse. The gardens were so beautiful. They are full of trees and pavilions, and lakes with bridges, and a huge rockery. We had an amazing time exploring its many recesses.

After the gardens we explored the shops and haggled with the merchants and we also stopped at a pearl market where I got some pretty real pearl necklaces for way cheap. We also went to

the Temple of The City God, and got to watch the Chinese worshiping. It was a very interesting sight, and the architecture and statues were so different from anything I've seen

before. There were quite a few people and the air was full with the smoke and smell of burning incense.

As it got late we decided to go back to Nanjing rd so we could see the Pudong lit up at night. It was gorgeous although it was a little disconcerting when we could see the

lights glancing off of the smog in the air. We spent the rest of the night wandering around the town and then headed back to our hotel and crashed. Monday morning we slept in a little and then got ready and packed up our stuff. A lot of us still had stuff to get done for classes the next day so we headed to the train station and had our first adventure buying train tickets. Luckily one of the guys spoke a little English so he set us up with our way home. Getting back to our school was so nice after such a crazy weekend. It really felt like coming home. Being here has been strange but it has been the most incredible thing. I’ve met so many wonderful people and seen so many amazing things. I think I’m really going to miss it once it’s time to head back. It was a wonderful weekend in Shanghai and I’m glad it’s so close because I definitely plan on going back again. J

Unexpected Quirks

So I wanted to make a quick note of a couple of my favorite things my kids say.

1) Whenever describing something as being dead, about to die, ruined, or broken they refer to it as "game over" a couple examples: One of my kids saw a dead bird outside the window "teacher! that bird game over!" As he rips his name tag into tiny bits one of my kids exclaimes "teacher name game over!" haha sooo cute!

2) When frustrated you can sometimes catch them exclaim, "Oh my Lady Gaga!" haha priceless

:D

A Little Pressure

So apparently I'm a really good teacher. Or at least my head teachers think so. Which I've decided has proven to be good thing and a not-so-good thing haha. I always get really good evaluations every week and my head teachers like me and don't have to be on my case or anything.

However, a little while ago they were approached by the school who asked them to pick an ELE teacher to be watched as an example for a bunch of the Chinese teachers as well as our ILP teachers. You guessed it...... they chose me haha. So I had to prepare a "perfect" lesson and teach it to the kids in front of 30ish people. It didn't help my nerves that I was given very little detail on the age the kids would be until the day before the lesson.

When last Thursday came around I was rather terrified. Especially when I walked into that classroom and saw all the people with notebooks and pencils in hand just staring me down haha. The lesson I taught was on summer and I taught the kids about hiking and the beach and surfing. I had a power point and I taught them a song and actions to the vocab words. At the end I played some review games with them and then they drew some pics of what they like to do in the summer.

When I was done I was barraged with people (ILP and Chinese teachers) who told me how I did an amzing job, and I was an incredible teacher. It was pretty cool. That is until I was told that because I did so good they wanted me to do the whole thing again for another group of Chinese teachers the next day. There was just no escape. So I did and once again I was told that I did a good job. I'm certainly glad it's over though. It was a stressful few days.

"Getting to China and Some City Highlights"

Teaching: The Not-So-Good Times

Alas, with every good things comes the bumps along the way. I figure I should share the hard times with all of you along with the good. I love my kids, but it's been a bumpy start for sure. For one my homeroom class has 11 kids which is more ten it should. The kind of teaching we do is designed for small groups of kids (usually around 8 and no more than 10) so that teachers can give every child the individual attention they need while still keeping the others under control and entertained.

My kids are cute, but they can sure be little hellions sometimes. Tony likes to fight with other kids and when "The Girls" get a little too high and mighty it's hard to bring them back to earth. Not to mention the second I turn my back to help a kid who's struggling a bit, all Hell breaks loose. In my rotation, all three of us agree that my kids are the hardest class we teach and we spend so much energy just trying to keep them in order, that it's hard to really get to teaching them.

One of the worst moments was this last thurs when I was bringing them back into my room for closing and they passed the kids leaving and suddenly started a fight, which I only managed to break up cause I yelled really loudly and started banging the storybook I had against my hand. It was kind of a nightmare moment for me. I and the others in my group have decided to get together to come up with a plan for dealing with them so we can be consistent and get this behavior curbed now before it gets any worse. Hopefully we can get it under control, cause it sure is exhausting.

Teaching: The Good Times

Oh how the days seems to fly by and drag on all at once. Sorry It's been so long since I've posted but it's been a busy life over here across the sea haha. I must say that children can be such a joy and yet such little terrors all at once :) After my first day of school I knew I'd have my hands full this semester. I just finished my first full week of classes and boy was it hard. However, it was also very fun and rewarding.

First let me give you a short rundown on how our teaching works. In our group we have 18 teachers and then 2 head teachers that run the show. Each of the teachers teach 1 primary class and then either elementary, basic reading, or ELE. Primary classes are mon-thurs from 3-5 and are our main focus. 3 teachers teach the really little beginning class, 9 teach the 2nd year kids and 6 teach the third year kids. I'm a 3rd year teacher.

The teachers are divided into groups of three called "rotations". Each teacher has a certain area that they teach English in such as shop, arts and crafts, kitchen etc etc. I teach Drama :D. So throughout the two hours of class, the three teachers rotate their homeroom kids between each other so each group gets three lessons every day. In class the kids are presented with the English language in the context of the activities.

My homeroom class has 11 beautiful kids that I adore... most of the time ;). Maggie, May and Alice are the three amigos. They are the cutest little girls but can be very feisty, and can have little attitudes at times. Jack is my little man, with the big personality. He's the shortest one in class, but he sure makes himself known. Tony is my shy guy, I have to coax him a lot to get him talking, but he responds well to praise and just takes a while to warm up.

This last week we had a blast in class. My classroom is decorated with a fish theme. Before classes started I found a set of paper fish cutout and just ran with it. So on Monday I took all my kids "fishing" and they each caught their own fish to put their name on and use as a name tag on their token bags. (The kids earn tokens for using certain types of language that change from lesson to lesson). Tuesday we talked about the moon and outer space and built a "rocket ship" out of our chairs and some construction paper so that on wed we could fly to the moon. On our way we battled asteroid fields and then searched for moon rocks after landing. Thursday I read my kids the story of a boy who thought an alligator lived under his bed. I brought a blanket and pillow and some costumes and had the kids hide under the blanket as one pretended to be an alligator and then we set a trap to catch it.

My kids got a kick out of all my lessons and I gotta say I sure did too ha ha. I'm really looking forward to more fun with them and I only hope I can keep up with them. They're all so smart!!

First Day of School

Wow what an adventure! There is really no better training for this stuff then just getting out and doing it! All day Wednesday we had training meetings to get ready for our first day of classes on Thursday. I was also given my teaching schedule. I teach primary classes from 3-5 mon-thurs and ELE classes on fridays from 8am to 1:40.

Thursday morning I woke up bright and early, my lesson plan in hand, thinking I was ready and prepared and it was going to go great. I was a little nervous, but fairly confident. Then...... reality set in. At 2:50 we all met by the chinese teacher's classrooms. There's a big statue there in the middle of the courtyard. As the kids began to line up we all soon realized that we were going to have a lot more kids than originally expected. A typical ILP class size is about 8 children. Ours ended up being ten and a couple teachers had 11 or 12. However, i must say that the kids were absolutely adorable...... most of the time :). As I led my kids to our classrooms two of the girls walking next to me said "Teacher, teacher! What is your name?" after my response they exclaimes, "Teacher Lorilei, your hair is so beautiful!" and proceeded to talk about all the different colors they saw in my hair. It was the cutest thing!

At the start of all our classes we have "Opening", where all the students in the classes on our floor stand together in one room and we talk about the day of the week and the weather and the time and we sing a song. We're supposed to have lines for all the kids to stand on in their classes, but due to some miscommunication we didn't have enough lines which made for a very hectic start. Getting everything going took more time then it should have so we were running very late on our schedule. We split into our separate classes and i led my kids to my room (which i had decorated earlier that day). I had a line on the floor with different color fish for them each to line up on while they waited for me to seat them. For the first few weeks we're here i'll be teaching the drama class (yipee!!! :D). We have three-teacher rotations where we all teach a different subject to encompass the English teaching we do.

The kids in my rotation have been in the program for a few years, but as I started my lesson i quickly learned just how smart they are. Most of them know a good deal of english and many of them know how to work the system very well. Also, with me being a new teacher, they tried "testing" me, to see how well I'd really enforce the rules. So as I switched between the three groups of kids in my rotation, most of class time was spent getting the kids into the routine. Although i did get a few kids to give me really good monkey impressions (which is what my lesson was about). I also learned all their names and took pictures of them to help me remember.

It was crazy and hectic, and at one point I didn't know what I got myself into, but I gotta say, I really do love these kids already. They are adorable and sweet, and although a bit manipulative at times, I think it will be a fun semester. Plus now that I've actually taught a class, I feel like I know more about how to prepare for these kids. I can't wait to teach again on monday and hopefully things will run much smoother :)

Zaijian!