You can tremble, you can feel it, but keep your fighting spirit alive, boys!

Last night, as I walked back from S' birthday, I ran into L and J. I asked them where they got their haircut since they both have short hair like me. They said they were going tomorrow and I was welcome to tag along. I agreed. 

I was originally going to meet them there, but when they came over this morning, they told me that their church was near an awesome old street and it was fun to walk along. Well, since I haven't explored and they mentioned traditional Chinese medicine shops, I was totally in!

Hurry up, hurry up. Don't waste time! Don't waste time!

Time on task. That was drilled into my head by my principal my first year. 1 minute a day you are off-task adds up REALLY fast over the school year. Like to a few extra days. Needless to say, I learned a lot about time on task my first year. I kept to a tight schedule, trying to squeeze both social studies and language arts into a 40 minute block for 3 periods. I definitely think it helped shape the kind of teacher I am today.

Soon it's gonna rain.... Errrr, POUR!!!

I was texting with G last night in Florida and she commented on how it was raining in Florida. I made the mistake of saying it hadn't rained in Hangzhou since my first couple days here.

Everything's Fine

Today was the first day of school. Overall, it went pretty smoothly. I had 15 kids on my roster and only 12 showed up. They may come in over time or not at all. My 2 that don't speak any English were fun. The girl, M, is a gem. She's a total sweetheart and does, in fact, speak a little English. P, my boy, doesn't speak any English. He doesn't even know his English name. Poor baby. I feel bad for him because he truly had no clue what was going on today. Some of the kids spoke Mandarin with him and tried to help him.

I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm not in the States anymore. Things run and work differently than I've been trained and it's not wrong. It's just different. Little things that you took from granted. Other things, like communication and chaos, remain the same wherever you go. So there's that comfort. :)

After school, I had dinner with some friends. Then, I played from with stray kittens in my apartment complex. They are so cute. They're both calico, but one is mostly black while the other is true calico on top and white underneath. I named the blackish one Samhain (SOW-in) because she reminds me of the autumn leaves. The other is Beltane because she's the opposite so more like spring.

Paul called and a group of us went to go get a Chinese foot massage. It was amazing.It was 90 minutes. they massaged your feet and legs for what seemed like forever. It was hard too. Some of it hurt, but some hurt in a good way. They did your shoulders as well. Then, you flipped over and they massaged your head, shoulder, back, legs, and butt. It was weird when they massaged your butt. I also realized that I tensed up whenever they did my sides on my back.

It's nice being able to sit here and not have my feet throb. They said, doing massages weekly, will clear up my acne as well.  I think it's from the polluted air, but we'll see. Last year they went weekly so it seems like they'll start it up again. For $11, it really can't be beat.

The new kid walks to school along the railroad tracks...

Today was "Meet the Teacher". I now have 15 kids, but one, I believe has moved back to India, and another may be starting late, which brings the total down to 13. I met 10 of my students today. They all seems like great kids. It's so funny the dynamics. Some are totally shy when they walk in while other are just zooming around the room. All of them will be quiet as a mouse tomorrow.

I also have 2 students who speak very little English. While this worries me, it's also a little exciting. I like a challenge. And since, I've never taught Kindergarten, I've never had the chance to really watch a child develop into a reader and writer. I know it won't be like the students in K because they have had years of English and so much more background knowledge than these little guys.

All the parents were nice and welcomed me to the HZ family. I'm very excited about tomorrow!!!

It's a small, small world.

Bali hai, um, I mean Shanghai....

So yesterday, a bunch of us went to Shanghai to a smoozy party with the rest of SCIS. We had a few hours in the classrooms before we had to board the bus. I got a lot of stuff done and around 1, I went home. I found 2 men in my apartment, fixing my shower. I had come home Thursday night only to find grout covering my shower. I figured "Won't be showering tonight."

One day more

This is our final day before the returning staff come back.

Too darn hot

The last few days have been a blur. Tuesday was another, just get to know people day. Orientation hadn’t started so we just hung out at school. Wednesday was the first day of orientation. Over 50% of the staff this year is new hire.  There are about 20 new teachers.  The school has also grown to almost 500 students so that’s one of the main reasons why there are so many new hires. Most of the people are Americans, the majority being from the Midwest. Two Aussies, three Kiwis, and a Colombian, I believe. There are 4 married couples and two of them are expecting so we’ll have lovely little babies to play with soon.