Good Morning Baby

This morning I awoke to little Nathan baby running around in his walker.  My friends and co-workers let me spend the nights  Friday.  They are in the process of adopting this little sweety. He has been apart of their family since birth.  The mother came to live with them when she was pregnant.  She wants them to adopt him, because he will have a better life.  It's so amazing to me how life happens and if you are looking up things work out according to the best plan.

My Wild Animals

My students are so sweet, but they also drive me crazy sometimes.  The nine boys have become quite the little click.  They love to have fun and be wild.  The girls are sweet and follow directions very readily, but the boys it's like pulling teeth sometimes.  Friday was sunglasses day.  So I took a class photo.  Friday was also a bad day for them.  They spent two times throughout the day with whole class time outs, heads on the tables and lights out, to think about their behavior.  It is days like this when I show my iron fist that I feel very sad.  I think teaching is a mix of emotions.

Koinonia and New Family

I'm so excited I found a Friday night single get together called Koinonia.  The group meets in a four story apartment and has a mix of Chinese, Americans, and Africans.  Everything is translated from English to Chinese even the music.  It was so fun and beautiful to sing in Chinese songs I knew in English.  Something I love about the Chinese people is when you are new to a gathering, you stand up and introduce yourself and give a small speech.  Their little speeches are so sweet and sincere.  There seems to be a spirit of innocence and openness among the Chinese people that I have not found in America.

I also have found a family away from my family.  I spent the night with them after Koinonia, because it was past midnight.  A couple, Steve and Denise from Tennessee, who I work with at QSI, open their apartment to young people.  Before Koinonia I ate dinner with them and found myself three new brothers.  Two from the West Coast and one from the East Coast.  This couple has four children back in America.  I feel like I've become apart of their family of four here in China.  In the picture with all the Chinese you can see Denise.  This couple is an inspiration.  

Cultural Differences

Living in China has made me realize some differences between my culture and China's.  For example they do not use ovens to cook.  I thought I had an oven in my apartment, but ended up being a sterilizer for dishes.  Chinese wash their dishes in cold water than cycle them through a sterilizer.  Not having an oven is sad, because that means no baking cookies or cakes.  Another difference is most apartments don't have bathtubs.  I love taking baths so this was a disappointment.  Washing cloths is another difference.  Washing machines are outside and you dry your cloths outside, too.  The Chinese believe you should always iron your clothes to kill micro-organisms since the cloths dry outside.  Not a bad idea.  I've never even thought about the micro-organisms on my cloths.  I'm not much into ironing, but maybe I'll start. 

Baby Village

Where I live there are so many babies.  Honestly I have never seen so many babies.  It's like I live in baby world.  The parents and the grandparents love to take the babies outside for walks, to look at nature and people.  It's so sweet and precious how loving the Chinese culture is towards babies.  One day coming home from school several babies and moms were sitting outside my apartment building.  Of course I stopped and said hi.  The mothers or grandparents always try to get their babies to wave and say "bye-bye."  I think they think that is hello.  I asked if I could take their picture and they were ok with it.  So here is one baby picture for you.

Staff Party

At the end of the first week of school we had a staff party at an outdoor restaurant.  It was to celebrate one of the teachers birthdays.  We filled six tables.  Musicians wandered in and out of tables playing for money.  One guy played the violin very well.  The other musicians were guitarist/singers and a saxophonist.  The food was soso.  I'm much more careful when I eat out now.  The chinese food and my stomache have not been agreeing lately.  You never know what you might be eating, pig intestines were one of the delicasies at the party.  I tried to avoid that.

The Custodian

Mr. Sung is the custodian and in charge of security for the school.  He is such a sweetheart.  He always walks into my room in the morning to say hello and see how I'm doing.  Usually complements the classroom or what I'm wearing.  It's nice to have Mr. Sung around.  He loves music, too, and every morning early before most teachers arrive he's playing his harmonica.  When I took his picture he was so happy and said thank you.  I'm grateful to have such a friendly custodian/security guard at school.

Missing Seattle Washington

I'm really starting to miss Washington state.  I miss beautiful Mt. Rainier.  I miss the Puget Sound.  I miss my favorite place to walk at Redondo Beach.  I miss the evergreen trees.  I miss cooler weather.  It is so hot here in southern China.  On average the temperature has been between 30-35 celsius with 85-95% humidity.  That is hotter than LA plus the humidity level makes it seem like a sauna.  Basically you are constantly drenched in a layer of sweat.  I was trying to figure out why my sweat was so itchy, the salt from my sweat makes it itchy.  Today when I walked into Starbucks to buy a tuna sandwich and egg salad sandwich, two of my favorites, and I'm very much missing sandwiches, I almost burst into tears because I miss Washington, my home so much.  

The pictures are of my classroom and the students are eating lunch.  This first week of school has been quite the challenge.  I am teaching eleven classes/subjects.  Five core elementary subjects plus 6 music classes.  My schedule is very trying mentally and emotionally I've been feeling very isolated.  I'm trying to figure out how to help my eight year olds. Several of them barely speak English and can't even write English numbers for math and we've been working on word form for numbers.  Whereas I have other students who need to be challenged so they won't get bored.  Currently my favorite class is the secondary music students.  They've learned four songs this week and are so eager to learn.  It's nice to work with older students who are a bit more like adults verses eight year old children, who run around like little monsters sometimes and it's a constant battle to maintain order.  It's pretty disheartening when I realized some students can't even understand when I ask them to stand up or sit down.  Grateful for the weekend.  Found a dvd store as I'm craving English speaking movies.  After going to school to plan for next week I'm going to chill tonight with my tuna and egg sandwiches and enjoy a movie. 

First Day of School and Police Interview

Today was the first day of school.  I have 14 eight year olds.  Nine boys and five girls from Taiwan, Korea, England and America.  They are so precious and I can tell very smart.  Not all of them speak English very well and I could tell some were even nervous to say their name.  

After school a group of teachers had to drive to Shekou for our visa police interviews.  The picture is of us waiting to be interrogated.  Last week we went through a thorough medical exam for resident visa papers.  The next step was an interview with the police.  I was a little nervous about this, but it turned out to be fine.  Tomorrow we have to drive to Shenzen to hand in all of our paperwork to another police department.  Lots of paperwork and formality to get a resident work visa if you are a foreigner.  The other picture is of the teachers the day of our medical exam from last week.  It was quite the ordeal, chest xray, blood draw, ear, eye, teeth exam, ultrasound and EKG.  We were happy to have it over.

The Chinese School Staff

The Chinese staff at the school are so sweet and helpful.  When I came back from being sick my para-ed helped so much with setting up the room.  I can't believe I have a full time para-ed.  She also teaches the children Chinese.  The day we worked together setting up the room was so fun.  Other Chinese staff would wander in my room and sit down to help in any way they could.  Somehow my room became a little hangout for the Chinese staff.  I was trying to teach one lady other words for good and wonderful was her favorite.  

My Chinese Hospital Experience

Please don't be alarmed by the picture.  I am still alive and breathing.  I was sick this week and found myself in the Dongguan Konga Hopital, which is the largest hospital in asia.  I got dehydrated and an intestinal thing with a fever.  The doctor took blood and they tried to give me an IV.  Now those of you who know me, know I am prone to passing out.  I have become very brave with blood draws, but IV's are another story.  This was my first IV that I remember having inserted in my vein.  The nurse had inserted the needle and was taping it down when I passed out. While I was falling to the floor the IV yanked out of my hand, cut my finger and stabbed the nurse. When I awoke I felt like I was in some strange Asian movie.  The nurses managed to get me on a bed and inserted oxygen tubes.  I went into a little bit of shock as I was in pain from being sick, my hand from the IV and my head which hit something.  After I calmed down, the secretary who took me to the hospital to translate, took this picture.  She was really concerned and I wanted to lighten the mood when I was feeling better.  So I had her take the picture.  Several days later I am pretty much recouperated thanks to rest, antibiotic and glucose tablets.