We're Teachers Now, I guess

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Remember the first day of school? You're always a little bit nervous, really excited, and ready to just get it over with! Well, I guess that never changes, whether or not you're the student. Tues, Sept 1st was the first day of school. We woke up at 7am and looked outside our front door to see all 2,000 students lined up perfectly on the field having their flag raising ceremony and listening to the school leaders talk about something. I taught 3rd and 4th period, from 9:35-11:15am, and it was pretty uneventful, LUCKILY! I found the classrooms easily, the computers worked and I started my Powerpoint introduction. I tried to get them to guess where I was from by showing pictures of Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, a map of the Northwest and then finally a Seattle skyline. They all know Bill Gates and Starbucks, but hadn't heard of Seattle, which is pretty much what I expected. I then had them try to guess what the weather was like there, and when one student said "same as here", about ten other students yelled "NO WAY!" and started laughing. 😊

The class system here is organized by the skill level of the students- Class 0 is the most advanced, a special class, and only has about 35 students. Class 1-12 decrease in skill level the higher you go up. So, yesterday, I taught Class 2 followed by Class 10- and there was SUCH a difference! Both classes had around 50 students, but while Class 2 was quiet and participatory by raising their hands, Class 10 had many students whispering while I was talking and they couldn't quite grasp the idea of raising their hands. We had some talks about while this class will be fun and a lot less formal than their other classes, it is NOT a free period and we'll still have ground rules. I had to lay the smack down a little in Class 10, which I have to say I'm not all that bad at. 😊 Anyway, Class 10 sort of exhausted me, so I'm hoping Classes 11 and 12 won't be way worse!

After our classes yesterday, we decided to go grocery shopping. You see, nothing in our contract stipulates that we have to be here other than for our classes we teach. Yes, of course, we want to be nice and involved, so we'll make sure to be available in our office for students to come chat with, etc, but we don't have to STAY at school all day long every day. Right as we were ending our grocery shopping (yet still a good 20 minute bus ride away, at least), we got a call from our contact teacher, Harry. He seemed to just want to know how our day went, and Martin had a pleasant short conversation with him. However, upon running into Shaka later that evening, he informed us that we had been 'expected' at a meeting earlier. Wait a second. We were 'expected' at a meeting, but you called us 5 minutes before it began to see where we were? Hmm. Yay nowism! Nobody was mad, and it isn't like we were in trouble, but it was just one of those moments where the cultures definitely clash a little. Oh well! I'm sure this won't be the last time something like that happens.

Last night we stir-fried rice with onions and green peppers in soy sauce & siracha, and cooked up some delicious vegetable only spring rolls Martin managed to find at Carrefour! It was amazing. We might venture out to our local grocery store later to buy more juice, as I think that's going to become a daily purchase here for us. Why don't we have such amazing juice in the US? We noticed this when we were in Paris, also- we drink SO much more juice in other countries, simply because they have all these different flavors! Our most recent favorite? Cantaloupe-apple-....flower, I think. Mmm. Also, we need to buy some coffee because I accidentally bought milk tea instead. 😞

Today I taught Class 0, and they're pretty much angels. I teach one class tomorrow (Thurs) and then I'm done for the week! We're thinking of heading to Yantian again to see our friends and possibly go to a full moon party at a bar on the beach (we'll see though, we might end up just drinking some beers and playing games)!

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Martin here. I was late to my first class. Not the best way to start as a teacher, but it turned out to be not that big of a deal as it appeared some of my students had also been lost, arriving the same time as me. I should have left earlier, but I figured 15 minutes was long enough, considering all the classrooms are relatively close to our office. I'll need to spend more time finding the classes, as I will have 14 different classrooms to find.

Since I arrived late, flustered, and hot, I appeared quite the wreck up on the teacher's podium. Within the first few minutes, one of my students in the first row, bless her heart, gave me a packet of tissues to wipe the sweat off my forehead. I needed more help as I did not know quite how to work the computer, and several students were able to help with that. Ready to go, 5 minutes late, I started my lesson, everything going great.

Since it was class 0, they were all very well behaved, with more advanced English abilities than the higher numbered classes. Not everyone has an English name, so I will be giving out names to those who want them as the year goes on. Students will often come up with names of celebrities or objects as their English name. So far, I have one girl student whose name is Crab. She has a lot of energy, is very eager to learn, and appears to be fairly advanced in English. The only homework I assigned was for each student to find my office and if they want, write me a note explaining any of their interests, so I can map out a fun year of learning for them.

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Comments

[Mom/MD]

Sounds like things are going pretty well regarding your teaching...sorry that you were late for your first class Martin, but at least the kids know that it happens to everyone! How sweet of that student to hand you some tissues to wipe yourself down. What a great assignment you gave them...to find your office and to tell you of their interests. Staci we both laughed at your comment about having to lay some smack down in one of your classes...definitely needed in some instances, but now you see that you have a bit of the "mean EA" in you that I've always been accused of having! Hopefully the classes will settle down more as you get further along with the semester. We are so excited to read about all your activities and are excited to know that we will be there to share briefly in your world there. We love you both.

[Grandma Betty]

Teaching
It sounds like you are getting indoctrinated into the routine of the various classes. We enjoy hearing what you are doing. It's nice that you have free time to explore and also visit new friends. We are enjoying sunny, low humidity days this week. Grandpa had two skin cancers removed yesterday at the Ellwood City Hospital. It went well and he has not complained of any pain. He will have a couple of inch-long scars though. Alyson got courageous and drove alone down to the DC area to visit Rebekah; however, she wasn't feeling well when she left home and got increasingly worse. She had a bad sore throat, sinus problem, backache and just flu-like symptoms. I'm sure Rebekah would write a prescription for her and get her the needed medication. We hope she recovers quickly as she and Rebekah want to do some interesting things. Alyson will return home on Sunday, not wanting to drive on Labor Day. Stay well. We send our love.

[heidi]

Coffee
So is coffee the same as it is here, Or is it more of an instant kind of thing? Do you have a coffee maker since tea is so big over there? And what it Milk tea?

[Staci and Martin]

Coffee
Coffee is more often Nescafe instant type of thing here. They do have Starbucks and other coffee chains, but it's more expensive-- about 30 kuai for a cup of coffee which is equivalent to a little over $4 US dollars. If you just get a can of like Nescafe its only about 3 kuai, so quite a big difference. I've been mostly drinking instant coffee, canned coffee, that sort of thing-- not the same but it's still coffee so oh well. :) Milk tea is sold in the states too- it's what it's in bubble tea most often!