Attention Span

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What I saw today, even I had to take a moment to breathe, and then take it all in. Yesterday was the official "Teacher Appreciation Day" in China. Now, I think in america we have such a thing, but obviously that day did not sear anything into my memory, but I think today will be around for awhile for the simple reason that I, along with my fellow 7th grade teachers, stood in front of the entire student body of, ohh about 2,000, and received flowers....yada, yada, yada.....the most amazing thing...and some of my fellow teachers in america WILL not believe this, but the entire 2,000 + students stood on the football (soccer) field all by themselves and were QUIET!!! Yes, you didn't read that wrong. They all were in uniform lines, standing at attention, for a good 30 minutes, from grades 1-8 (the little ones did get a little antsy, but still i mean it was 30 minutes on one patch of grass, what american could do that). Its just that I have spent the last two years trying to avoid our school assemblies which have a measly 200, 250 students because everyone was so loud and so misbehaving that you know it would ultimately end in a yelling match. So, to say my mouth hung wide open when I saw all the chinese teachers line up their students in the field, and then LEAVE them, would be an understatement.

The ceremony was, well I'm not really sure, because besides the words "hello teacher", I was pretty much a lost girl in a very large mall. I stayed in one place and waited, waited for someone to tell me when it was ok to move. That being said, the ceremony was definitely a moment for me. Probably one of the few times since I have been in China, that I woke up and actually took in all in. I am here. With all that good, the amazing, the gross, the tiring, the difficult. I am here.

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Photos

March on
Marching is a very fun activity for all the young pioneers (as they are called). This kids will stand in a straight line marching for almost ten minutes waiting for their turn to go on to the field. Kinda cute, but a little too military.

Chinese students.....oh so many!
This is during the flag raising ceremony, which occurs every morning at 7:30am.

The adminstration receiving flowers
We all got flowers!

All file in
Getting 2,000 students from their classroom, onto the field and lined up takes less time then trying to decide where to go for dinner.