Week 2

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This week has been much less eventful than last week and weekend. After getting back from Beijing on Monday evening, we went directly to bed, having volunteer placement on Tuesday morning and being quite tired from all the good times in Beijing. We've been at the kindergarten every morning the rest of this week, and it has been so fun! There are 4 teachers for my particular class (about thirty 5-year olds. I haven't actually counted them or gotten a group picture yet.), but only 1 of the teachers speaks conversational English. And she hasn't been to class all week! Haha! So, I've had a good time communicating through sign-language (and a tiny amount of very simple English) with the other teachers. Mostly, I've just played with the kids, taught them about the beach and baseball, read a few books, helped out with some other planned activities in the classroom...I'm gonna come up with some set things to teach next week (lessons and stories), but I've gotten very little guidance from the teachers. And since Nancy (the only one who speaks conversational English) wasn't at class all week, I don't have anyone to translate for me. But it's still a big blessing to be there, so fun, and hopefully the kids can pick up some English through my interactions with them.

Forgive the disorganized nature of this post. It's late and I'm rather scatter-brained right now.

Tuesday afternoon, a group of us went to play badminton, one of the most popular sports in China. And it turned out to be a blast! I hadn't played for years (probably since the last time you got out the net, Dad ;-), but it wasn't too hard to pick up on. We played at a gym relatively close to the apartment and plan to go back sometime next week. Then that night, a few of us (Carlie, Eric, Johnny Sa, Dave...) went to the exercise gym for a cultural experience and a workout. I'm realizing that almost anything I do in China can be a cultural experience. While the similarities between China and the States are far greater than the difference due to our shared humanity, the differences are certainly an experience. Forgive me if those last couple sentences didn't make much sense. At some point, I'll do an intentional reflection on the cultural experience that this entire trip has been. And that reflection on English Corner last week is soon to come.

After the kindergarten on Wednesday, I did laundry (I think), relaxed, read, and slept.

Today (Thursday), after the kindergarten and lunch, most of our Army group went to the sweet history museum across the street from the apartment. I think it's called the Shaanxi History Museum (Shaanxi is our province), and is only one of THREE history museums in all of China. Seriously! Our tour guide told us there are only 3 history museums in the whole country, the other two being in Beijing. This museum covers the ancient history of Shaanxi Province up until 1840. I'm feeling lazy right now, so read this (http://www.chinamuseums.com/sx_history.htm) if you're interested in more info.

Tonight, after dinner, I went with Eric and Johnny Sa, along with several of the other CCS volunteers leaving on Saturday, to a Chinese karaoke establishment. It was fun, and I suppose could also be described as a cultural experience.

That's all for now! Off to bed!

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