A Letter Home from Desiree (who is in Zhongshan RIGHT NOW, you better believe it)

Here is a picture of the school where I teach. The Kindergarten is the red brick building on the right. This was taken from our apartment.

 It was just a crazy busy week. You'd think that being a teacher for 3 hours a day wouldn't be very time consuming. But I assure you, It actually is. Here is a breakdown of my average day :)

6:15 - Wake up

7:10 - Breakfast in cafeteria

8:00 - Go to supply room and work on finishing touches for my lesson plan

8:40 - Start teaching :) 

11:30 - End teaching, go to lunch

12:30 Meeting with Head Teacher every monday and thursday

1:45 - Evaluations with Head Teacher

3:00 - Head back over to school and teach ELE class

3:30 - Go back to the apartment

4:00 - Start planning what I am going to do for tomorrows lesson (go buy stuff if I have to)

5:00 - Dinner

6:00 - Meeting with native coordinators about how we're doing and what we need, etc..

7:00 - Chinese language class (during the week we have chinese twice, kung fu once, and painting once)

8:30 - Class ends and me and Kaydee walk back to the apartment

8:40 - Stop at a store right next to our apartment and buy chocolate ice cream for 4 yuen (a little bit less than 50 cents in America) 

9:00 - Shower/upload pictures and videos to facebook/email Preston/watch Grey's Anatomy/Skype/etc....

10:45 - Go to sleep :)

Here is a picture of me in my first Chinese painting class:

I know it doesn't look that busy, but it feels that way sometimes. Anyway, I am in love with everything (except maybe the food...) It's little things during the day that make me stop and think to myself, "Am I really here? Is this really my life? How did I get so lucky?" I'll give you an example.

Today I went and taught my ELE class. ELE is just something where we go in classes and just talk to the little kids for 30 minutes. They know very very little English and all we do is stand up there and talk about things that they can kind of relate to. We use pictures and props, but we still don't get them to speak very much. While I was on my way out of my ELE class, I passed MY class :) the one I teach every morning. As I walked by, I saw Paco inside, so I waved :) before I know it, they are all screaming "TEACHA!!!!!!" And then the Chinese teacher runs out and says, "Oh hi teacher! Come in!!!!" Today was Apple's birthday (yes, that's her name) she turned 6. They were having a birthday party for her. And when I walked in, it hit me. That feeling. The, "I love my life so much" feeling.

There's something about seeing all the kids run up and hug you because they weren't expecting to see you :)

 There's something about all of them saying my name and wanting me to sit by them so they can share their cake with me.

There's something about seeing MY kids compared to my ELE kids.

There's something about seeing how the kids talk English outside of class with us because they want to make us happy.

There's something about seeing the hard work pay off :)

There's something about the way the Chinese teachers just welcomed me into the class even when I wasn't really supposed to be there.

There's something about the way one Chinese teacher saw my locket and asked what was inside, and then asked me if I had a boyfriend, and how he's so handsome and asked me if I was going to marry him.

There's just something about China :) Something special.

Love,

Desiree