SURPRISE!

I have a funny story from class with my Junior 1 students.  We have a test next week and I was reviewing with them.  We were playing Jeopardy on the powerpoint, which is a lot of fun, and the question was what are the four seasons?  Fairly standard question.  He knew the answer and started right now, not to waste any precious time.  He begins to answer and says, “Summer, Autumn, Winter, SURPRISE!”   It was great.  I just about lost it along with the majority of my class.  He is shouting, “No teacher, no no teacher, it is not surprise, Spring, Spring!”  I had mercy and gave him the points…mostly because it was just too funny and he made my day. 

 

Surprise! 

 

Ps.  I did clarify that surprise is not one of the four seasons.    

Clothes and Colors

I will give you a small glimpse into my classroom.  This week I taught Clothes and Colors to my Junior 1 (7th) students.  We had a lot of fun.  I brought a suitcase overflowing with my clothes to class.  I explained the clothes as I unpacked them.  What it is called, when you would wear it, and the color of the item.  I then had my students run up and take one thing and then put it on and we went around the class and had them explain to the class the same three things I had told them.  It was great.  

I brought in several pairs of shoes, tennis/dress/slippers, a t-shirt, long sleeve, sweater, hoodie, a scarf, gloves, hat, baseball hat and a belt.  I had a fun time asking them if it was 'ok' to wear my brown dress shoes with a black belt...almost all yell out 'Yes, teacher!'  I tell them that would not be the best and it is better to wear brown with brown and black with black and some did not understand.  

One of the interesting things I have learned about China is that the culture is more direct and speak what is on their mind.  I will give you an example.  We are in class talking about clothes and colors.  Every class had fun putting my belt on and informing me that I am fat and that my belt is way too big and they cannot wear it.  I was prepared for this and actually expecting it.  One the one hand, this level or transparency makes it easier to read people and understand them.  They just tell you.  Just make certain you have thick skin because you never know what will be said.  It keeps you on your toes.  

I appreciate your thoughts and remember all of us.  

SHIYI IS HERE!

GOOD NEWS--ShiYi is here!  We are all beyond excited that they have arrived.  To give a bit of history, ShiYi was unable to come due to some paperwork issues.  Their paperwork was held up and they were waiting to come but thankfully that wait is over!  I am thrilled the whole team is together.  They arrived yesterday afternoon and I was able to go to the airport to help greet them and carry some bags.  We then met up with the rest of the team and all ate dinner together.  Thanks for remembering ShiYi, we are all glad they are here! 

2 Months

I have now been in Beijing for 2 months!  Many things have been going on but I want to start with some good news that ShiYi is coming this week!  We have been thinking about them arriving for some time now but they are scheduled to arrive this coming week.  We are all quite excited to see them and have the entire team all together.  

I wanted to give a quick update that I am doing very well and loving my time here and will hopefully give a longer update and post a short video soon.  Thanks again for checking my blog!