March 11, 2013
This is my second week as the teacher in my classroom I am enjoying it very much. My students are a joy and there is nothing that is simple in my room. Today we had a new teacher join us and it was up to me to give her an English name. One of her names starts with a W so I suggested Wendy and she is okay with that. The new teacher is named Wendy! I’ve not wanted to put pictures of my students on the blog because I didn’t want the parents to get upset about that. If I can get some generic pictures ones that aren’t specifically a student, then I’ll post. I used the gift certificates for groceries yesterday. Something funny did happen though. I have been saying Night-Night to my students when it is naptime and I found out that the word for grandmother is very close to that in Chinese. All this time I’ve been thinking that one of my students understood Night-Night when he was calling me his grandmother. Friday night it was in the 80’s on the bus going home, Saturday night it became very windy and the temps dropped a whole lot. Today it was only in the 40’s and that I question.
March 9, 2013
Hello from the west of Zhengzhou, it’s the weekend and I’ve come to spend it with my family. As I did last week I got caught two busses to get back to this side of town. Last night, Friday night Bethel International had a celebration of International Women’s Day; March 8 and it is celebrated by some countries around the world. The school recognized the women who work in the school and we were each given a gift certificate to a local grocery store and a local spa for some pampering treatments. Today, Saturday, Chuck and I got up early this morning and took a walk around the neighborhood. There is lots of demolishing going on as the street we live on is being widened. Our apartment complex is safe, but we have lost our computer tech, and my favorite clothing store Sumjor. These were in front of the complex and in the way of progress. There is a large military presence in the area right now and I’m guessing it is to make sure that people who move businesses and homes will do so in a peaceful manner. We went to the Gongren Lu Market today, it has gotten hotter quickly here and my winter clothing proved to be too warm for the current weather I had to get some pants and skirts that will work better in this weather. However, tonight is really windy so tomorrow may be more chilly and more in line with a spring day. I am also looking forward to my Chinese lesson and then to get packed up and get the busses back to work.
March 6, 2013
Hello this is Wednesday or hump day back in the states. I have been having fun with my class funny I never thought that I would love teaching 2-3 year olds but I really do. It’s neat to see the different personalities of each child. Each child is their own person. Mine are the babies of the school but that doesn’t mean they are the quietest children in the school that could not be said of them. Mine love to dance and sing. I’m getting used to the idea of teaching other children too. Foreign teachers here stay with their rooms while their children go to art, dance, etc. Today I had Olympic A; each foreign teacher has a themed class room. I taught them the bear went over the mountain and they really did well with that song. My room mate will be leaving and going to a new job in the south of China. I will miss Shelby and wish her well on her China Adventure.
March 4, 2013
Hello from my apartment. We just got hooked up with wifi and that is awesome because I can now keep in touch with my family on Skype.
Today is a good day at the school. So far the children have been outside to play, they had a book read to them in the library and we have had one of our two English lessons.
Friday after getting out of the meeting here I took two busses to get home, total time was about 1.5 hours and it was fairly easy. The 59 bus and the 87 bus share the same route for a few blocks so it is nice to go that way. Saturday Chuck and I went to the Gongren Lu Market where I got some things that I needed for my apartment, I now have a bedside light and a new pair of pants. Well the pants thing was kind of funny. Since this was in a market and there were no dressing rooms I had to take off my pants (tights underneath) and pull on the pants at the store. I surprised Chuck and he said that I had gone native because that is something that a Chinese person would do because I’m all covered and I want to make sure that these pants fit. I kind of feel that I blend in well with Chinese in my all Chinese outfit today that I got partly on Saturday (pants) and the dress I got a few weeks ago with Langfang. Well that is all for right now. Time to get back to school, nap time is almost over.
This is my second week as the teacher in my classroom I am enjoying it very much. My students are a joy and there is nothing that is simple in my room. Today we had a new teacher join us and it was up to me to give her an English name. One of her names starts with a W so I suggested Wendy and she is okay with that. The new teacher is named Wendy! I’ve not wanted to put pictures of my students on the blog because I didn’t want the parents to get upset about that. If I can get some generic pictures ones that aren’t specifically a student, then I’ll post. I used the gift certificates for groceries yesterday. Something funny did happen though. I have been saying Night-Night to my students when it is naptime and I found out that the word for grandmother is very close to that in Chinese. All this time I’ve been thinking that one of my students understood Night-Night when he was calling me his grandmother. Friday night it was in the 80’s on the bus going home, Saturday night it became very windy and the temps dropped a whole lot. Today it was only in the 40’s and that I question.
March 9, 2013
Hello from the west of Zhengzhou, it’s the weekend and I’ve come to spend it with my family. As I did last week I got caught two busses to get back to this side of town. Last night, Friday night Bethel International had a celebration of International Women’s Day; March 8 and it is celebrated by some countries around the world. The school recognized the women who work in the school and we were each given a gift certificate to a local grocery store and a local spa for some pampering treatments. Today, Saturday, Chuck and I got up early this morning and took a walk around the neighborhood. There is lots of demolishing going on as the street we live on is being widened. Our apartment complex is safe, but we have lost our computer tech, and my favorite clothing store Sumjor. These were in front of the complex and in the way of progress. There is a large military presence in the area right now and I’m guessing it is to make sure that people who move businesses and homes will do so in a peaceful manner. We went to the Gongren Lu Market today, it has gotten hotter quickly here and my winter clothing proved to be too warm for the current weather I had to get some pants and skirts that will work better in this weather. However, tonight is really windy so tomorrow may be more chilly and more in line with a spring day. I am also looking forward to my Chinese lesson and then to get packed up and get the busses back to work.
March 6, 2013
Hello this is Wednesday or hump day back in the states. I have been having fun with my class funny I never thought that I would love teaching 2-3 year olds but I really do. It’s neat to see the different personalities of each child. Each child is their own person. Mine are the babies of the school but that doesn’t mean they are the quietest children in the school that could not be said of them. Mine love to dance and sing. I’m getting used to the idea of teaching other children too. Foreign teachers here stay with their rooms while their children go to art, dance, etc. Today I had Olympic A; each foreign teacher has a themed class room. I taught them the bear went over the mountain and they really did well with that song. My room mate will be leaving and going to a new job in the south of China. I will miss Shelby and wish her well on her China Adventure.
March 4, 2013
Hello from my apartment. We just got hooked up with wifi and that is awesome because I can now keep in touch with my family on Skype.
Today is a good day at the school. So far the children have been outside to play, they had a book read to them in the library and we have had one of our two English lessons.
Friday after getting out of the meeting here I took two busses to get home, total time was about 1.5 hours and it was fairly easy. The 59 bus and the 87 bus share the same route for a few blocks so it is nice to go that way. Saturday Chuck and I went to the Gongren Lu Market where I got some things that I needed for my apartment, I now have a bedside light and a new pair of pants. Well the pants thing was kind of funny. Since this was in a market and there were no dressing rooms I had to take off my pants (tights underneath) and pull on the pants at the store. I surprised Chuck and he said that I had gone native because that is something that a Chinese person would do because I’m all covered and I want to make sure that these pants fit. I kind of feel that I blend in well with Chinese in my all Chinese outfit today that I got partly on Saturday (pants) and the dress I got a few weeks ago with Langfang. Well that is all for right now. Time to get back to school, nap time is almost over.