Okay, so everyone knows I'm not really into a big hoopla about birthdays. Today more than ever reassured me that NO ONE IN CHINA WILL EVER KNOW MY BIRTHDAY!!!! Today is Wendi's birthday. It turns out that all of the parents of the Early Years were in cahoots on a big celebration that happened in the cafeteria in front of everyone. As scary as that idea is (the thought of being surrounded by hundreds of people singing Happy Birthday), the scariest thing was just the presence of the parents. I lose all authority when the parents are at school, because the kiddos know mom will take care of any woe as long as they scream loud enough. You can imagine the amount of crying that happened because EVERY student's mom came to lunch. And worse, the moms are force feeding their kids. I've learned the reason several of my kids don't eat at lunch is because they expect an adult to spoon feed them. If no one is spoon feeding them, they will literally sit there and stare at their food for all of lunch time and just not eat. No no no no no no way! NOPE! I'm not spoon feeding each of my students. Luckily they're figuring out that with me, crying will get you NO WHERE and NOTHING. Yesterday here's what happened (a couple of you have heard this story, but I wanted to share it with everyone):
I'm watching Elf 1 and Elf 2 playing in the block center. Elf 1 notices that a block from his airplane is missing. He opens his mouth and I see him just about to wail the most high pitched scream that I know all of them are capable of, but then he sees the look on my face and freezes, mid-cry. He knows that if there is a problem, he has to talk to me. With me, crying will not get the stolen block back. Elf 1 quickly points at Elf 2 and motions a swift and speedy take-away.
Me: "I notice your airplane is missing a block. Did you see [Elf 2] take it?"
Elf 1: *Shakes his head*
Me: "Okay, well let's look for the missing block. Maybe we can ask [Elf 2] if he knows where it is."
Elf 1: *stands up to talk to Elf 2* and sure enough, Elf 1 was sitting on the missing block the whole time.
Now this teacher would not have been a happy teacher if there had been a lot of screaming and tears shed over a stolen block that wasn't even stolen.
We are working on talking about our problems, as evidenced above. Phrases like "excuse me" and "please stop" should be used before any crying or pushing occurs. Of course my hope is that talking about the problem will make it so that crying is no longer necessary, again, as evidenced in the story above. My little Korean elf still seems determined not to pick up any English. Or so I thought. It turns out that what I thought he has been saying this whole time, "ping tu da", is not Korean at all, but in fact an attempt to say "please stop".
"Lost On Planet China" by J. Maarten Troost
I've been reading this book that Ariana gave me. It's a guy who just travelled China and wrote about it. He seems to exaggerate a lot, but I found two quotes to be particularly insightful:
- "As I delved into 'Chinese for Dummies', I couldn't help but conclude that the Chinese language is the Great Wall of languages, a clever linguistic barrier erected to keep outsiders out .... take the issue of Chinese characters. There are 20,000 of them. Fortunately , you don't need to learn all 20,000, just 7,000 should you wish to understand what an educated Chinese person is talking about".
- "But then, remembering that human beings cannot produce 20,000 unique sounds, even if you were to include belching and hawking great globs of phlegm (which I think counts in Chinese), the linguistic powers that be - whoever they are - threw in tones, possibly to ensure that no foreigner over the age of thirty would have any chance whatsoever of understanding the Chinese language".
- At least with the English alphabet, I only have to memorize 26 characters. And each of those characters has a typical sound, making it easy to read. Chinese characters are in no way phonetic. Two words that have the same characters are actually pronounced completely differently.
My Struggles with Mandarin:
- My TAs have been encouraging me to speak Mandarin with them. I'm careful to do it when the students aren't around, to make sure they're learning the most English possible.
- Yesterday morning I saw my TA Jean who doesn't speak English. I told her "Jin tian xing qi er", which means, "Today is Tuesday". I know it's not very conversational, but it's something I can say in Mandarin. She just started giggling, and held both her hands up in peace signs, so excited I am starting to speak Mandarin :)
- One of my elves wanted more rice at lunch. And in an effort to keep her seated, since the kiddos tend to wander when they get out of their chairs, I offered to take the bowl for her. On my way to the kitchen, Alice stopped me, looked me in the eye, and said, "You can do this, you will order the rice in Mandarin!" Success!
- I love how they create adjectives. They combine the word for "very", which is "hen" (3rd tone), with a verb. For example:
Very eat = Delicious, "hen chi"
Very look = Beautiful "hen kan"
Weird, huh?
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Christmas Music on Pandora Time!!!!
So many good stories from school!!! But first I just have to say that I'm now listening to my Christmas radio station on Pandora, even though it is 75° and sunny today!!! It seems so counter-intuitive. Especially since the first song was, "I'm Dreaming of a White Christams". I most certainly am! And the next song was "Let It Snow". Really? I need some temporate climate Christmas songs! Are there any English speaking countries close to the equator that would produce more appropriate Christmas songs for my current climate?
And second, I have to tell an embarassing story:
Today when I walked into my apartment building, I found that the lobby had been remodeled. I was really impressed. I know the construction they do here happens in less than a day, it's a little scary how fast buildings go up, but I thought it was strange I never saw them working on the lobby. They are that fast! I went up to Ariana's floor to pick something up, and when I got out, I found that on the landing there were lots of bikes and new welcome carpets. One of our families just moved in across the hall from Ariana, so this was new and different, but not totally out there. Then I rang Ariana's doorbell and this cute little 12 year old Chinese girl answered. I was super confused, but looking past her I saw lots of plants in the apartment. Ariana's apartment is practically a garden, so it looked like she got some new plants, but the girl didn't seem to know who Ariana was. I stared at the apartment number, which was the correct number, and again back in the apartment, but the girl kept shaking her head. I went back down the elevator super confused. I was about to walk across the lobby to go up my elevator, but then I decided to walk outside just to check ... Yes, I definitely walked into the wrong building. Whooops.
And now, all about my little ELLs! (Elves):
At the beginning of November, I started teaching the calendar. We've been crossing off each day as it happens but there are very few days left this month. I asked the students what they think will happen when we run out of days to cross out. I then pointed at the empty square that will be December 1st.
- One said, "Stay home, no school."
- One said, "Uh oh!" and just pointed in shock at the empty square, as if this was the first time it occurred to her that we would run out of days to cross out.
- One made the motion and created the sound effects for an exploding bomb. Apparently the world will end.
Our High/Scope Early Years program strongly encourages students to identify problems and work together to solve their own problems. So I wasn't surprised when one day at recess, two of our 5 year olds called for a "classroom meeting" to discuss a problem. Apparently the box they had been using to gather fall leaves to make giant leaf piles had been converted into a mini dumpster by some older students.
Student responses: "Ewww!" "Gross!" "Yucky!"
3 year old: "What to do, what to do???"
5 year old: "I know, we need CCTV camera. Up there! We will see who did this!" (CCTV is the national news network)
One of my elves is an expert chef. He makes all sorts of creations at lunch. At first I was a little freaked out, but he always eats everything he makes so I haven't stopped him yet. Still, the only acceptable combination I've seen is yogurt poured over banana slices. Other concoctions include ketchup on bread slices, fruit juice in chicken soup and many, many others.
Pop Culture References - I've had two other crazy moments in class. One was a Harry Potter Puppet Pals moment when two of my students were shouting their own names back and forth at each other, and then another student walked up and said her name just like: Snape - Harry - Snape - Harry - Snape - Harry ...... Dumbledore! The other moment happened on the playground where my students have been particularly interested in pretending to be kittens. I had one crawl up to me, sit down, say "meow" and point at his open mouth, JUST LIKE SIMON'S CAT!!! I'm trying to figure out where these students have seen these youtube videos!! Because youtube doesn't work here!
PS, Also now that I'm thinking about it more, after my last blog post, I swear I've found a zillion more Mandarin words that include some tone of "shi"! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
And second, I have to tell an embarassing story:
Today when I walked into my apartment building, I found that the lobby had been remodeled. I was really impressed. I know the construction they do here happens in less than a day, it's a little scary how fast buildings go up, but I thought it was strange I never saw them working on the lobby. They are that fast! I went up to Ariana's floor to pick something up, and when I got out, I found that on the landing there were lots of bikes and new welcome carpets. One of our families just moved in across the hall from Ariana, so this was new and different, but not totally out there. Then I rang Ariana's doorbell and this cute little 12 year old Chinese girl answered. I was super confused, but looking past her I saw lots of plants in the apartment. Ariana's apartment is practically a garden, so it looked like she got some new plants, but the girl didn't seem to know who Ariana was. I stared at the apartment number, which was the correct number, and again back in the apartment, but the girl kept shaking her head. I went back down the elevator super confused. I was about to walk across the lobby to go up my elevator, but then I decided to walk outside just to check ... Yes, I definitely walked into the wrong building. Whooops.
And now, all about my little ELLs! (Elves):
At the beginning of November, I started teaching the calendar. We've been crossing off each day as it happens but there are very few days left this month. I asked the students what they think will happen when we run out of days to cross out. I then pointed at the empty square that will be December 1st.
- One said, "Stay home, no school."
- One said, "Uh oh!" and just pointed in shock at the empty square, as if this was the first time it occurred to her that we would run out of days to cross out.
- One made the motion and created the sound effects for an exploding bomb. Apparently the world will end.
Our High/Scope Early Years program strongly encourages students to identify problems and work together to solve their own problems. So I wasn't surprised when one day at recess, two of our 5 year olds called for a "classroom meeting" to discuss a problem. Apparently the box they had been using to gather fall leaves to make giant leaf piles had been converted into a mini dumpster by some older students.
Student responses: "Ewww!" "Gross!" "Yucky!"
3 year old: "What to do, what to do???"
5 year old: "I know, we need CCTV camera. Up there! We will see who did this!" (CCTV is the national news network)
One of my elves is an expert chef. He makes all sorts of creations at lunch. At first I was a little freaked out, but he always eats everything he makes so I haven't stopped him yet. Still, the only acceptable combination I've seen is yogurt poured over banana slices. Other concoctions include ketchup on bread slices, fruit juice in chicken soup and many, many others.
Pop Culture References - I've had two other crazy moments in class. One was a Harry Potter Puppet Pals moment when two of my students were shouting their own names back and forth at each other, and then another student walked up and said her name just like: Snape - Harry - Snape - Harry - Snape - Harry ...... Dumbledore! The other moment happened on the playground where my students have been particularly interested in pretending to be kittens. I had one crawl up to me, sit down, say "meow" and point at his open mouth, JUST LIKE SIMON'S CAT!!! I'm trying to figure out where these students have seen these youtube videos!! Because youtube doesn't work here!
PS, Also now that I'm thinking about it more, after my last blog post, I swear I've found a zillion more Mandarin words that include some tone of "shi"! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!!!
Yes, I did get to celebrate Thanksgiving here in China. Yes, it was wonderful. No, it did not look like the pics I saw of the Squire/Shabro Thanksgiving. I think that means I get double rations of grandma's rolls at Christmas! An American/Canadian family invited all the teachers to their home. Of course all the Americans went, many of the other foreign teachers also came to check out what this crazy American holiday is all about, and many of the Chinese TAs came. So it was a huge, loud, and happy affair. There were kids tables, the whole house smelled of turkey and pie, and it did take two hours, but in the end every guy was sitting in front of the TV watching a pre recorded football game. A very typical Thanksgiving :)
All about the language
- Xie xie is "Thank you" in Mandarin. Elaine helped me bargain for something at the night time market, and as I was leaving I said xie xie to the lady I had just bought something from. Her face got SUPER excited and she just started babbling in Mandarin to me, apparently all impressed that the foreigner can speak Mandarin. Too bad at the time the only word I knew in Mandarin was xie xie.
- There are SO many homophones. "Shi" is the most common word (in my opinion). Mandarin in a tonal language, so it's all about how you say it. There are 4 different tones, so that should just be 4 ways to say "shi", making 4 different meanings for "shi". BUT if you combine shi with other words you get a completely new word and a new meaning.
"shi" 4th tone = the verb "to be"
"shi" 2nd tone = the number "10"
"lou shi" 3rd tone and 1st tone = "teacher"
"zhe shi" 1st tone and 4th tone = "cheese"
"shi wu" 2nd tone and 4th tone = "food"
Confused already? Me too. The possibilities are endless. And even sometimes you say the same tone, but when you write it, it's a totally different character and a totally different meaning. Kind of like to, two, and too, but x 50. I strongly dislike the word "shi".
- I had an epiphany the other day, thinking about the tones. How is it possible to sing in Mandarin? Or is talking just singing in itself? Because all the different tones do sort of make a melody when you're speaking. I learned Spanish by listening to Spanish music. But when I listen to the Chinese radio, I can't tell which tones are being sung. I asked my TA Alice how she understands the singing on the radio. She looked confused at first, then she understood my question and just started laughing, shrugged her shoulders and said, "We have to guess what the singer is saying" Kind of like context clues. But you have to figure out which tones for all the words creates the sentence that makes the most sense.
- When you answer the phone, you're supposed to say "Wei". I'm not sure about the exact translation, but people are always talking loudly on their phones with a bit of attitude. So when they yell "Wei" into the phone, the way they actually pronounce it and say it, it sounds more like their yelling "What?!", which is exactly how I affectionately answer the phone whenever my sister calls me :)
My Visa:
- It expired. Whoops.
- I came prepared with everything I needed to turn my temporary 30 day visa into a year long working visa, but they needed more pictures to put on the 18 or so documents I had to submit.
- Even if I did manage to find the picture taking place by myself down the back road, I would never be able to tell them the specifications for the pictures needed for the visa applications. Thank goodness Wendi came with me.
- 2 weeks later they said they needed more pictures. But for one reason or another no one could come with me and the delay caused my visa to expire. So basically it expired because I'm a woos and didn't want to go by myself.
- TJ took me down to immigration during the school day. We talked to the front desk for about 10 minutes before she would allow us to go back and see the uniformed guy in charge. Then I checked my clock. TJ argued and persuaded for a full 30 minutes before the guy would even look at my documents.
- In the end, after an hour of fairly heated conversations of which I only understood the words "this", "that", "teacher" and the verb "be", TJ wrote up an apology letter that I had to sign basically stating it was all my fault.
- It was a little nerve racking, but afterwords TJ and the top guy were smiling and laughing. Later TJ told me our school has a very good relationship with immigration and that there was never anything to worry about. That was a lot of show for nothing to worry about!
Shin Da Lou:
- "Lou" meaning "road", Shin Da Lou is the only street I know. It's the one I walk down to get to the grocery store, which is about the only place other than school that I feel confident enough to go by myself.
- I asked Matt where he got his voltage converter so I can finally charge my camera battery. He gave me directions down Shin Da Lou, but then offered to go with me. Thank goodness, I would've never found it.
- Since we can't describe what I want, and we can't read any of the boxes of electronics, Matt called Jackie, one of our Chinese IT guys at school and handed the phone to the shop owner. The owner picked out a box and when I got the phone back Jackie told me the owner wanted 170 kuai, but then Jackie told me to give the owner 150. Normally there is a bargaining process, but again, my Mandarin is not near sufficient for this. When I gave him 150 kuai, the shop owner looked suspiciously at the money, then back at my hopeful but silent face, and then just started laughing and waved good bye.
- After hearing my visa story, and figuring out how little of Beilun I know, Matt has decided that we're going to start planning things so I actually get to leave our gated community on a regular basis. Most of the teachers are in their second year here, and last year when everything was new and exciting they used to go out all the time. This year Matt says they've all gotten "old". But hopefully this means I'll have some more stories and get to go exploring more often. I've just always had a host family or basically a local who is designated to take me where I need to go. And I've always had a good grasp of the local language in case I want to go out on my own. So I'm a little embarassed that I don't seem to be as fearless here in Beilun.
All about the language
- Xie xie is "Thank you" in Mandarin. Elaine helped me bargain for something at the night time market, and as I was leaving I said xie xie to the lady I had just bought something from. Her face got SUPER excited and she just started babbling in Mandarin to me, apparently all impressed that the foreigner can speak Mandarin. Too bad at the time the only word I knew in Mandarin was xie xie.
- There are SO many homophones. "Shi" is the most common word (in my opinion). Mandarin in a tonal language, so it's all about how you say it. There are 4 different tones, so that should just be 4 ways to say "shi", making 4 different meanings for "shi". BUT if you combine shi with other words you get a completely new word and a new meaning.
"shi" 4th tone = the verb "to be"
"shi" 2nd tone = the number "10"
"lou shi" 3rd tone and 1st tone = "teacher"
"zhe shi" 1st tone and 4th tone = "cheese"
"shi wu" 2nd tone and 4th tone = "food"
Confused already? Me too. The possibilities are endless. And even sometimes you say the same tone, but when you write it, it's a totally different character and a totally different meaning. Kind of like to, two, and too, but x 50. I strongly dislike the word "shi".
- I had an epiphany the other day, thinking about the tones. How is it possible to sing in Mandarin? Or is talking just singing in itself? Because all the different tones do sort of make a melody when you're speaking. I learned Spanish by listening to Spanish music. But when I listen to the Chinese radio, I can't tell which tones are being sung. I asked my TA Alice how she understands the singing on the radio. She looked confused at first, then she understood my question and just started laughing, shrugged her shoulders and said, "We have to guess what the singer is saying" Kind of like context clues. But you have to figure out which tones for all the words creates the sentence that makes the most sense.
- When you answer the phone, you're supposed to say "Wei". I'm not sure about the exact translation, but people are always talking loudly on their phones with a bit of attitude. So when they yell "Wei" into the phone, the way they actually pronounce it and say it, it sounds more like their yelling "What?!", which is exactly how I affectionately answer the phone whenever my sister calls me :)
My Visa:
- It expired. Whoops.
- I came prepared with everything I needed to turn my temporary 30 day visa into a year long working visa, but they needed more pictures to put on the 18 or so documents I had to submit.
- Even if I did manage to find the picture taking place by myself down the back road, I would never be able to tell them the specifications for the pictures needed for the visa applications. Thank goodness Wendi came with me.
- 2 weeks later they said they needed more pictures. But for one reason or another no one could come with me and the delay caused my visa to expire. So basically it expired because I'm a woos and didn't want to go by myself.
- TJ took me down to immigration during the school day. We talked to the front desk for about 10 minutes before she would allow us to go back and see the uniformed guy in charge. Then I checked my clock. TJ argued and persuaded for a full 30 minutes before the guy would even look at my documents.
- In the end, after an hour of fairly heated conversations of which I only understood the words "this", "that", "teacher" and the verb "be", TJ wrote up an apology letter that I had to sign basically stating it was all my fault.
- It was a little nerve racking, but afterwords TJ and the top guy were smiling and laughing. Later TJ told me our school has a very good relationship with immigration and that there was never anything to worry about. That was a lot of show for nothing to worry about!
Shin Da Lou:
- "Lou" meaning "road", Shin Da Lou is the only street I know. It's the one I walk down to get to the grocery store, which is about the only place other than school that I feel confident enough to go by myself.
- I asked Matt where he got his voltage converter so I can finally charge my camera battery. He gave me directions down Shin Da Lou, but then offered to go with me. Thank goodness, I would've never found it.
- Since we can't describe what I want, and we can't read any of the boxes of electronics, Matt called Jackie, one of our Chinese IT guys at school and handed the phone to the shop owner. The owner picked out a box and when I got the phone back Jackie told me the owner wanted 170 kuai, but then Jackie told me to give the owner 150. Normally there is a bargaining process, but again, my Mandarin is not near sufficient for this. When I gave him 150 kuai, the shop owner looked suspiciously at the money, then back at my hopeful but silent face, and then just started laughing and waved good bye.
- After hearing my visa story, and figuring out how little of Beilun I know, Matt has decided that we're going to start planning things so I actually get to leave our gated community on a regular basis. Most of the teachers are in their second year here, and last year when everything was new and exciting they used to go out all the time. This year Matt says they've all gotten "old". But hopefully this means I'll have some more stories and get to go exploring more often. I've just always had a host family or basically a local who is designated to take me where I need to go. And I've always had a good grasp of the local language in case I want to go out on my own. So I'm a little embarassed that I don't seem to be as fearless here in Beilun.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Sunday Night on the Town!!
First, just some logistics ...
- Elaine (Chinese TA) and I checked out a dance studio. As far as I know, they teach belly dancing and jazz, but at least it's something! Lessons start next week. Our TAs are the best!!!
- Monday through Friday I am taking Mandarin lessons, with 4 different teachers! My head is spinning. When I don't feel brain dead I will definitely have some good language stories. I just know that Mandarin is all about the word pictures, which I'm sure eventually will be helpful, but right now it's very confusing. So "angry" is actually made up of 3 different words. It literally translates to "have big fire". But I need to know basic words like have, big, and fire, in order to figure out how to say angry.
Knitting Club:
- Sunday afternoons at 4 down at the Cup of Joe, about 5 other teachers and myself get together to gossip and knit.
- I've learned a couple of new stiches, so I should be able to branch out and make gloves, leg warmers, and hats!
- We're getting the supplies from Tao Bao, meaning, "Hidden Treasure". It's Chinese Ebay but better, with next day delivery! So I'm also getting to work with a new type of yarn!
- The club consists of 3 Washingtonians, a Colorado-an, a French Canadian, and a Chinese woman. While we were busy knitting away, two Scottish men just having a beer were recounting stories about how their grandmothers used to knit, and they suddenly burst into old Scottish tunes that their grandmothers used to sing in their knitting clubs. Foreigners .... for some reason we just congregate and bond, no matter how strange the circumstances.
- Erich (the owner) made some off hand comment about the scarf I was wearing, saying eventually I could make something like that. He looked at my face and said, wait, you made that?!?!?!
Chinese Restaurant Dining:
- Elaine (Chinese) and Line (French Canadian) and I went out to eat. Thank goodness for Elaine, she ordered!
- It was all Chinese food, but thai food style, so they brought us 6 different dishes, you get your own rice bowl, and you just dish up! The total was about $10 for the 3 of us.
- As my friend Levi already told me, when they cook the chicken, they just kind of chop it up, bones and all, so as you eat you have to spit the bones out. I'm not very good at that. But trying to get the the meat off the bone with only chopsticks was even harder.
- Elaine coached us on simple etequitte, like laying your chopsticks on the plate instead of sticking them straight up in your rice bowl :). It's also considered more polite to hold the rice bowl with your opposite hand (mine was resting in my lap so I slyly moved it up to the table but Elaine noticed and giggled at me)
Nighttime Market:
- We walked the night time market, just a collection of food venders, trinkets, and shops, all in pursuit of a good pair of boots!
- Line said she didn't want anything with rhinestones, fur, or leapard print. That eliminated every shoe in every store.
- The last store Line and I both found success. Mine have little bit of bling, but I think I can handle it.
- Walking back I was about 1 lane across a 6 lane street before I realized that Line and Elaine didn't cross with me. My first reaction was to turn back, but then I remembered I'm in China. Line saw my momentary hesitation though, because I heard her yell at me, "DON'T STOP!!!" I may have mentioned before, crossing the street in China HAS to be a constant and fluid motion. Stopping, speeding up, or slowing down could get you hit. I remembered almost immediately though and I kept moving.
At School:
The boys in my class have been recently very fascinated with making messes while they brush their teeth. When they rinse their mouths out, they've been spitting the water on the mirror, the floor, on themselves, just everywhere. And then they get upset with me because we go straight to nap time and their sweaters are all wet. Apparently no one likes to sleep in a wet sweater. So I actually had to have a specific lesson on how to brush your teeth without getting yourself all wet. I wish we had fake flies for them to aim for, but each boy actually has their own drain in our trough of a sink, so I gave them each their own drain to aim for spitting. The next day, this is what happened.
Elf: *Rinsing mouth, points to mirror, shakes his head, points to the drain, nods his head, and then spits all the water right into the sink*
Me: "Perfect! You know exactly where to spit the water so you don't get yourself wet!"
Elf: *Smiles excitedly, takes another sip, points directly upward (They like to spit directly up so that it splashes themselves on the way back down), shakes his head, points to the drain, nods his head, and then spits all the water right into the sink*
Me: "You did it again! All by yourself. You are becoming a champion at brushing your teeth!"
Elf: *Even more excited takes another sip, points to another student, shakes his head, looks at me and sees my wide eyes because thankfully none of them have ever come up with the idea of spitting on each other, at the look of horror on my face, he almost bursts into laughter which would have completely sprayed me, and dives his head for the sink and just lets it all out.*
We all just crack up after that. Gotta have a good laugh over brushing your teeth :)
- Elaine (Chinese TA) and I checked out a dance studio. As far as I know, they teach belly dancing and jazz, but at least it's something! Lessons start next week. Our TAs are the best!!!
- Monday through Friday I am taking Mandarin lessons, with 4 different teachers! My head is spinning. When I don't feel brain dead I will definitely have some good language stories. I just know that Mandarin is all about the word pictures, which I'm sure eventually will be helpful, but right now it's very confusing. So "angry" is actually made up of 3 different words. It literally translates to "have big fire". But I need to know basic words like have, big, and fire, in order to figure out how to say angry.
Knitting Club:
- Sunday afternoons at 4 down at the Cup of Joe, about 5 other teachers and myself get together to gossip and knit.
- I've learned a couple of new stiches, so I should be able to branch out and make gloves, leg warmers, and hats!
- We're getting the supplies from Tao Bao, meaning, "Hidden Treasure". It's Chinese Ebay but better, with next day delivery! So I'm also getting to work with a new type of yarn!
- The club consists of 3 Washingtonians, a Colorado-an, a French Canadian, and a Chinese woman. While we were busy knitting away, two Scottish men just having a beer were recounting stories about how their grandmothers used to knit, and they suddenly burst into old Scottish tunes that their grandmothers used to sing in their knitting clubs. Foreigners .... for some reason we just congregate and bond, no matter how strange the circumstances.
- Erich (the owner) made some off hand comment about the scarf I was wearing, saying eventually I could make something like that. He looked at my face and said, wait, you made that?!?!?!
Chinese Restaurant Dining:
- Elaine (Chinese) and Line (French Canadian) and I went out to eat. Thank goodness for Elaine, she ordered!
- It was all Chinese food, but thai food style, so they brought us 6 different dishes, you get your own rice bowl, and you just dish up! The total was about $10 for the 3 of us.
- As my friend Levi already told me, when they cook the chicken, they just kind of chop it up, bones and all, so as you eat you have to spit the bones out. I'm not very good at that. But trying to get the the meat off the bone with only chopsticks was even harder.
- Elaine coached us on simple etequitte, like laying your chopsticks on the plate instead of sticking them straight up in your rice bowl :). It's also considered more polite to hold the rice bowl with your opposite hand (mine was resting in my lap so I slyly moved it up to the table but Elaine noticed and giggled at me)
Nighttime Market:
- We walked the night time market, just a collection of food venders, trinkets, and shops, all in pursuit of a good pair of boots!
- Line said she didn't want anything with rhinestones, fur, or leapard print. That eliminated every shoe in every store.
- The last store Line and I both found success. Mine have little bit of bling, but I think I can handle it.
- Walking back I was about 1 lane across a 6 lane street before I realized that Line and Elaine didn't cross with me. My first reaction was to turn back, but then I remembered I'm in China. Line saw my momentary hesitation though, because I heard her yell at me, "DON'T STOP!!!" I may have mentioned before, crossing the street in China HAS to be a constant and fluid motion. Stopping, speeding up, or slowing down could get you hit. I remembered almost immediately though and I kept moving.
At School:
The boys in my class have been recently very fascinated with making messes while they brush their teeth. When they rinse their mouths out, they've been spitting the water on the mirror, the floor, on themselves, just everywhere. And then they get upset with me because we go straight to nap time and their sweaters are all wet. Apparently no one likes to sleep in a wet sweater. So I actually had to have a specific lesson on how to brush your teeth without getting yourself all wet. I wish we had fake flies for them to aim for, but each boy actually has their own drain in our trough of a sink, so I gave them each their own drain to aim for spitting. The next day, this is what happened.
Elf: *Rinsing mouth, points to mirror, shakes his head, points to the drain, nods his head, and then spits all the water right into the sink*
Me: "Perfect! You know exactly where to spit the water so you don't get yourself wet!"
Elf: *Smiles excitedly, takes another sip, points directly upward (They like to spit directly up so that it splashes themselves on the way back down), shakes his head, points to the drain, nods his head, and then spits all the water right into the sink*
Me: "You did it again! All by yourself. You are becoming a champion at brushing your teeth!"
Elf: *Even more excited takes another sip, points to another student, shakes his head, looks at me and sees my wide eyes because thankfully none of them have ever come up with the idea of spitting on each other, at the look of horror on my face, he almost bursts into laughter which would have completely sprayed me, and dives his head for the sink and just lets it all out.*
We all just crack up after that. Gotta have a good laugh over brushing your teeth :)
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Oh Substitutes....
So it was finally my turn to be sick. It seems like everyone on staff has had at least 1 sick day in the last 3 weeks. The weird thing is, it seems very popular to go to the hospital for every little woe. I figure a fever or a cold, give yourself a few days before you go on drugs stronger than tylenol. Sure enough, when I told my one and only local friend that I was at home sick, her response was, "Oh, my god! I think maybe you have go to the hospital"
While I was gone:
- Subbing in our building is a little weird: other teachers will cover the sick person's class during their planning periods, so to cover one class may require 5 subs in one day. I lucked out with 3. But the poor teacher that brought them in from recess ... my students changed their shoes, ran inside the classroom, slammed the door, and locked it. Yup. That's right. With the sub still outside. At least I know that if my students are ever in any trouble, they know how to stage a coup. (Thank goodness this doesn't happen to me, but I already know how to break into my classroom since I don't have a set of keys).
- Apparently while I was gone, just from reading the notes sent home, my elves were also little terrors for nap time. It's taken me some time to figure out that my little instigator has a sensory issue. So if I put a little pressure on his back and legs, he feels more comfortable, kind of like a swaddled baby and falls straight to sleep. He's the leader of mischief so without him, the others fall asleep straight away too. I guess the last two days were a little chaos because I failed to explain this to my sub(s). Today as I was sneaking out of the nap time room I ran into Wendi. She looked at me, surprised, looked at her watch and said, "wow, 10 minutes!!!" :)
It's great to be back at school:
- All of the hugs, and the "I missed you"s, and from somewhere one of my students picked up "long time no see!"
- At lunch time today, the kindergartners were super curious about my lunch (crackers and peanut butter of course). They asked why I eat the same thing every day. I explained that even though I will try lots of foods, when it comes to actually eating food for a meal, I am very picky. One student asked, "Where is picky?" After some clarification, I figured out that he thinks that picky is the country where crackers and peanut butter come from.
International Quiz Night:
Dana, Daniela and I formed a team. The 3 Amigas. I wasn't feeling so great about the questions, but the last one came up and I just had a sense of relief.
Question: Who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia? (multiple choice)
Me: Oh thank goodness
Daniela: What, what is the answer?
Me: *Shock*
Daniela: What? I don't read, okay? I just watch the movies!
Me: *Dies a little inside* That's like saying you only watched the Harry Potter movies and never read the books!
Daniela: Yeah. Same thing! I never read those books either.
Me: ............................................................................
Daniela is from Ecuador, and it isn't really culture in Central/South America to read like we do in the States .... but still.
While I was gone:
- Subbing in our building is a little weird: other teachers will cover the sick person's class during their planning periods, so to cover one class may require 5 subs in one day. I lucked out with 3. But the poor teacher that brought them in from recess ... my students changed their shoes, ran inside the classroom, slammed the door, and locked it. Yup. That's right. With the sub still outside. At least I know that if my students are ever in any trouble, they know how to stage a coup. (Thank goodness this doesn't happen to me, but I already know how to break into my classroom since I don't have a set of keys).
- Apparently while I was gone, just from reading the notes sent home, my elves were also little terrors for nap time. It's taken me some time to figure out that my little instigator has a sensory issue. So if I put a little pressure on his back and legs, he feels more comfortable, kind of like a swaddled baby and falls straight to sleep. He's the leader of mischief so without him, the others fall asleep straight away too. I guess the last two days were a little chaos because I failed to explain this to my sub(s). Today as I was sneaking out of the nap time room I ran into Wendi. She looked at me, surprised, looked at her watch and said, "wow, 10 minutes!!!" :)
It's great to be back at school:
- All of the hugs, and the "I missed you"s, and from somewhere one of my students picked up "long time no see!"
- At lunch time today, the kindergartners were super curious about my lunch (crackers and peanut butter of course). They asked why I eat the same thing every day. I explained that even though I will try lots of foods, when it comes to actually eating food for a meal, I am very picky. One student asked, "Where is picky?" After some clarification, I figured out that he thinks that picky is the country where crackers and peanut butter come from.
International Quiz Night:
Dana, Daniela and I formed a team. The 3 Amigas. I wasn't feeling so great about the questions, but the last one came up and I just had a sense of relief.
Question: Who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia? (multiple choice)
Me: Oh thank goodness
Daniela: What, what is the answer?
Me: *Shock*
Daniela: What? I don't read, okay? I just watch the movies!
Me: *Dies a little inside* That's like saying you only watched the Harry Potter movies and never read the books!
Daniela: Yeah. Same thing! I never read those books either.
Me: ............................................................................
Daniela is from Ecuador, and it isn't really culture in Central/South America to read like we do in the States .... but still.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Quarantined
Lack of updates can be attributed to the fact that I'm sick, and not spending any time with my little elves. I'm a little worried, they've been through so much chaos, me being their 4th teacher this year. I assured the parents some consistency from now on.
Cup of Joe saved my life this morning though. I was out of town this weekend so my apartment wasn't exactly stalked with food. Erich delivered breakfast and REAL orange juice!!! Vitamin C - ing it up here in the apartment!
Cup of Joe saved my life this morning though. I was out of town this weekend so my apartment wasn't exactly stalked with food. Erich delivered breakfast and REAL orange juice!!! Vitamin C - ing it up here in the apartment!
Friday, November 11, 2011
Poppy
Thankfully, most of my kiddos, or as my mom calls them, elves (for ELLs), are picking up English very quickly. I have one however who will repeat any gobbledegook he hears, no matter what language, without actually understanding the meaning of what he is saying. He's my little parrot. So this is happened.
Elf: "Book?" *Points to book with cars on it.*
Me: "Yes, this is a racecar book. The cars are in a race to see who will win."
Elf: "Please?" (read me the book)
Me: *Reads the book while elf watching pictures*
Elf: When the book was done, he's so excited he prances around holding up the book saying, "Racecar, racecar, racecar!"
Parrot: *Grabs a world atlas and follows the elf* "Racecar, racecar, racecar!"
Me: "This is a book, say 'book'"
Parrot: *Offers me the book to read* "Racecar!"
Awesome.
This is our classroom monster named, Poppy. In the spirit of classroom management, students tend to get along better when they create something together. And while we're singing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" we might as well get something out of that vocabulary. So I had them create a monster. They decided how many eyes, hands, legs, and the expression Poppy should have on his face (angry of course, their favorite word). Then I had them create where Poppy lived, apparently under the sea with the sharks. The most amazing thing is that they LOVE Poppy. So I actually got them to play Simon says with the version, "Poppy says ... " And Poppy is also our moral compass. "Would Poppy be running in the classroom?" ... So it's turned into "What would Poppy do?"
And now on a completely unrelated note ... it is finally time for me to possibly try plugging in my camera. It's about to die, but I've been holding out for this moment because I don't want to fry it in the socket. Then I would have no camera at all (same result if the battery dies I guess). So I was talking to my TA and she said she'd look at it to see if she could tell if the voltage would be compatible. Wouldn't you know, she starts cracking up and shows me, "Made in China". Of course it is. But will it work in China ... ????????
Also, as a sign of how much I would REALLY like my body to adjust to the time zone difference, yesterday I tried putting body wash in my hair as conditioner. And this morning I tried to put my contacts in while still wearing my glasses. Time to adjust and no longer be groggy!!!
Elf: "Book?" *Points to book with cars on it.*
Me: "Yes, this is a racecar book. The cars are in a race to see who will win."
Elf: "Please?" (read me the book)
Me: *Reads the book while elf watching pictures*
Elf: When the book was done, he's so excited he prances around holding up the book saying, "Racecar, racecar, racecar!"
Parrot: *Grabs a world atlas and follows the elf* "Racecar, racecar, racecar!"
Me: "This is a book, say 'book'"
Parrot: *Offers me the book to read* "Racecar!"
Awesome.
And now on a completely unrelated note ... it is finally time for me to possibly try plugging in my camera. It's about to die, but I've been holding out for this moment because I don't want to fry it in the socket. Then I would have no camera at all (same result if the battery dies I guess). So I was talking to my TA and she said she'd look at it to see if she could tell if the voltage would be compatible. Wouldn't you know, she starts cracking up and shows me, "Made in China". Of course it is. But will it work in China ... ????????
Also, as a sign of how much I would REALLY like my body to adjust to the time zone difference, yesterday I tried putting body wash in my hair as conditioner. And this morning I tried to put my contacts in while still wearing my glasses. Time to adjust and no longer be groggy!!!
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