Ni Hao!

Ni Hao everyone! I am so sorry that it has taken so long to update my blog. But for some reason i can't get into it. I did just figure out I can write on it but I can't ever see what it will look like. The internet here in china is a bit crazy at times. So i hope this works.

I have now been in china for over a month and I am loving it! Each day is a new adventure and I'm continually learning and growing. China is in no way what I expected it to be. It is way better and even more insane then I'd seen on Tv. So let me give you a little run through of my days here in Linyi. I wake up every morning around 6 am. I get ready for school and I take a nice walk to the bus station where I then head to my favorite 2 vendors to get my homemade peanut Soy milk and my scrambled egg and pepper breakfast sandwich. There are hundreds of vendors to choose from but I continually go to the same 2 every day and I have made friends with the workers there, even tho we can't speak the same lanuage. I am good at pointing to what I want however, and saying "jiga" (that) and sye sye (thank you) when I walk away. But it has been such a regular routine that I don't have to ask anymore they just see me and make it. You can tell they are very proud to have an American at their vendor. I then take the 45 min bus ride to the Shaumy Yueho campus where I teach my classes. Teaching is my favorite part of the day!

The students do NOT act like they are in college at all, but immature junior high students. If we talk about boys, or if i make them sit or even talk to a boy the girls get all giggly and shy. It is very difficult to teach them however. They aren't that good with their English skills so i have to talk V E R Y S L O W and i have to use SO MANY hand signals. I never thought i would say this but I think ive become dumber since i've been here. When I'm with my friends I talk like "lets go to Park." Or "I'll call you on your cell phone as I'm doing the motion of a phone to my ear. All the teachers laugh about it cause we ALL do it! I just know when i get home to America (Its america now, not the United States) I just know that I will get many looks from people who think i'm half retarded.... but in all regards I still love teaching! I can do anything I want and they think its funny! I have many different classes. 16 to be exact and over 30 in each class so sometimes the lessons seem to get old after a while. So i try to make them as fun as possible.

Lesson 1: It was the introduction Lesson. All about Me, learning their english names, finding out what they want to learn about, and trying to see what level they are on. They were most interested in me and my life back home in America. They LOVED to see pictures. They see our huge family and you hear so many little voices whispering "so beautiful." Its really cute. They also love when i show them pictures of sophie and lily. I explain how small lily is and how sophie is bigger. They really get a kick out of that. Oh and they laugh when one of the girls is Lily or Sophie. They get embarrassed so easily. Their English names don't seem to suprise me anymore. I gave up on trying to change all of my students who didn't have real names. Yesterday I had a student with the name bucket, and then another girl with the name pickle. They assured me they did NOT want to change their names because they thought the words were beautiful. Haha. It is so funny. Another thing that doesn't suprise me anymore is that all they want to learn about is America. American Culture, American Music, Movies, Daily Lives, Traveling and so much more. Oh and the NBA! Every class we have to talk about the NBA! They all know I am a Jazz fan, and they don't like the Jazz because the Jazz beat the Rockets which is a big no no in china. But its very fun to relate with them for once. They also LOVED learning the song "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes." Every time we are done singing they clap and laugh! But whenever we get to the eyes ears mouth STOP! I yell. Then i point to my mouth. What is this! And they yell out "Mous" No No NO! and they just laugh. They have the hardest time pronousing there Th's. So I got it down. I erase the th and just write MOU. They repeat that a few times. Then in very small letters I write th and put my finger to my lips so they know to say it quietly. And after awhile they really catch on. BUt as soon as I hear the S sound I cover my ears and pretend like it hurts to listen and then i yell out I heard it again! But can admit they are improving quite a bit. Oh and i told them if I hear one more person tell me SANK YOU then i quite! haha So they are getting way better at thank you as well. They are very fast learners. So that was my first couple of weeks teaching.

2nd Lesson- Today was my first time teaching my new Lesson. It was on Emotion. It was so much fun. I acted out every emotion I could come up with. Then I would draw every emotion on the bored and we would go over how to say them. I also explain that in America, its not considered "cool" for guys to show emotion. So I had a girl come up and we acted out a little skit. First she would cry and I would pretend like i cared. I would pat her back and put her head to my chest but I would look out the other direction and act annoyed. They thought was pretty good. Then I had the girl dump me, (i'm the boy if you didn't know) and I would act all tough but as soon as she would walk away I would start to cry. They got a good response of laughter. Then we played Emotional Cherades. I devided the class into 2 teams. Girls verses boys and I would have 2 of them come up at a time and I would whisper an emotion they had to act out then when I'd say GO they would turn around and act it out! It was first to 10. The winners got to decide a consquense for the losers. Both of my classes made the other team dance in front of the class room. They really act like 14 year olds. Then I had them sit down and I would show them a variety of music and I would ask what emotion they felt by this song. Mostly they felt happy, sad, excited, or in love. haha. It worked out great.

So thats kinda a brief description of my teaching. I love it because I can teach whatever i want and I get to come up with whatever I want. So if any of you have good ideas let me know! After teaching I take the 45 min bus ride back to my campus where I go and usually talk to Wayne, or other friends, and sometimes baba and mama,(Mom and dad) IF they answer their phone... haha they are working on it. We almost got it today. But then the girls and I usually head out shopping or just walking around the little markets. Its very relaxed and its getting easier and easier to get around. After walking around for a few hours we head back and all split off to our rooms. I then find myself emailing, writing in my journal, reading my scriptures or editing my pictures. So its nice since I do have my own little life here in china but I do miss America Very much. I am very excited to come home, which is a good feeling. I remember dad telling me this once. "Wouldn't it be sad if you didn't have a home you liked to come home to?' and its true. I am so glad that I don't have to worry about that. I know when I get home my life will change a lot but my experiences here will benefit me for the rest of my life. Dzai-jyan! (goodbye!)

Oh and here are a few pictures I thought you'd enjoy. The babies here all have holes in their clothes so if they have to poo it will come right out! Brilliant but disturbing... also I went to the capitol of Shandong this last weekend. It's called Jinan and it was beautiful. So i took some pictures of that. And some pictures are of Walmart. A sign going in and me going up an escalator with my cart. It was really cool. Two stories! Enjoy!