First Day of School!

Blog 3

Had my first day of class yesterday. In one word, I would describe it as clueless! Clueless meaning I had no clue what was going on! I am teaching 3 year olds, meaning this is literally their first time away from home, meaning they cry almost all day long (for the first month or a little less supposedly). There were 20 cute little Chinese kids and 4 Chinese teachers (and myself). The whole day the Chinese teachers did all the singing and teaching, I just smiled and played with the kids! So I was a little confused about my job specifically and what I should do/when. I wish I could just get a simple day schedule saying what we do and when. But it was still fun, and all the kids seem to like my hairy legs!

Today was my second day, and it went a lot better! I started the class by just taking the initiative to start reading a book about a monkey, and within a few minutes all of the 20 kids were sitting in chairs listening. The key to teaching Preschool is to be goofy and exaggerate everything! After the book I sang “head, shoulders, knees and toes” another song with introduction words ‘Hello, goodbye”etc…Then we had a water break, and the Chinese teacher did some Chinese teaching until outside playtime. The second half of the day consisted of 18 kids crying hysterically. At one point I had one kid sobbing into the right side of my shorts slobbering everywhere, and another on the left. The head Chinese teacher said they will most likely cry a lot for the first 3-4 weeks ish. It’s tiring, but it is nice to get off at noon and have the rest of the day to bike, relax, and to do His work.

Today I decided to bike to Moshan Hill (about 5 miles away). Two and a half miles are through the bustling streets of the city, swerving in and out of lanes, between buses, and people. Then I reached the lake. So beautiful! In the distance atop the highest hill I could see an ancient temple, waiting to be explored. Once I biked the winding wooded paths alongside East Lake (the biggest lake within a city in China) I reached a big lily pad pond (I don’t know what else to call it!). 4-5 foot lily pads covered this big lake, with pink flowers blooming atop. An old temple roof could be seen on the other side, as well as one in the middle of the lake. It was relaxing, and the smell of the water was a refreshing change from the smells of the road. While I was standing there, a Chinese family came up to me saying “picture?” I said “sure!” I thought they wanted me to take a picture for them. But the father (probably 40 years old) proceeded to interlock arms with me, and his wife took a picture! All I could think of doing was to give the peace sign and smile big! Their son then took a picture with me, putting his arm around me like I’ve known him my whole life! It was hilarious. I guess it is normal to take pictures with foreigners in Wuhan. Maybe they’ve never seen a white person before. All in all it was a great ride.   

Beautiful day, and park. My Facebook has more pictures of the bike ride if you want to see more!