9.15.10

     As I walk to the Kindergarten every morning there are a wide variety of people that I see. Some I am starting to recognize, because I see them everyday. There is one older woman inparticular that refuses to smile at me. Most people at least nod their head back. But she scowls at me, the complete opposite of most people. The other day she was in conversation with her friends and as I walked past I smiled and nodded like I do everyday and she stopped talking, looked at me and then scowled as I walked past. One day she will smile back : )

     This week in the afternoons with my L2 kids we are making paper lanterns in celebration of the coming Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival is basically to worship the moon. So with these lanterns my first group of kids I seriously overestimated their ability to use scissors. They needed to cut out the border of the lantern on the dark solid line. Unfortunately, they all cut on the dotted line about an inch below the solid line, then insisted on mutilating the rest of the paper. They all had puzzles by the end of class. There was only one girl that walked away with what the lantern should have looked like and two other girls that we were able to salvage enough so it looked like a lantern. From then on out I had the borders pre-cut, so all they had to do was color and then make a few basic cuts and I helped glue it in a circle. The other classes have been much more successful. One of my classes kept trying to include me in their conversation. However, my lack of Chinese made this very difficult. I needed to know a little so that I knew they weren’t bad mouthing me.

     On Tuesdays and Wednesday the school offers a Yoga class for the teachers and I went Wednesday last week and Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I’ve just come from the Wednesday class and that Chinese instructor had us in a few positions that I wasn’t really sure were possible at first. I’m going to be sore or something in the morning. I’m hoping that by the end of the term I will be a little more flexible though. The class itself is pretty enjoyable. The instructor is really nice, but doesn’t speak any English, so if I’m doing something wrong she comes over and gently pushes my body into the right position. I’m sure as soon as me and Helen walk in she is like, “great the stiff foreigners are back,” because those Chinese teachers are much more flexible than either one of us. But she just smiles and helps us out. 

     Some days I think that I really want to come home where life is comfortable and easy. I wouldn't have any real struggles except deciding what to have for dinner. But then I think about the amazing opportunity I have been given and all of things I will learn this year and experiences I will have and people I have met and will meet. It is only a year and everything at home will still be there when I get back. I have to keep reminding myself of that. I do get to come home, I'm not here forever. This year will really make me appreciate life back in America. I look forward to seeing what is next.