Bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish.

Bubble Gum is the most popular game with all of my students and the all try to be extra good so that we all can play it for the last few minutes of class. Everyone puts their hands in, and as I tap one hand at a time around the circle, we all chant: "Bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish. How many pieces do you wish?" The person that the chant lands on picks a number and we all count together, and whoever the number lands on is out. Hope that makes sense, and you all probably know some version of it; I vaguely remember playing it when I was younger.

Anyway, some of my kids like it so much that they play it with themselves. I caught Amy doing it the other day; probably the funniest moment of the week. Enjoy:

Just a little update:

1. Kelly (foreign coordinator) had her baby on Mother's Day! They haven't named her yet; something about having to consult with their fung-shway/star dude. I dunno, it's a China thing.

2. For some reason, the school decided that afternoon classes now start at 2:00 and go until 5:20. Never given an official reason, but it makes sense, because our kids were showing up a half an hour late for the last week and we had no clue why. TIC.

3. In China, it's considered beautiful if you are white. Not tan. Being tan is BAD! So, even though it is beautiful here and the sun is shining, everyone wears long-sleeved shirts, pants, hats and carries umbrellas. Julianna (our new foreign coordinator, since Kelly is a mama now) said that there is a specific kind of umbrella used for the sun: "They are...a lot more...beautiful! Umbrellas for the rain...are...regular." I don't know how they do it; it get's so hot here!

4. Going off of that note about not being tan; we went to the international beach on Saturday. It was beautiful out; mid 80's, not a cloud in the sky, a perfect beach day by American reasoning. If you were to make your way to Hampton or Salisbury, it would have been PACKED. But, in China, the beach was pretty dang empty. We had a huge stretch of sand all to ourselves. As the sun started to go down and the breeze picked up, we packed up and got ready to hop the bus home and realized that the beach was packed! Everyone comes to the beach when the sun goes down in China!

5. Babies here do not wear pants, or diapers. They wear chaps. And when they have to potty, they just go. In the middle of the street, in the middle of the supermarket, in the middle of the beach. It's crazy. 

6. I have five weeks left here. It's insane. Next week is Children's day, where we have to sing and dance in front of the parents, and our kids preform little songs and dances that we taught them. We go to Beijing in a couple more weeks. And then I fly home. I'm so torn about it already. Stoked to see my family, to shower in a real shower and to eat a Ham and Cheese sandwich. Sad to leave real Chinese food, 5 RMB dvds and my kids. After all, they are the greatest part about being in China. 

Track and Field Day

Track and Field Day. AKA a big deal for Da Guanghua. 

We came back from our vacation two weeks ago to a crazy TIC week. Our classes were shortened/cancelled. I only saw my homerooms on Monday and Tuesday because the kids showed up late and needed to be left early. Classes were cancelled Wednesday so we could all practice for the opening ceremonies, in which we had to MARCH (yes, march) around the track with the rest of the school to their little marching drum and then stand in the field while the principle said some opening remarks (all in Chinese, granted). How many times did we rehearse? Three times. Three times the whole school piled off of the track, lined up and then marched around again. Like I said, it's a big deal.

Thursday and Friday, all classes were cancelled, and we were down at the track at 7:50 AM to prepare for opening ceremonies. Were there any other schools coming to compete against us? Nope. What about parents? Nope. So, we marched around the track for the sole entertainment of...ourselves. TIC. 

We spent the whole day at the track, watching our students compete and sitting with them and cheering them on. It was so great to spend so much time with my kids outside of the classroom and to just chill and not yell "ENGLISH ONLY" every time they spoke Chinese. It was also awesome to just watch them interact with each other in their native language; to take away that language barrier and to REALLY see their personalities shine. 

Opening Ceremonies:

Jane, Lisa, Jessie and Jamie after their race:

Bryan and Laura playing:

Laura trying on Bryan's glasses:

Amy after her race:

Jane trying on my sunglasses:

Hanging out with my sweet girl, Jane. She is such a good girl, who always helps me out in class and who tries SO hard to speak English so that she can communicate with me. 

Hanging out with my darling Jessie:

Hanging out with the peanut, Ms. Vicky.

At opening ceremonies:

Friday was the same procedure. Sit at the track with out kids, cheer everyone on. Some of the ILP teachers were even asked to run in a relay with the Chinese staff. It was so fun to cheer them on. We had closing ceremonies, where we all stood on the field again while the principal babbled in Chinese and handed out awards (completely unsure what they were for) and then we high-fived out kids before they left for the weekend. 

All in all, it was an awesome two days of no teaching, spending time with my students, and soaking up the China sunshine and the breeze off the Yellow sea. 

Happy Mother's Day!

More from Yangshuo

Cort and I and our scooter stuck in the rice field. Good thing I was wearing my bathing suit-because clearly I was in for a bath!

Dana, Sally, Cortnie, Cyndi, Teri and I on West Street during the night market life.

We got matching friendship bracelets for 5 RMB!

Cyndi, Me and Teri on the roof top!

Our whole group on the rooftop our last day! Storm was rolling in!

Me, Cyndi and Teri at the night market in Guilin. (We stayed there our last night because we had an early train from Guilin the next morning!)

Pagodas in Guilin

The group at People's Park in Jin'an (Capitol of my province). We had an eight hour "layover" there after our 32 hour train ride from Guilin before taking our final eight hour train ride to Weihai.

I RODE A BIKE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FIVE YEARS IN YANGSHUO!

best day ever!

Yangshuo, Part one

We woke up at 8:00. Packed. Caught the 38 bus at 11:15 and took it into the Jia Jia, where we transferred to the 30. Rode the 30 to the wholesale market and transferred to the 12 and rode that to the bus station on the other side of Weihai. It's crazy to be able to navigate the inter-city bus system now; especially after feeling like it would never be possible when I first moved here. 

We took a three hour bus ride from Weihai to a city called Qingdao (CHING-dow) where our plane was scheduled to take off. The flight was fine (they fed us noodles and tomatoes) and we had a layover in a city that I can't remember. All's I know is that we got delayed at that city on the tarmac for two hours....so we landed in Guilin at 2:00 AM. Our foreign coordinator told us we could sleep at the airport, so we wouldn't have to pay for a hostel. People spend nights in airports frequently, so it wouldn't be a big deal, right? 

Not in China. The Guilin airport is really small and our flight was the last flight until 7 AM in the morning. When we got into the airport, everything was closed down and there was no one waiting in the gates. ALL of the chairs were plastic with railings...no place to lie down. So, as all of the lights shut off and everyone left, our small group of eight Americans curled up on the floor in a café..and tried to get some rest:

AT 5:30 in the morning, we were woken up by the guards, who ushered us out of the airport in broken English. We were so scared we were going to get in trouble, so we snagged taxi's that charged us way too much to get to the bus station, but we were okay with that. We just wanted out!

We hoped on an hourly bus that departs from Guilin and drives to Yangshuo (about an hour away). And I do not lie when I say it is the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life:

Yangshuo is this little touristy village nestled in these crazy mountains, right on the river. Think Jackson Hole, Wyoming or North Conway, New Hampshire, and you'll understand the feel of the area. The roads are all cobblestoned and lined with shops and cafés and stalls. There are places to rent bikes, mopeds and go on tours of the country side. (Farms and little villages). After we checked into the hostel, we decided we wanted to rent mopeds and found a cute little man named Daniel who said he would take us on a tour.

As you can tell; Yangshuo had experienced some heavy rains the week before. The cute little paths that we were driving our mopeds on had turned into MUD traps. Cort and I got stuck several times and at one point, Sally slipped on her scooter and flew right off the path and into a rice patty field. Cort and I were right behind her and were so distracted by her little crash, that the next thing we knew, we had driven into the field too! Our scooter was stuck in mud and my sneakers were covered and drenched, but the whole situation was so funny that I couldn't stop laughing. Always an adventure. 

Yangshuo had a ton of traditional Chinese weavers on the streets:

Hostels are the coolest places in the world, and ours had a roof top bar over looking the river. At night, we went up there and met people from ALL over the world, including Owen, from the U.K. He played pool and jenga with us and made all of the girls giggly with his awesome accent.

At night, West Street (main street of Yangshuo) turns into a GIANT night market. There was a cute little lady who spun cotton candy about three feet away from her machine (it was so cool to watch) for 2 quai (20 cents in America currency).

One of my favorite parts about China are the 4 quay noodle bowls you can buy off the street!

Sally, Bryan and I:

Me standing on the roof top bar of our hostel, watching a storm roll into the mountains. It was SO BEAUTIFUL!

Part two will come soon-but I'm in the middle of a CRAZY TIC week at Da Guanghua. 

Updates to follow!

snapshots on my first day back!

took my SLR to class today. Wanted to capture these precious faces through my lens. 

the last week

Sorry I have fallen off of the blogging world the last week. I was on vacation in the South of China, in the most beautiful place I've ever seen:

I'll be sure to catch you all up on my adventures in Yangshuo soon!