on a Thursday

It's funny how life in a foreign country can become so regular. Simple. Routine. Even the crazy curveballs that tend to get thrown at you on an idle Thursday morning don't phase me anymore. This is China; and every little crazy part about it has become familiar to me now. It's almost like being home.

Today, after I finished teaching a rather hectic day (another recruiting day was held and we were told about it about an hour before we had to teach) I walked down the stairs and into the main lobby of our teaching building where I was literally bombarded by 15 second grade girls screaming "Cheltzeee teecha!"Little hands wrapped around my legs and my arms and my middle; enveloping me in hugs. Beth and Cassie dragged me outside with their jump rope and showed me their tricks; Ren and I kicked a soccer ball back and forth for a little bit and Jessie and Lacey showed me how they could swing on the monkey bars. For twenty minutes, it was just me and my kids and the China sunshine and the breeze coming off the Yellow sea.

"Chelsie," Charlotte, the head teacher, said to me yesterday, "it is clear that your kids love you. I think that they would stay in your classroom all day if they could."

And that's the beauty of it all. Yes, teaching them can be challenging and sometimes draining. But loving them? That comes without thought or any work at all. And at the end of the day; that's one of the greatest gifts these kids have given me.

I am a much better person because of them.

the last couple days from Instagram

"crazy" Mary and I before parent's day.

Thanksgiving dinner cooked by our head teachers!

Kitchen day today. Apples and Peanut butter!

I caved and splurged on butter and cheese and made myself a grilled cheese sandwich. It is quite possibly the best thing I've eaten since being in China. I MISS AMERICAN FOOD!

Meet my Second Graders

We're in the process of writing our student profiles, which are suggestions and pointers on how to teach our kids for the next group of ILP teachers. Part of that process is taking photos to accompany our tips. I thought I would upload them all on here, so that everyone can finally start putting faces to names. Without further ado, meet my precious and sometimes crazy second grade class.

Beth:

overall cuddle bug who loves to give hugs, hold hands and eat snacks.

 Chris:

Loves Angry Birds. Dislikes Sparkle. One of his greatest qualities is being Kevin's bud.

Dangling:

He thinks he is the coolest thing since sliced bread. Sometimes he is. Norah has a crush on him.

Dora:

She loves the word Octopus and she likes to hold the letter book up when we are singing the ABCs. She has a brother named Diego.

Drake:

Says his name like "Drak-uh" He speaks a ton of English, but likes yelling instead of talking.

Dustin:

Yeah, I named him after my best friend. He is new to the program, so he has no English and could care less what's going on and often ends up standing in the corner. But he likes to color.

Emily:

She's a flirt!

Haley:

Look at that face. Enough said.

James:

Oh James. I think his name was originally John, but over time and a bunch of teachers who couldn't understand his accent, it got changed to James. He is a jitter bug, but watching him dance is the cutest thing.

Kevin:

Kevin is often in his own little world. We think he has some form of autism. He loves to draw and read. He wears his pants backwards sometimes. 

Laura:

Sass monster! She is so sassy and loves to tattle on everyone else when they speak Chinese. It's quite helpful.

Leo

He has to be the first one to finish his work sheets and will hold them up to me for inspection and shout: "TEECHA, OK?!"

Little Tony:

This face=common occurrence.

Madison

Sweet little Madison. She always gives me stickers.

Norah

She is Dora's BFF, so it's confusing when they are together. She gives great hugs.

Pedro

Loves to punch things.

Peter:

Came up with his own nickname during kitchen and now refers to himself as "peter butter"

Ralph:

I LOVE THIS CHILD! He's so well behaved and tries SO hard to speak English. He was often overlooked at the beginning of the semester because he was quite and we used him as a buffer between two noisy children, but recently, I've been sitting him next to me during lessons and he talks my ear off!

REN

I've already written about how much I love Ren and what a stud he is. Read about him here.

Ruth:

Quite little thing; she always has her arms folded and likes to hold my hand.

Ryan:

This kid always has a grin on his face and it's adorable!

SKIP!

Skip is our newest student (as in about three or four weeks ago) and has almost no English, but he's learning quick. Unlike Dustin, who decided he just doesn't care, Skip adores all of us and behaves well and tries really hard to learn. And he is a CUTIE!

Sophie:

She started the program this semester too and up until recently, we were all worried she wasn't picking up on anything. She's so quite and well behaved; but whenever we heard her speak, it was always in Chinese. Lately though, she's been speaking more and more English when she's given the chance!

Tom:

He loves playing bubble gum. He also flirts with Emily.

Tony:

He likes to taunt Ren and Ren likes to insult him in English, which makes Tony mad and than typically, Tony will punch him. 

Vicky:

Oh my peanut Vicky. She's another one of my favorites. She is SO little and watching her dance around is the cutest thing ever. She also loves to try and tickle me and constantly will tug on my earrings and say: "teeeecha, beautiful."

Well, there you have it! My second grade class! I wish I could describe their personalities better; in fact, I wish you could all just meet them to understand how funny, smart and crazy these kids are. They keep me on my toes and I love them!

beth lost her front tooth!

and so obviously, I have to post pictures of her new, adorable, toothless smile!

(Ralph and part of me and Beth!)

(Norah, me and Beth)

I almost lost my hand to an Elephant

Okay, so, as you can see from the photos posted below, yesterday we went to the Weihai zoo, which is a pretty big attraction in the whole province of Shandong (kinda like a state in America, except much bigger). Zoo standards are a million times different and more laxed than in America...they have giant enclosures that you have to walk through and are filled with animals you can interact with...like birds...and monkeys. And, there is a place where you can pet a baby tiger or a big tiger. It's sad though, cause they keep those animals super drugged so they don't maul anyone. ANYWAY! You can buy a bag of carrots for 10 quay (American Money about  1.50) and then feed them to whatever animals you come across....including elephants and giraffes! Bryan, Dana and I were feeding an elephant and I wanted Bryan to take a picture of me doing it. So I was touching the trunk and smiling at Bryan and the next thing I know, the elephant had wrapped it's trunk around my hand and started PULLING ME. It was squeezing my hand SO HARD, it thought it was a carrot. I looked at Bryan and started saying: "It has my hand...IT HAS MY HAND!" and Bryan kept on saying: "Smile!" because he didn't realize I was in a panic. I finally wiggled my hand free before I toppled into the elephant enclosure, but my hand it all bruised from the encounter. It was SCARY! I fed the rest of my carrots to the nice giraffe after that. I also petted a capuchin monkey, a sea turtle, a walrus, and a bear. It was a wonderful time!

Snapshots on Saturday: I FINALLY WENT TO THE ZOO

This is me feeding an Elephant!

And this is me feeding a giraffe!

Moments

During the course of life, you live moments that end up sticking with you forever. Instances of impact. Switch points. Seemingly meaningless occurrences that you end up replaying in your head over and over again for years to come. What's weird is that when they are happening, when you are living in that moment; you don't typically realize that you are experiencing something that you will keep with you for the rest of your life. And then, at the end of the day, you realize that you experienced something profoundly special. A moment.

Today, Dana and I walked down to see our kids after we ate dinner in the cafeteria. Jessie came up to me and started fishing things out of her pocket. She gave me a half-drawn picture she was working on and a pack of post-it notes. I tried to give them back to her, but she shook her head and closed my hand around them and said: "For you, Cheltzee," before scampering off. Her clear unconditional love for me, her 5th or 6th American ILP teacher that she's had over the course of her enrollment at this school, struck me so hard in that instance. It was a moment.

Later tonight, I decided to go say goodnight and tuck in my second graders. As I was walking to their dorm, I heard my name be called. Walter (who has lost his ILP privileges this week because he was misbehaving in Chinese class) came running around the corner and gave me the biggest hug I've received since being in China. It amazed me that a hug that powerful could come from a kid so much smaller than me. "FLOOR FIVE!" he yelled at me as he ran up the stairs, indicating that he wanted me to come say goodnight to him after I had seen my first period kids. It was a moment.

As I peaked into the rooms of my second graders' floor, I heard my name being uttered from a room that already had the lights off. Beth, Cassie and Haley were all tucked into bed, but had heard me talking from down the hall. I quietly walked in and said goodnight, and Beth stood up on her bed and held her arms open for a hug. As I wrapped my arms around her, she said: "goodnight, teecha cheltzee" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I melted into a puddle of mush right there on the spot. A perfect moment.

China, on the whole, has been an incredible experience so far. The culture, the teaching, the people, the places have all combined into an adventure of a lifetime. But my students and these little moments that make up my every day life; that's what is really changing and teaching me. Moments that will stick with me forever. Instances of impact. Switch points. Moments that define who I am and who I am becoming, for I am a kaleidoscope of moments.