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I don't think I could be any more content than I am at this very moment. The past few weeks have been utterly fantastic, my students never cease to put a smile on my face, this country never fails to surprise me, the people never stop me from feeling welcome and the sun continues to shine down on us all.
Really, I don't want to spend my time rambling away about my day-to-day routine over the past few weeks, more I want to express the complete pride I feel over my students and their ability in making my entire experience the sheer pleasure that it has been. From being here, i'm certain that teaching abroad is a career and a passion I wish to pursue; if the pupils in my future classes are half as enthusiatic, welcoming, hillariously funny, friendly and determined as the students here, my working life will be simply perfect. Even those students that are reluctant to learn and muck around are great in other respects; they have talents in other subjects, they work their absolute hardest to achieve the best they possibly can in them and, often, they try hard with their english but find it far too difficult or are too shy to practice what they know.
Last week, Terri came to visit, a lovely treat for myself and my students. They found her inability to say "A big black bug had blue black blood while the other black bug bled blue" hillarious, their faces were glowing with pride when they realised that they, foreign speakers, could perform better than natives! This week, I have been teaching classes new greetings, so I no longer have to endure "HELLO!" every two seconds, and new responses to 'How are you?', informing students that their usual: 'I'm fine' and nodding can actually be, when repeated by every chinese person, insanely annoying. By Tuesday, I had classes saying, in the coolest fashion, ''sup?!' WITH hand actions and 'I'm as cool as a cucumber'. Walking around school is gradually becoming less of an ordeal, I have already been graced with an "I am feeling well, thank you!"
What has really touched me this week though is the reaction to this tragic earthquake. Being in the country where this disaster hit makes it become all the more real; we aren't just watching images on TV, the people who are being affected aren't just random photographs, captured at a moment of desparation, they are the people around us. We may not have felt the physical impact of the quake, but the compassion, love, care and concern of the country can be felt all around. One of my students said in class, instead of the typical 'i'm fine', 'i'm sad because of the earthquake that has hit our mainland'. The school were already collecting money to help with the deaths and treatment of the sick falling prey to a virus spreading through the east coast, they have now painted a mural to commemorate those who have been lost, which Zoe and I contributed to...well...mildly destroyed with our attempted self portraits...It's heart-warming to see the compassion within humanity.
Apart from those events, we have had a good week outside of school; we met up with a couple of older students from the school opposite, we helped them with english and they then taught us some chinese. Evil teacher has hunted me down and physically dragged me to tea, she then invited herself to our flat, commented on its simplicity, gave us a pineapple, which has injured both our mouths, before inviting herself for a meal next week! Our bikes went missing, but have returned; i've had the pleasure of observing some of Zoe's classes, which have been such good fun, we've watched students marching up and down our street and last night, I did a sketch on the kerb, leading to many children and their parents gazing over my shoulder. They looked utterly horrified when I spoke the simplest chinese...
Next week shall be my last of teaching senior two for a while, as they now take some major exams. What shall I do with more time on my hands?!
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