Paola is in China

Yesterday was a very long day for me. I had a 感冒 (cold) and i so many things to do. My day started at 7:30 am... yes i know, it was Sunday, but i had to go and teach (as a substitute teacher) English. The class started at 8am, I was nervous because never in my life had I taught 4/5 year old children. Although there were supposed to be six students, only four came (how convenient..).. At the beginning it wasn't so bad, they seemed to listen. We learned the colours and some animals (monkey, mouse, elephant, rabbit, etc). The problem came when one hour went by and I was running out of ideas on how to teach the same things in a fun way (because I can only teach those two things for THREE hours???)… Anyways, they were starting to get tired and I didn't want to ‘lose them’… I had a Chinese teacher assistant, who helped me a lot, I mean she had more experience than me, so thankfully she had more ideas. After a while they had a little eating break, and the chinese teacher assistant left me for a while (where I took the photo bellow lol… muahaha) the children were speaking to me in Chinese (because they have limited English, as in… totally limited) and I understood some things, and others I had no clue what they were saying…. They were really nice, and seemed to like me, which made me happy. To be honest, I don't know how 3 hours passed and we were able to manage these energized creatures as well as we were able to teach them some words, and play lots of games. This was by far the most exhausting class in my life. When it was over I wanted to pass out.. I ran and played with them so much… I also sang some songs with them.. it was crazy –now I understand/admire kindergarten teachers- Anyhow, when they were leaving, a couple of them said to me “我喜欢你” which means “I like you”.. I was so happy!! Omg my heart was like booming… I mean, I really like kids, always have, and to know they like me makes me feel better! :)…

I can only remember the names of the ones on the right Kevin, and Angel
(they are not as Angelic as it looks like, specially the two in the middle!!!!!, they are nuts!!!)

After that very tiring class I came back home, and had a ‘one hour nap’ which ended up being three and half; that’s how tired I was, and I would have slept more, if it wasn’t because I had to teach another class at 4:30. I though that class was going to be 4/5 year olds as well, so I was prepared, but as usual in china, everything gets ‘switched’, it was actually a class for 6/7 year olds, they were A LOT easier to handle. They actually listened, and sat for longer!! Alleluia! Haha.. I had to teach math, more specifically adding. And yes, for three hours, I find that way to long for just adding. I had to make my imagination glow, and try to make more games and more exciting things for them, so that they wouldn't get bored/started to talk. They were pretty good students, and a lot unproblematic.. At the beginning the parents were watching the class from outside, which was a little intimidating, but after they left…. Oh ya! And I was writing something on the board, and when I turned around I was getting filmed, haha. I was like.. “oh hello..*wtf*”, but it wasn't just any camera, it was like those cameras for T.V. films…. That happened for a little while, and they finally left.. haha.. it was crazy. It was an interesting experience, and I got offered a job right a way, they were really pushy though, and really wanted me to teach there, I told them I would think about it because I was also going to start a volunteer teaching English. Yes I start this Wednesday :S… For the volunteer one I don’t know what to expect because
1. They are 12/13 years old
2. I don't know how good their lever of English is
3. Yesterday I asked how many students there were in my class, and the answer was: about 40 kids! I was like .. Holy macaroni…
so I’m very nervous for that class because I have no idea if what I will teach they will know, or if it will be too hard, or if they will pay attention because there are so many of them and so few of me. Though thankfully I also have a Chinese assistant which will help me so much, I hope….

The six to seven year old students, who now know how to add in english because of me!
and who know now, 100, 1000, and 10000 in english.. makes me feel happy.

Oh! By the way! I got molested twice by two different students in each class. On the first class one of the boys grabbed my BOOB! On purpose!!!! And on the second one the other boy grabbed my ASS! ON purpose too!! And he said “屁股” which means ‘butt’ … haha… This shows how obsessive men are with these body parts, even when they are like 5!! Or 6!! Lol….

Ps: i hope this week ends soon, i hate exam.midterm period.. :P...