First Day of School!

Yesterday was my first day of teaching class. I just had two classes in the afternoon with 5th graders. That was at a school called Cui Wei The classes were huge! Each one had about 40 students. I think the kids was a little scared of me. They hardly said anything. It was pretty hard teaching. The classroom was really noisy from outside noise (think a jackhammer... literally). Plus my ears are plugged up from being so congested from the pollution. (I carry a water bottle and pack of kleenex with me at all times). I asked the students to take out a notebook but none of them had one. Oops! Evidently that's not a standard in China. They were well behaved just very very quiet.

This morning I had three more classes at JingShan. It is a boarding school about 45 minutes by car away from the central office. I teach 7th grade there. The classes are smaller. The first two classes only had 15 kids and the last one had about 30. I thought I could be a bit nicer and not so strict because they were smaller classes. Bad choice, especially with 7th graders. Let's just say I'm glad I won't be seeing those kids again for a week. It can only get better. And next week, I'll have a Chinese teacher in the room which helps more than you can believe.

So my other exciting news is that I have my apartment now! Moving and starting class all on the same day isn't the way I would have wanted to do it but that's just how life in China is. You don't ask questions, you just do what you're told. The apartment is clean which is nice that Hannah and I don't have to worry about that. But um it's totally bare. We have furniture (and a fridge in the living room, why? remember the rule about asking questions) and sheets for our beds and curtains but that's about it other than our own stuff which is still packed somewhere in our suitcases. I did some quick shopping last night for breakfast food and had to buy spoons and bowls which actually ended up being useless because I forgot to buy dish soap to clean them. Oops. I bought a towel too but when I tried to shower this morning the water didn't work. Oh well. Bit by bit it will become a home. And not just any home but the first place that I get to live in for 10 months in a row in over two years!

Sorry I don't have time to write much more. I have to rewrite lesson plans and figure out homework for next. Right now I'm at Subway where I found a wireless connection. Yeah for 2 for Tuesdays! (Two 6 inch subs for the price of one)