Munchkin-land

So, today was our first day of actually teaching. We got here a little early, so none of the students were back from vacation, plus there was a huge storm all over northern and northeastern China (worst in 50+ years--thanks for the info, dad), so we started a day later than planned. My classes today were great! The kids were all so cool, except in my one Korean class--they
were little turds, but I guess I would be, too, if I was a second class citizen here at the school. Don't let the Korean characters everywhere on campus fool you--everything is so segregated.

There was this one little guy in my Korean class, though, who will probably become one of my favorite students. His name is Leo, he's really little and funny, and he has big glasses. Today he just kept wanting to show me his sweater. It had three little ghosts on it and said "boo." So when I gave a kid the English name "Bobby" and everyone kept calling him "Booby", Leo just kept pointing at his shirt, saying "boo, teacher, boo". Then at the end of class they all decided to play "chicken", and Leo ran right into the water cooler. It was no big deal, but another girl in the class got really upset about it. So she picked up her bookbag and just clocked him in the head. His glasses flew off, and he started crying, all crumpled up on the floor. He was so mortified, but it was really funny. I told him he was okay and that his glasses (and the water cooler) were fine, and it was no problem. Too cute.

There are kids in each class who are obviously the standouts, and they all helped me sort of explain what was going on to the kids who didn't quite get it. So far at my "picnics" today--a name game where you match up picnic items to the first letter of your name--I got a lion (Luke), some melon (Mike, who wanted to call himself Mike teacher), the sky (Sophie) and a whole
lot of apples. That's cool. I like apples. But student-wise, I have a Banana, an Ivy, a Fay, a Bread, a Miffy and a Montas. Don't ask me what the hell Montas means, but he insisted. Kids are so funny. Every time I would call on Banana, you could tell he got so much gratification out of the fact that teacher called him Banana.

Rory didn't have as much luck. Apparently all his classes had additional textbooks that he didn't know about. Plus, his schedule is definitely the most jam-packed of the three of us. Cecilia and I just have to teach conversational English (because there's already a Chinese English teacher going over grammar and stuff), but Rory's really the main English teacher the Koreans have, so not only does he have to work the most, he has to teach grammar and pronunciation/conversation. The second half of his day went a lot better, though, once he was able to locate the missing books. Plus he befriended a colleague who is going to teach us Chinese if we help her with her English. Sweet!

In each classroom, too, there is a computer built into the desk and every audio visual device you could think of. Yet they
don't have much heat, they poop in holes, and you can't print anything or copy anything unless you go to a completely different building. I don't get it. It all seems pretty funny. Plus, all the students looked at me like I was crazy when I asked them to get out a piece of paper. So now I know I should bring paper to class. No problem.

And on top of it being the first day of classes, I got a present of 100 yuan, because it's women's day. Every woman who works here (approximately 80 of us), got 100 yuan. Hey, I like free money!

That's all for now. I'm sure we'll do something incredible this weekend, and with any luck, we'll have some video going asap.