May 24, 2010
So, this week hasn't been the most exciting of all weeks but that's just fine with me. Life here is so simple and slow paced that I wonder how well I'll do back in America with all of its fast-paced busyness. Anyway, so I had my students tell me about Chinese manners this week and it was pretty enlightening. For instance, they will knock for like 10 minutes if they think you're there and I used to think it was just odd; my students told me that you always open the door, even if you're sleeping or whatever (the only exception is if you're showering). Luckily I haven't actually done anything offensive to my knowledge, so now I just have to hope I know enough about their manners not to offend them without meaning to.
So on Thursday it was raining so hard and I actually had to walk home from class during the worst part of it all. My students that I had just taught didn't have a teacher yet (sometimes the teachers are just 10 minutes late for no reason). Anyway, so I walked down the stairs and saw some of my students still outside before class started. They saw me as I started walking into the rain and they were like, "Ah, Miss Madi!" They were kind of proud that I'm so crazy and kind of scared for my own well-being. Anyway, they kind of just laughed and partially cheered/freaked out about me walking into the rain. There were also some kids up on the balconies that did the same thing, yelling out to me a little. Well, as I got out of the gate and started heading home, the class I had just taught were all outside on the balcony. They were cheering me on the entire time I was in sight. It was one of the funniest things- man I love these kids! I think some of them were a little bit freaking out but they were mostly just cheering me on and it was awesome.
Anyway, not much else happened this week; we stayed home this weekend and it was nice. Oh, I guess Nikki and I did have a little bit of crazy time. We went to the almost-mall thing here to see if we could find a dictionary that was what we need (English to pinyin and Chinese, then back again). Sadly we couldn't find any that were what we wanted/needed. So after searching through all of the dictionaries we could find, we decided to just look around at a few other things. We found sunglasses that we decided are really funny looking so we had a good time making fun of the sunglasses and stuff. We also found a place with wigs, so we tried some on. It was really odd seeing myself with such dark hair- all of the wigs were some shade of brown; most leaning closer to black than anything else.
We also went to Lengshui tang with Twinkle, Shelby, Cierra, and Sam (we being Nikki and I) on Saturday. It was pretty fun- though the whole shopping thing wasn't quite what I felt like doing at the time, it was good to spend time with them all. Jacob came to visit this weekend! It was quite exciting to have him around and I'm really glad that we got to hang out with him again before he heads back to the States.
May 30, 2010
Okay, so this one will just be 2 weeks in one just because I can. Anyway, this week I gave a lesson about American culture because I had asked my students what they wanted to learn more about and most said either culture, stories, music, famous places, or something along those lines. So I showed them pictures of a bunch of the famous places in America, some of the folk songs we all learn growing up, and I told them a story or two. It was pretty funny because I asked what kind of story they wanted, and they wanted scary stories… the best I had was Bloody Mary and the Headless Horseman. They enjoyed it I think. Man, I love my students so much- I'm seriously going to miss them when I go home. It's so weird thinking that I'll be going home soon; I mean, a part of me is way excited to go back and get on with my life in a sense, and the other part will severely miss China. It's interesting how things work out though, and I'm sure it'll all be for the better- I just wish I knew what that better was at the moment. I'm super excited about next week though because I'll be leaving for Xiamen on Saturday and I'll be there until the next Friday. I've even had some of my grandma's old students helping me out and I'm looking forward to seeing them again.
So, I spent a fairly large-ish portion of time helping Nikki untangle this giant thing of yarn this week. I also helped her make some bracelets, but it was the untangling that I did mostly. Anyway, I feel like I've gained a new hobby almost- though I really hope I don't have to try untangling something like that for quite a long time. I definitely feel like I've had my fill of red yarn for a very long time. Speaking of bracelets though, my student Laura made a bunch of bracelets and gave one to Nikki, one to Sam, and one to me. It just makes me happy that my students care about me.
One thing I've noticed while I've been here is that they definitely do use the peace sign in pictures almost all the time! The only problem is that now I do it with them a lot… though usually only because I'm with other Chinese people, or the fact that I'm in China. Now I've started to think that maybe I'll do it when I get home… and of course there is a right way to do it- it's with the inside of your hand facing the camera (the other way is called the "forks" and it's bad in England I think…).
Anyway, I think I'm gonna call this good for now because I want to go make another epic fort with Nikki, so I'll get this up shortly and call it a night. So, until next time… don't boil milk in a hot water maker! (Just a little advice in case the option ever arises).
Madi
Ps- Now you can see my new hairstyles! :)
