Hanging out

Hello again everyone. The weather has continued to warm up, and I don't think I've ever been so happy because of it. I think the cold has officially passed, so it will rarely drop below 60 degrees during the day anymore!

The past two weeks have been a great time of hanging out with some of my Chinese students and friends outside of our usual spots (class or Mr. Mai's).

Last Saturday, the 17th, the foreign teachers were invited to a picnic with some of the Senior 1 International students and teachers. Our Sr 1 International classes are a little different than the rest of our classes. We teach them once a week for an hour instead of 40 minutes. It's kind of an extra class, so we don't follow the textbook. At the beginning of the year, I thought this would be my favorite class to teach. With no textbook, I could do whatever I wanted for lessons and make them as fun as possible. I was completely wrong! With no textbook, I've had no guidance for lesson planning. Also, the international students are a little different than the general ones. Wuhan No. 1 is one of the top schools in the country, so many students want to go there. From what I've learned, the international students are mostly here because their parents pay to have them attend, not because of their grades. Some of the students are great, but a lot of them seem to be very spoiled, and don't want to do ANYTHING in class. It's turned out to be the one (and only) class that I dread teaching each week.

I wasn't too excited about getting up early on a Saturday to hang out with some of these students, but it actually turned out to be a pretty good day. We went to Forest Park which isn't far from our school. I've been there once before with Molly and her daughter. My favorite place is Monkey Hill. There are dozens of monkeys (and a few random dogs) running free all over the place. It was hilarious to feed them, watch them fight, and watch the students nervously approach them. After that, we barbecued Chinese style. No hamburgers. Chicken, pork, eggplant, potatoes, corn, tofu, and lots of other things. Chinese barbecue is completely different, but VERY good! Hanging out with my students outside of class has seemed to help in class as well. Ever since then, my class has been a little more active in class. Now I just hope it can last for two more months!

The next day, I went to a Chinese "gathering" with Jesse. You may remember that I gave Jesse a Book a few months ago. I don't think he has been reading it a lot, but I can tell that he's interested in learning about Him. He actually texted me about going, which was surprising. I think he had a good time. The entire service was in Chinese, so I didn't really understand anything, but he was asking me questions about the "Book Stories" the pastor was talking about. He mentioned that he would like us to go again with his friend CiCi, so hopefully we'll be going another time soon.

Kirk, Daniel, and I hung out with Patrick this past Saturday (the 24th). Patrick is a college student I've been getting to know quite a bit at Mr. Mai's. His English is really good, which is always nice! He knows phrases that I've never heard other Chinese people use. He asked if I wanted to hang out his one off day that week. We decided to go to the Hubei Musem. Hubei is the province that Wuhan is in. Patrick had been there before, so he helped us get there and showed us around. After that, we had jaozi (dumplings), my new favorite Chinese food! It was another good time, and I could tell Patrick enjoyed it a lot as well. I feel like many younger Chinese people have a lot of fun hanging out with us. I think some of the reason is because the older generation is still very traditional. I think the younger generation likes to just hang out, not having to toast others or worry about face (sort of like status or reputation).

That's what I've been up to lately. Be thinking of my decision for next year. I will need to decide if I will return to Wuhan No. 1 pretty soon, probably by my next post. When I came here, I was pretty set on staying only one year. However, after getting to know so many people, it's hard to see myself leaving this place for good in two months!