It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Do you remember the Staples commercial that ran the summer and fall of 1996？ It was a dad gliding down the aisles of Staples to the tune of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" while his children trailed behind him，looking completely defeated。Although "back to school" time in China is a bit different than the mad rush in the States，I did spend a few of my afternoons fighting through crowds at Aschun (Walmart-like megastore which is so full of people at any given time that I often dread being mowed down by a shopping cart driven by a deranged, bargain-hunting family) to get a notebook or two．

Surprisingly enough, being a teacher at the beginning of the school year did not bring with it the mixed bag of emotion I had as a student. When I was in school, there was the warm fuzzy feeling of going back to something I knew and loved, while also dreading all of the work I did not want to do. As a kindergarten teacher, I wake each morning ready to face the day as a glorified entertainer. My lesson plans consist of games and songs, and my days are made up of kissing boo-boos and breaking up "biting battles." All of last week I was without a voice due to the fact that I have become a rubbing post for every runny nose and the receptical of all hacking coughs. Newton Kindergarten is one giant germ-fest. Wahoo! However, I do love all of my kiddies. The kindergarten has both ex-pat and local children. I teach two English classrooms and 2 bilingual (which means local) classes. In my English classes I have children from America, Australia, France, Japan, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Malaysia, and the UK. It's the new U.N! Despite the language barrier, the two Japanese children seem to have taken a shine to me. One is constantly biting me on the behind, the other, well, she's even more friendly!

In addition to teaching kindergarten, I have taken on a business English class at a German air conditioning company. For three hours each Saturday morning I do roleplays, Power Point presentations, listento music, and converse with the middle age, middle management of Trox Air Conditioning. It's been fun. It probably wasn't the best idea to sign up for working six days a week right from the start, but who said I did anything in moderation? Speaking of working hours, next week is a national holiday (I have no idea which one) and so we have the whole week off! Wahoo. However, the catch is that we need to work Saturday and Sunday of this week. Who doesn't like working 7 days a week?

The apartment is turning out to be quite nice. The air conditioning, refrigerator, bathroom light, and washing machine have been fixed and our ayi (means "auntie" in Chinese, aka housekeeper) comes twice a week to give us a thorough wipe down. I will post pictures as soon as it's presentable (i.e. when the walls are no longer bare, but instead covered in original art work by Jess and I). Right now it's clean but depressingly spartan. However, this week we are definitely going to start using the kitchen. We have pots and pans, although they are so cheap that the flame from the stove heats them through much to quickly. It will be hit or miss at first, but what's a little burnt garlic?

To the left I have posted pictures of some of the children in my classes, and a softball game where Jess and I were the only spectators in the grand baseball stadium in Wuxi. Our friends, most commonly referred to as "the lads" or by thier team name "The Mooseknucklers", are part of a four team league. It was the first game of the season and let's just say they didn't play the best game of thier life. They played against a team from Singapore who were at the field hours before the game, practicing. I think the Mooseknucklers rolled out of bed an hour before the game and were still hungover from the night before. It was highly entertaining to watch. Although I do not have a future career as a sports photographer, the pics are not half bad!