Planning time

-street performers

This week has consisted of lots and lots of lesson planning! It’s not easy, but once I get into it, I don’t mind it too much. It’s exciting to think about actually teaching what I’m planning- it’s definitely better than homework for the most part! Today I was able to go into school to do some planning at my desk- I have my own teacher’s desk in the classroom! I also did some grading and put up a bulletin board on geometry, which will be our next unit in math… that I’ll be teaching, gulp!
I haven’t really been outside much, but sometimes walking back and forth to the bus stop is all it takes to run into interesting situations. The other day near the bus stop there was a group of kids playing together. I was enjoying watching them play as I waited for the bus to come. Eventually one of them turned around, pointed at me, and said something in Chinese. The others turned to look and repeated the same thing. (I think they said something like, “look, it’s a white person!”) I smiled at them and said hello in Chinese. They all giggled and ran away. It was funny, but cute.
Kids aren’t the only ones who stare, though. Almost every time I’m walking down the street, at least one person calls out, “hello!” as I pass by. Sometimes I say hi back, which always makes them laugh. I’m getting to not mind it as much as I did at first. The hardest thing is not being able to speak much Chinese, especially in a situation where I really need to! Today for lunch, I walked to a little noodle shop near the school. I was hoping they might have a menu with pictures that I could just point to, but no. I had no idea what to order, so I just pointed to what the nearest person was eating. It looked decent, and I just had to hope it would be good. I wasn’t disappointed, it was really good, just a bit of a challenge to eat with chopsticks!