St. Mary Has Nothing On My Panda

      I don't know how many of you remember it, but a few years ago there was this grilled cheese sandwich that sold for 28,000 dollars on ebay because it looked like the virgin Mary. Well, a few days ago I had my first piece of Chinese toast, and to my complete suprise what did I find when my bread popped up as toast? A panda bear ! Thats right, China just became a lot cooler - see picture for details.

     Anway, for those of you who are wondering, I am not completely better yet, but I have been feeling well enough to go back to school which is great. I have almost all new kids, and my schedule is way crazier with the new semester, but I love it. Not only do I teach everyday, but now I also get the opportunity to be taught daily too. On Monday's and Wednesday's we have Chinese lessons from Candice, Tuesdays are art lessons, Thursdays our school chef gives us cooking lessons, and Fridays we take Kung Fu with master Spring (as in Water). These lessons really start to make me feel like I'm being integrated into Chinese culture and I love it. In so many ways I think I was born to be a full time student. I love learning so much that it is almost hard to tell which I love more..being a teacher or a pupil. Though I admit that I would love school a lot more a lot more often if it were as laid back as my "schooling" is here..I'm definitely not keeping up the Chinese scholastic standard required of most of the kids here. Just across the street at the Kaiyin school, the kids stay up until 8 or 9 studying even though they are only 8 or 9 years old. It will be long past dark when their parents come to pick them up.

    Speaking of parents, this past Thursday was our first parent teacher conference, and it was definitely weird being on the other end of it as the teacher rather than the student or parent. It was a fun time though because conferences here are more like a big party than anything else. The school tied the conference into the New Year's lantern festival, and that meant we got to solve riddles for prizes and make/eat traditional Tangyuan filled with sesame paste or peanut butter. The stuff is kind of weird because it has the taste and consistency of hardening elmers glue, but it's certainly edible and at least it's non-toxic.

   It really is hard to describe how much I love it here. The longer I'm here the more it feels like home, and the more friends I make. Chinese people are so friendly, and they are just my type because once you've broken the friend barrier you've also broken the physical bubble. Once you are friends, the Chinese dont hold back...its all about big hugs, holding hands, or even just walking arm in arm. When we first got here we all thought it was a little weird how "physical" they are, but now it's just another thing to smilingly shake your head at, and say "I love these people."

 

Love to you all,

Courtney