3rd week of teaching

Every Monday morning at 6:30 a.m. you can look outside my apartment window and see hundreds of students standing in rows and groups behind red banners. At 7 a.m. about 10 soldiers in really crisp olive-colored dress uniforms march out across the field. They march very slowly toward the flag pole, with their legs going up and down to 45 degrees. Two men in white gloves and uniform then take the Chinese flag, and the flag snaps onto the flag pole. The anthem plays as the soldiers salute and the students stand silently. Once the anthem is over, the soldiers slowly march out and then all the students disappear. So I can watch this scene every Monday morning while I'm brushing my teeth or putting in my contacts.

I had office hours and then I taught one class this morning. Class was enjoyable. I worked on learning all 50 of their names, and now I can remember most of them. It seems to help knowing their names-- it's easier to engage them in class that way. It is just hard remembering their names because some of them do not have any distinct trait that stands out to me. They all have black hair and black eyes and glasses. So I have to look at the color of their glasses, the way their bangs are cut, or the shape of their face.

And today we talked about adjectives in describing a city. At one point I described two cities that were opposite of each other in about every way: Beijing and Topeka. It was a lot of fun. And it is always great to help them expand their vocabulary, especially where adjectives are concerned. They think everything is either "delicious" or "beautiful."

At noon I took the bus back to old campus. The bus let us off by the back gate and I wandered down the street through the lunch-time crowd. For the first time, I felt like I was a part of the crowd, and not just a person everyone wants to stare at. I didn't even hear anyone say "laowei" (foreigner). I bought a watermelon slice from the usual lady and her daughter on one corner. The toothless woman smiled broadly when she saw me. She ran over and grabbed my hands in her hands that were covered with watermelon juice. She cut a slice for me that was twice as big as usual. Then I walked over to the fried bread vendor and got some. It is soooo good, but soooo bad for you. It was a nice little treat though.

For the rest of the day I will meet with my team leader and then we'll have a "faculty meeting." I also have to practice my Chinese because I'm being held accountable by many people. To get on the right bus today I successfully asked in a few words of Chinese if they were going to the old campus. They were! It was sort of fun asking.

Yesterday we went to fellowship and then Rachael and I finally found the post office. The China Post on Bai Yi square downtown is the only place in the whole city that will mail things to America. I had two letters to send. We walked into the huge place and stood at about 10 different counters before being directed to the right one. We were told to go to a counter which was the only one without lines. I guess it was the "international counter." Two very bored looking women sat behind it reading magazines. We bought stamps--one letter took 5 awesome, bright-colored stamps. Then we went to this little machine where you roll glue on everything--on the stamps and the envelopes which they give you. Anyway, I felt like we accomplished a lot just mailing those letters.

For dinner I managed to cook some spaghetti noodles! I had to turn on the propane under the counters. Then I had to click the stove knobs around until flames shot from the burners. I only scorched a towel when I was trying to put the pot on the stove. Besides that, I didn't get scorched, nor did the noodles. It was another small accomplishment for the day.