Being a Teacher and a Student

Ni hao, everyone! I hope you are all healthy and well! Today there has been a lot of air pollution and smoke from burning trash, so a few of us (including me), are dealing with coughs. I hope it clears up soon.

Last night we had a good time celebrating Jonathan's birthday at one of our favorite restaurants. Our teammates, Shannon and Rachael, even brought a cake for him. We were all sitting at a circle table eating, when this really sketchy looking man appeared. He had a menu in front of him and was saying something about we should order more. We were all very confused because we had never seen him before. Well, it turns out he was a con artist and we never knew! He was leaving when another Chinese man at a table close to us, grabbed him and started yelling at him. The con man yelled back and we thought they were going to fight. The con man ran out of the restaurant and the other man gave Jodi her camera and purse back. She didn't even know that the con man had stolen it while we were all trying to understand what he was saying. It was so great of that man to stop that guy. He about wrestled the thief to the ground. Jodi was very thankful and got a picture taken with the new hero.

This morning I taught my Business English class and tried to have a lot of extra grace with the students after the crazy class I had with them last time. They were pretty receptive and we were able to get through the lesson much better. Sometimes I still wanted to get really frustrated with them, but instead I was all encouragement and smiles. That certainly wasn't me with all the patience. I had a lot of help.

This afternoon Joelle and I had a short break and we walked to the supermarket to try to find more food. It was nice going to the store when nobody else was there, because then we could think a lot more clearly. On the way back we passed 2 buses of soldiers who were yelling at us, albeit in a friendly way. It sort of reminded me of Norfolk.

Then we had Chinese class with our FAO for about 2 hours. It is fun to be a student again, except it's not anything like being in a plush classroom at ODU. We sat on tiny little peg stools at old wooden desks. The burning trash smell wafted through the windows the whole time.

All in all, I'm okay. I'm pretty tired. It is difficult adjusting to not having much down time or time to my self. We always are at school from 7:30 to 5:30 on most days and then we have team activities. Let me know if I can be thinking of you in any way.