Mid-week again!

Hello, my dear folks.

It is Wednesday evening and it's been a pretty relaxed day. Last night was relaxing, too. I have started making laps around the campus at night, to lessen the attention, and I walked for about 35 minutes. This morning I went to new campus like usual. I had office hours and then taught a class. I got plenty of sleep, but for some reason I was disoriented today. My contacts also hurt a lot, so that didn't help.

Class was fine. It was a good lesson and the students were participating well. At the beginning of class, there was an audience at the back of the room. Students who aren't supposed to be in my class will try to sit in the back every day. Once and a while I'll let a random kid or two sit in my class, if they look serious and know English. Today there were about 8 boys and they all sat there with faces like they were going to watch a show. I was thinking, "Nope, not today. I'm not your entertainment." So I walked to the back and said, "I'm sorry, you can't stay. You aren't in this class." A couple kids understood and ran sheepishly out of the classroom. The rest obviously didn't speak English, which made their being in the class even more pointless. Some of my students told them to get out in Chinese. Some days I can stand gawkers and curious people, but some days I can't--like today.

In the middle of the class, I was talking about adjectives to describe food. They always only want to use the word "delicious," so I was trying to expand their vocabulary. A bee or something must have flown in through the open windows and landed on my arm. For some reason I freaked out, although I haven't all the other several times a bee or bug has been on me while I was teaching. Without thinking, I screamed a deathly scream and swatted at my arm. Then I realized what I was doing and started laughing really hard. My whole class was laughing for about 5 minutes, too. I certainly over-reacted when I screamed, but I didn't mean to. At least we all got a good laugh from it.

At noon, I rode the bus back to old campus. Our afternoon classes were postponed until next week, because they are rehearsing their dances for the four day-long "sports meet" this weekend. I ate a steaming sweet potato I bought on the street and then I walked to the supermarket to buy a mop. The pollution has been extra terrible today. It is extremely hazy and windy. The sky and air is a mix of gray and yellow. I even got grit in my eyes and nose when I was walking, and everything smells like smoke.

However, then I had a nice afternoon checking my email, scouring the nasty kitchen, and packing my knapsack for our trip to Zhengzhou. I am really excited about our trip tomorrow night, because we are visiting another team. They are in the 2 year program, which I'm considering joining next year. So I sort of want to see more of what they do.

If I don't write on the blog again until next week, I love you all! We will be getting back to Nanchang on the train early Monday morning.