Keeping my spirits up

(The "laowai" skating down a nicer neighborhood in Nanchang, before the rain began).
(What "Gray Sky University" looks like these days).


Where to start? There are just little stories that have happened over the past couple of days, which I'd like to tell you about. None of the stories are life-changing or anything, but they are still pleasant to write about.

Lately I've been so exhausted--trying to stay warm, trying to stay dry, trying to engage my students in class, etc. But it's been a good past few days, nevertheless.

In class we have been discussing what it means to live "happily ever after." Is it money or family or something else? It has been a great topic, because my students are really interested in this topic, probably because they also want to live "happily ever after."

Today I had my top-notch freshmen class. I asked for their views on what makes people happy. So many students volunteered to share, and several of them started to heatedly debate each other--in English!! My heart swelled with pride as I just stood there watching this unfold. I only stepped in a couple of times to remind them that everyone's opinion is important.

It was a glorious moment in my time teaching here so far. It has been one of my endeavors to spark some passion or anger or any kind of emotion in them. So often they sit in class very passively, and if they share any opinion, it is usually all the same, rather meaningless thing that they've learned to recite over and over.

Today was different somehow. I especially loved listening to the class secretary and class monitor--the two highest "ranking" students-- grill each other. And the other students who got involved were also communicating in English the whole time! Not once did they revert to Chinese. Ah, I'm a proud teacher today...

This afternoon we had English corner as usual. Jodi and I were the only foreign teachers able to attend. Everyone else was off teaching special classes, or they were with Shannon at the hospital (she has a bad cough--maybe you can think of her).

Anyway, only four very dedicated students showed up in the bitter cold and wind by the pond where English corner is held. So we walked back through the puddles and gushy mud to our relatively warm office to hold an informal English corner with them.

And here's a random, but funny little story. Jodi has a new class, where she's teaching English to freshmen nursing students. There are two girls in there who sit together. Can you guess their names? Dimples and Dimpley. I probably didn't spell it right, but I just can't stop laughing about that.

In other news, I'm more than surviving. Things are moving right along, and maybe someday it will warm up, although it isn't supposed to stop raining anytime in the near future.