Another Update

My experience here in China now feels more “real.” I have gotten down the ‘hang’ of teaching, I can navigate around town without Chinese help, and I am comfortable with the lifestyle.

1. My dorm has become “home.”
2. The food is no longer “an adventure,” it’s now Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.
3. After tucking in the kids at bedtime and spending hours with them every day, instead of “the little monsters,” the students have become “my children.”
4. My roommate is now my companion (we named ourselves Alyxa for Alyssa and Lexa... I think I like it more than she does ;D).
5. “My group” has become “my friends.”
6. Asians sneaking pictures is no longer a novelty.
7. And lastly, lesson planning is a part of the routine instead of a bother.

I was going to say something about how American food has become gold, but actually we have really lucked out in Nanjing. The other Chinese schools have (I’ve heard) pretty awful food compared to Nanjing. We got the best of almost everything here. We’ve definitely been spoiled in our ways compared to a lot of the other schools where ILP is.

Also, I don’t think I explained how the teaching groups work: there are 17 ILP teachers and 2 head teachers. The 17 teachers are split up into 3 groups; 6, 6, and 5. My group teaches in the morning from 8:50-11:30. Then we have lunch in the cafeteria (the Chinese call it the canteen). After lunch, each of the 6 girls in my group have 1 more 40 minute class (2 or 3 days out of the week) called ELE. This class is just for the slightly older kids to learn about America and practice their English. The two other groups (of 6 and 5 teachers) teach ILP in the afternoon from 2:30-5:10 pm and their ELE in the morning. I’m super grateful that I am in the morning group because then after lunch I just have ELE (on Wednesdays and Fridays) and then I’m done for the rest of the day. I usually have a math assignment due for my online class, lessons to plan, or places to explore around the city. Then dinner is a 5pm and then all of the ILP teachers are done with their responsibilities for the day. We often go out all together as a group somewhere, or break off into little groups to do some grocery shopping or whatever else. Tuesdays and Thursdays we have a meeting with everyone at 8:30pm to discuss things to improve, ideas, traveling plans, or whatever else.

Alright, enough business, time for pictures!

Some of these boys are better than the other, one of these boys just isn't the same
(sung to that one tune)

Lansen (yes, a previous ILP teacher named him Lansen) got into the food coloring... children make for some good stories, and pictures!

We found an awesome market around the Confucius Temple, supposedly the biggest outside market in Nanjing, where we got to eat all kinds of food, barter tons, and oh & aw at all the lights.

At the big market, there was an authentic performance across the river. It really was incredible.

I tried to capture some of the lights that we ooh-ed and aw-ed at. They had these long lights that hung from the tree branches and flashed in a downward motion so it looked like there was light dripping from the branches. Super cool!

My first panda spotting at the big market!

Just a little something I got from the big market. This awesome robe has all sorts of Chinese drawings on it, is reversible, and is (supposedly, haha) real silk. Also the lady said it was hand stitched but I'm also hesitant to believe that, but who knows! I love it none-the-less :D