Spectacular Spectacle!

Monday was our day for SPECTACLE! And, with our school being so big we had to have two performances, one for the two kindergartens and the other for the upper classes (Primary).
The kindergarten's performance was at 10 in the morning so we were all there at 8:30 for the final practice with the kids. I helped Shantel by copying down all the words of the story, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" which was what they read between songs as the story line. I was the runner to go grab each of the teachers when it was their turn to narrate or bring their kids in to sing their song.
It was a great performance. All of the little kids had their own little Santa hats on. The invitation said to have their kids wear scarves and gloves but I'm pretty sure most of the parents don't know English themselves because only one student was. We really didn't care, it was more to satisfy the parents with wanting them all wearing costumes. The idea of wearing costumes for a Christmas performance is kind of foreign for Americans so we really didn't know what they wanted us to do but we just went with it and agreed the hats were plenty.
The little kindergarteners are all so dang cute. Sierra's been telling me stories about George and how he refuses to tell her he loves her. Everyone one else including his brother Fred (yes, Fred and George from Harry Potter, and yes that was intentional by Sierra) always replies I love you too! But no, George always tells her, "I no love you teacha". She finally got him to say it today though because he wanted to use her camera... He and Fred are hilarious.
After the Christmas portion of the performance was over we had a little extra time so we had the kids sing some songs they sing each day like Funky Chicken, Bumble Bee, Singing in the Rain, and one other. They loved performing those ones on the spot because they know them so well.
After lunch we watched Bolt and then Emily H, Sierra, Aimee, and I went to the One Plus One (supermarket) for some last minute things we wanted to take home. I got some candies for my family so they can try some Chinese chocolates and sweets! Hopefully you'll enjoy family! :)
The primary spectacle performance ran just as smooth as the morning one. My kids sang Rudolph wonderfully with little red stickers on their noses and then got to perform their dance we taught them a few weeks ago for New Years Eve at the end of the show to make it longer. They know that dance/song backwards and forwards so it went great!
The only downer was that all of us teachers sang the final number, "White Christmas" and by the time I went outside to say goodbye to my kids for the last time as a group they were all already gone.
We went back to the auditorium after dinner and had a dance party as we took down the decorations so we cheered up with that and danced away our so called sorrows!
Some of the kids came over to hear what all the commotion was about and were laughing at us. It was so fun and super funny!

Last Weekend in China!

So our last weekend here consisted of pretty fun stuff!
Friday:
We had a dress rehearsal with the kindergarten kids for our performance on Monday, "SpEcTaClE!" all morning. After that was complete we went to lunch for twenty minutes to head back to the stage to decorate for an hour and a half. Then there was a competition being held in that room for the next couple hours so we went up to our supply room and deep cleaned to prepare it for the next batch of ILP teachers to take it over. I have to say it looks pretty immaculate compared to what it has looked like in the past and even how we found it at the beginning of the semester. We each took a section of the room, I on the books, and just organized away! We enjoyed some music and blow pops while doing so which made it even more fun!
Then, it was back to work on decorating for Spectacle. Aimee and I made a Santa Claus. I have to say he was pretty flippin handsome. He looks like he's actually been working out this year though, I don't know if you guys knew he was...you'll just have to keep your eyes open Christmas Eve to notice the difference! There was also a big Christmas tree, fireplace, stockings, a snowman, and an angel. We had snowflakes hung on the ceiling and taped to the ground for the kids to stand on while singing. And even red and green chains draped throughout the room. It actually turned out really cute...especially considering the amount of supplies we had left now that it is the end of the semester.
We finished decorating just in time to head straight to dinner at 5:30. The rest of the night we really didn't know what to do but were exhausted from cleaning and decorating all day that we couldn't believe it was still so early in the night. We ended up finishing up the three remaining seasons of The Office to be caught up to the current season and Toy Story 2 while we played some card games.

Saturday:
We definitely slept in the next morning. We went straight from lunch to the bus stop to wait to head out on the town. Sierra, Aimee, Kim, Emily H., Sara, and I all went to Dafowen (have no idea how that is spelled) a.k.a. the five story mall which we really don't shop in but around. We go inside for McDonald's ice cream (yum!) and then into the basement for cheap DVD shopping. Then we head back out side to the shops outside where we can find some little stores that barter the price with you and are cheaper. We shopped around for a couple hours with the little amount of money we had left and then headed back to the fruit stop stand where we met up with Gen and Emily P. to go to the DVD store there, a bakery, and then to our favorite restaurant the Northern Chinese Restaurant.
Gen, Kim, Em P, and I shared our favorite items we've tried: green beans, sweet and sour pork, and carmelized potatoes. Emily H, Sierra, and Aims shared two plates of egg plants because that is by far their favorite. I love those girls and the seven of us just have a blast together. We've really become great friends with everyone here but those girls are always wanting to do the same things as us and we just have tons of fun together!
While we were waiting for the bus we found a little store that had a bunch of fun little nick-nacks. Gen and I bought keyboard stickers for five yuan and Gen and Aimee found little key chains that are of Chinese food that were hilarious. I also found some Valentine Chinese wrapping paper...too bad it isn't Christmas wrapping paper but for some reason they didn't have any, go figure.

Sunday:
Sunday it was hard to beilieve it was our last time having church in Megan's apartment. We sang our opening, sacrament, and closing hymns, had the sacrament, a couple prayers and then headed down to our apartments for sunday school. We split into the usual three random groups each one having one of the boys who gave a lesson or conducted a testimony meeting.
We had a spiritual meeting with Caleb W. about things we have come to learn while being in China. I've only been with Caleb twice while he's conducted a lesson and each time has been a great lesson. He is really going to be a great missionary and is such a great one at heart already. He has been such a great friend to all of us and has made China a fun experience. Both of the Caleb's have served as our little brothers at times which also can sometimes feel like our older brothers or even our fathers. They are always taking care of us and just being great friends!
After church Kim and I and eventually Gen all got down to packing. Gen had already started the weekend before so she didn't need to do much but the packing bug was in the air so she couldn't resist! All of our suitcases have been out since trying to find a place for everything and making sure we've got everything.
That night was the infamous "ILPS". I had no idea how cool this little event we were invited to a few days prior was going to be! We did a survey the Sunday before with little questions about who will be the first to get married, where will the Calebs serve their missions, what will you do first back in the states, Team Jacob or Team Edward...all sorts of awesome stuff. They shared our answers throughout the real purpose of the "ILPS" which was everyones individual awards. We all got trophies made out of felt people for different reasons. They announced all of our different awards...there was the Hot stuff award (Kim), the country funk award (Emily P), the shopaholic (Emily H), Miss Congeniality (Ashley), Cheerleader (Shantelley), Most improved English and greatest country pride (Natasha from Canada), Go with the flow (Jessica), Father of the Year (Caleb L), Comedic Relief (Gen), and then a few others I can't think of right now...but then of course their was mine, the Tae Kwon DO NOT TOUCH ME Award! For my top of the class Tae Kwon Do Skills :) haha. We had an awesome night with all our awards, Sierra and Emily H as our hosts, pictures, trophies, and of course our random dance parties when certain songs began. It was super fun.
After the ILPS we had our last batch of our weekly American baked good fix which was Turtle brownies...yum!! We watched Catch Me if You Can while doing so and just had a great night!

Day 114

It's been one hundred and fourteen days since I first got here to China and I have to say it has been quite the adventure. We are homeward bound with a week until we will be on our flight home.
Today was our last day of classes with our kids. We still have our performance with the parents all here to watch on Monday but today was pretty much the end of it!
This morning was my last class with our fourth graders for ELE with Gen. Those third and fourth grade ELE classes have been quite the struggle for me and Gen the whole semester so it's sad to say that it was a big relief to say we were finally done. Don't get me wrong, we have made so many friends in those classes and like a ton of the kids but each of the classes is from twenty to FORTY kids at one time. Not to mention that they are fourth graders that don't know much English at all besides, "Good Morning Teacher", colors, and some animals...so really hard to communicate with them. It was a hard class to teach but I really did enjoy it. One of the kids has become one of our best little friends whenever we see him around the school grounds. His name is Barry and we talk to him all the time. He tries to talk to us in Chinese and Gen and I don't know that much so we always tell him, "Wo bu dong" (I don't understand). And then, it's hilarious, he says the same exact thing except slows down like he's talking to a two year old or an old person that can't hear you. I just bust up laughing everytime! We all get so frustrated that we can't communicate with each other like we would like to but we're laughing about it at the same time. This is the kid that told me at the beginning of the semester that I have beautiful eyes! We have become great friends : ).
Later we went to sixth period to spend our last little bit of being in our classroom with our kids. We sang Rudolph a couple times to practice for Monday and then had them all sit around the table. We took pictures with each of them and had them all write their names as a frame for a picture of all of us together.
We went down to the Spectacle (Monday's performance) practice for 7th period and got to play outside with them until it was our turn to sing Rudolph and then the song altogether at the end. After we finished the entire practice Gen and I were finally able to give our kids their presents as our going away gifts. We've been working on them for a while now. We made boxes out of construction paper, put a bunch of candies and a little eraser in them, cut out a snowflake to glue on the top of each box, tied a bow on top, printed out the picture of all of us, glued it to green paper, wrote each of them a note on the paper with our email addresses in hopes that we will hear from them, and then put them in clear sheets to protect them kind of like a picture frame.
It took a few hours to get everything put together but it was really fun and the kids loved it. They were so excited all day asking us when they would get their gift.
We had a lot of fun with them and then completely deep cleaned our classrooms for the next set of ILP teachers to inherit. Fun, fun, fun!

10 days til America!

It is so crazy to think that this is our last week teaching. Next week we have our kids on Monday but that is just for the performance so this is it. I can't believe it's already here! As I got up onto the fourth floor before class today some of my kids came up to me, gave me a hug, and told me they didn't want me to go back to America. Annie, Wendy, and Josephine...they are so cute. I told them I didn't want to leave China either. I really don't want to leave them but I am getting really excited to see everyone at home again finally and get to be home for Christmas. Maybe I'll just steal some of my little 7 and 8 year olds and take them home with me! Does that sound like a good idea? haha, I know I know it really doesn't because I'm pretty sure they're parents don't want to share but oh will I miss them!
After classes and dinner last night we all went to Shantel's room and practiced the two songs us teachers will be singing for our performance, Spectacle next Monday. We're singing Winter Wonderland and White Christmas since most of the other songs are being sung by our kids. Ashley and I were lying on our backs on one of the beds singing and laughing at our little variations we were making to the songs.
Later we watched Julie & Julia which was a great show...kind of long and don't know if I'll see it again but I am glad I saw it once!
It's crazy how fast these 4 months flew by, never thought it would happen this fast!

Our Christmas Party and Walking Street

This weekend was filled with shopping, shopping, and more shopping. After kindergarten on Friday the four of us headed to the Amethyst for lunch. We went back to the apartments where we met up with Aimee, Sierra, Emily, Shantel, and Caleb L. and we went to Walking Street. There was lots of shoes, clothes, and little trinkets that we went through. Em, Kim and I found this little shop that had the craziest little toys. There were these phones that looked like basketballs, soda cups, and other every day objects...I couldn't believe they were phones when we figured it out. There were also these soda bottle looking objects that were actually umbrellas inside. Then there were key boards and calculators that were flimsy and see-through. They were all pretty cool! There were tons of clothes and shoes but the hard thing about shopping here is the style and the size unfortunately. The shoe sizes don't go up to size 8 and a 1/2 or 9 which is actually a pretty average size in America! But not here. And then the Asians have quite a different fashion sense with clothing so it takes a little sifting through the clothes to actually find something you like. We had tons of fun though and found a few things.

Saturday night was our Christmas party and it was a blast. It was an "ugly sweater/festive attire" party which made it all the more better. We had some pretty awesome outfits and even some yummy treats. We had a white elephant gift exchange. I got to go first and went for a tall gift wrapped in red and green paper and what was inside?...Christy stole Caleb's shirt he bought in Xi'an and that's what it was and also packaged chicken feet, yes disgusting chicken feet. So gross! Haha. There were a lot of wacky presents and luckily we got to steal once it came to our second turns so some of us did and some of us didn't get what we wanted.

After that Kim, Em, and I sang the song we had made up while waiting for the bus on our way back from Walking Street. We had realized it was 12 days until we went home and it was almost Chirstmas. So we busted out the song and everyone loved it and agreed with what we wrote.
We played "I've never" after almost everyone left with drinks and watched Transformers II when we got back.

So I'm sure you wanna hear the song...so, here it goes:

It was the 12 days of Christmas China gave to me...
On the 1st day of Christmas China gave to me, a single square of toilet paper
On the 2nd day of Christmas China gave to me, 2 peeing babies (on the sidewalk)
On the 3rd day of Christmas China gave to me, 3 jerky buses
On the 4th day of Christmas China gave to me, 4 honking horns
On the 5th day of Christmas China gave to me, 5 squater toilets!!
On the 6th day of Christmas China gave to me, 6 smoky cigarettes
On the 7th day of Christmas China gave to me, 7 corn ice creams
On the 8th day of Christmas China gave to me, 8 "Teacha, Teacha"
On the 9th day of Christmas China gave to me, 9 vats of rice
On the 10th day of Christmas China gave to me, 10 smoggy skies
On the 11th day of Christmas China gave to me, 11 chicken feet
On the 12th day of Christmas China gave to me, 12 people staring

It may not make any sense to someone who hasn't been here but us Americans living in China sure got a kick out of it. It was a fun night.

Today was a great day. I'm not tootin my own horn or anything but I made the cutest Christmas tree out of the options I had this afternoon! It's pretty much a tube with pipe cleaners as the branches, plastic beads for ornaments and then a foam star on top. It actually worked quite well and my kids loved it too! I was just excited that I'd figured out a way to have a Christmas tree!
In class we wrote letters to Santa to tell him what we wanted for Christmas. My kids were very enthused to do it and were throwing out words left and right for what they wanted so that I could write it on the board for them to be able to write it in their letters. They said they wanted candy necklaces, kites, Christmas trees, toys, teddy bears, candy, and even some ice cream and hamburgers. I'm pretty sure they were just saying foods because they didn't have anything else they could think of to receive as a gift in English but it works, right? I mean, Santa only delivers what...ten hours before we open our presents so I'm sure the ice cream wouldn't melt by then. But then again, maybe Santa would just put it wrapped in the freezer for ya since he really does know what he's doing.
If they had time they drew pictures of what they wanted as well on their letters which really just ended up being Christmas trees or snowmen but it was still very cute! I hung them up right after class so that they would already be there the next time they come to class.
We had a lot of fun today. I took a few pictures between classes and recorded them doing their New Year's Eve dance we've been working on for weeks. Some of them just love being in front of the camera and getting in every picture while others like to dodge out of them...Emmy, which kills me because she's one of my favorites! But don't you worry I did get a couple shots of her today anyways!

The rest of the day was filled with dinner, Chinese class learning animals and objects around the classroom, and hanging out in our apartments like usual! We watched The Office with quite the crowd today..Shantel, Sierra, Ashley, and Sara joined us which was great to have more than just three or four of us.

Officially December

Today it is officially December. I can't believe it. We told our kids we're going to be leaving in two weeks and it is so sad! I don't know if all of them really understand the whole concept but I sure do and I don't like it haha. Little Wendy has been running up to the calendar at the front of the room and will say, "Teacher, you leave this day?" and will point at the 17th and then she frowns and hugs me. She's such a cute little girl! Chris has told me that he is going to go back with us jokingly and Bell has had to do her own confirming to make sure she knows when we're leaving. It is going to be hard to say goodbye to these kids, that is for sure.