Who Needs Fire?

Last week was a flurry of activity. It always is when prepare to come back to the States. There is always so much that needs to be done – packing, cleaning, finishing grades, saying goodbye to students and friends, etc. It was also more challenging because some unexpected things happened. One week before I left, an administrator for the study abroad program called me and told me that there would be training for teachers on Monday and Tuesday. I told him that I might not be able to go because I had to prepare for going home. I was also a little annoyed. I hate when they give me so little notice for things like this. Their level of organization leaves so much to be desired. I ended up going on Monday and not going on Tuesday. Tuesday and Wednesday were crazy. I had about 40 phone calls from people asking me if I could do dinner before I left. I had to tell them all no, and they all seemed so sad. Everyone wanted to say goodbye. They acted as if I were leaving forever and not just going h

So, as many of you know, Katherine had her baby on June 6, 2009. He is a very healthy baby boy with a full head of jet-black hair. In case you don’t know, Katherine is one of the Chinese English Teachers at my school. She has been an amazing friend ever since we met almost three years ago. Everyone is excited and celebrating her transition into motherhood. Last Wednesday, Katherine called me. She told me that one of her American Friends was coming to visit her and see her new baby. She asked me if I would pick her up at the train station and bring her to the hospital. It seemed like it would be easy. I had no idea what she looked like. However, finding a white girl at the train station is easy, because there aren’t too many of them in my town. So, I went to the train station, and found her easily. It was about nine o’clock at night, and she had to leave the next morning at seven thirty. So, her visit would be very short. She introduced herself (Ellen). We exchanged pleasantries, and t

Okay, so I am a little behind in blogging. The last two months have been incredibly busy. I’ll start where I left off with the most interesting things. Two months ago, I started teaching in another program at my school. It is a program to prepare students to study abroad. As luck would have it, I was scheduled to teach the first two morning classes each day. So, in China, that means getting up really early. It did, however, have its benefits. It allowed me to get to know some students very well. This class ended a week ago. I will also be teaching the same students after I return from summer vacation. Teaching ten extra classes each week was quite difficult. If you consider the prep time and the getting up early thing, it really takes its toll after a while. At the end of May there was a holiday – The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. This gave me and all of the other students three days off. I decided to take advantage of it. I went to Shanghai with some friends and hung out for three day