Beijing, Teacher

I love teaching here! My class is fairly small; five students, four of which just graduated from high school. Their vocabulary is very impressive, and we've been having a lot of fun getting to know each other and trying out the lesson plans that CSE provided us. Actually, we've had more fun deviating from them. They are all natural born actors, as I found out when I asked them to prepare short skits the other day. My favorites were:
1. Bad waiter--he confused an order of dumplings for donkey
2. A trip to Disneyland--best line, "No, we can't take Minnie Mouse home. Remember what happened last time when we took Donald Duck home?"
3. Bargaining in the market--those girls both drive a hard bargain!! I learned a lot!
4. Kid asking his mom for permission to go to a party--the acting of the worrying mother and the rebellious teen were priceless!

There are definitely a lot of cultural differences that I'm still uncovering (for example, they won't leave the classroom for lunch until after I do), but my FAVORITE one is how hard they work and how diligent they are in their studies. I told them yesterday that we were going to talk about pop culture today, and if they had a magazine or something lying around, they should bring it in, and one my of students came prepared with speakers, an mp3 player, and a medley of the current Chinese rock hits. I just sat in the back and took notes for once! It was great. They are making presentations on Monday about everything from Chinese Tea to Peking Opera to NBA basketball. I think I'm learning as much from them as they are from me!

Went out last night with some folks from New York. It was a lot of fun; they've all been here for a while and took me to some of their local haunts, INCLUDING a massage parlor where I got an hour long massage for all of 8USD. It was amazing--after he finished I just lied there in complete relaxation for a few minutes.

Having a great time! And it's finally the weekend! Time to start the party!