A Day in Baojing

We woke up this morning bright and early at 6:30 for Taichi. We were all pretty tired, but I think that the taichi is a good way to wake up. Plus, it was cool to watch a real taichi master perform right in front of us.

After Taichi, we quickly scarfed down breakfast and headed down to the school.
The lesson today was about pronoun usage. My students are becoming more interested in the material now that they are comfortable around me. Some of them are bright, and some of them struggle with the material. It's all right though, because we all help each other out.

Today's Chinese Hour was different because Thomas, Patrick, and Sabrina took control. Our activity for the day was to prepare lunch for ourselves. In Baojing, there isn't such a thing as ready made food. We went straight to the local market to purchase the fresh foods. I'll admit that these markets were a little intimdating at first. In America, we are so used to spic and span supermarkets where a lot of the food is packaged and supposedly sanitary. Here, the food is direct from the source. The butchers cut up the meat right in front of us. There were flies swarming all over the place. Vegetables were arranged in a heap on old tattered straw mats. After purchasing the food, we took a detour to the arcade for some fun. Then we went to Thomas' house. The home was small and bare. Thomas' mother insisted that she would do the cooking, so I accompanied the three students while they relaxed. It turns out that we helped a little by preparing the dumplings. Durng that time, we talked about how the english lessons were going, and about the activities planned for the next few days. I could tell from the tone of their voice that they were genuinely excited.
By the time lunch came around, I was already past my fear of the food from the market. I reasoned that the food was cooked and besides, it was delicious :)




In the afternoon, we headed back to school to participate in what the school officals called "Games". Board games, basketball, and soccer came to mind. We were totally wrong. The school had organized relay races for all the students. I participated in the three legged race with Patrick, and our team won that race!

After such a busy day, it was time to recuperate and prepare for the next day. Dinner was the same as usual, and we had our meeting at 9 PM. Many of us had comments about the lesson, and our T.A. Yoonji led the discussion about what changes were to be made. For example, we thought that students were more engaged when playing games and singing songs. Naturally, games and songs became the highlight of class the next day. Half an hour later, I headed off the bed.