Home

You guessed it... I am finally home and it is good to be back!
It was a long day of traveling, but definitely worth it when we eventually reached salt lake city.
I don't even know how to express how happy I was when I saw my family! 
It was so nice being able to see them face to face.
They have treated me like a princess since I have been home.
The house was clean, my room was ready, and A LOT of food was bought.
Even though it was hard to say goodbye to china, it feels good to be home.

Goodbye Grade One

Today was my last day of teaching.  I have been anxious for today, because I knew that had to say goodbye to my kids.  Saying goodbye is definitely not one of my favorite things to do.  Coming to China, I had to say a lot of goodbyes.  I was extremely sad saying goodbye to my family at the airport.  However, I knew that I would be able to see my family in a couple of months.  Saying goodbye to my kids was a lot harder because I don't know if I will ever see them again. 

For the last day of teaching we had a movie day.  They thought it was so much fun!  They were so focused in the movie and their eyes were glued to the screen.  It made me have a flashback to when I was a child and how excited I was when we would watch movies in Elementary school.  Whenever I would watch a movie in class, I would consider it the best day ever!  As we were watching the movie,  I would randomly sit among the kids because I wanted to make sure that I spent time with each of them.  I was making my rounds, and decided to sit by Bobby last.  As I sat next to Bobby, he reached for my hang and clung on tight.  I am going to miss Bobby!  He can't speak much English, but this small gesture was all I needed. 

After the movie, we split the kids up into our homeroom groups and we gave out gifts.  Everything was going well, and I was holding my emotions, until the kids had to line up to go back to Chinese class.  They were standing in line and I made eye contact with Steven.  He immediately burst out into tears.  Steven is a trouble maker!  He is very wild, and was the hardest to handle during class.  I couldn't believe that out of all of the kids, he was the one crying.  Sara and I rushed over to Steven, and hugged him as all of us cried.  This started a chain reaction, before I knew it all of the children were crying and hugging us.  They didn't want to let go.  I held onto each of them as they cried.  Some of the children asked us why we had to leave.  They told us that they loved us and that they were going to miss us. 

Even though today was an emotional day, I know that my kids will be okay.  I know that they are in good hands and that they will be taken care of.  They are all amazing and have so much potential!!  They each are brilliant students and they have a great future ahead of them. 

I came to China because I wanted to experience something new and different.  Little did I know, that not only would I experience something new and different, but I would love the teaching aspect!    Teaching here in China has actually helped me decide what I would like to do for my career.  I have been thinking for a long time what I would like to do, and I think that I have decided that I would like to become an Elementary teacher.  I have found that I love spending time with children.  What a better way to spend time with children than to teach?  Not only was I able to find my love for teaching, but I was able to spend time with the cutest children!  Each child had something to give, and I was able to learn and grow because of their examples.  The children that I taught, definitely made my teaching experience!  If it weren't for them, I would still be unsure of what I want to do for my education path.

WO AI NI GRADE ONE! 

Under The Sea

Our performance is done! 
We spent a lot of time rehearsing with the kids, and now it is over.  
Hours and hours were spent on rehearsing, memorizing lines, and getting ready to perform.
We were told that we needed to put make up on them. 
So we decided to paint bubbles on their faces.
They were dressed up in the school uniforms, and they looked so cute! 

I was so proud of my kids!
They were amazing. 
They sang their songs loud enough and you could understand what they were saying.
The kids all remembered their lines, and spoke them clearly.
Even Sky said his line!
Sky is one of my students, who I believe has autism. 
Justin, another student, has helped so much with Sky the past couple of weeks.
He helped Sky practice his line, he helped him walk to his spot on stage, and he made sure that Sky was taken care of.
It was really good for me to see Justin's patience as he helped Sky.
Justin was Sky's friend, and it made me feel really good knowing that someone was watching out for him.   

It was pretty funny because my group  didn't understand the concept of passing a microphone, so instead "Teacher Lindsay" held it for each of them. 
The performance went wonderfully and they were the best group of sea animals that I have ever seen.

Picture 1: The Performance
Picture 2: Justin with Sky

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad that I could ask for!

I am so grateful for my Dad!  My Dad is such a great example to me and I have missed him so much while I have been here in China.  I love skyping my Dad!  We always have the best conversations, and he is always so happy that he gets the chance to me.  It makes me feel really good that my Dad enjoys talking with my as much as he does.  Fortunately, I will be returning home this Saturday and I will be able to give my Dad a gigantic hug!  My Dad is such a caring person.  He is always looking for ways to serve and has taught me how important service is.  My Dad is very dedicated to what he does.  He is a great leader as he is always fulfilling his calling.  He has taught me how important it is to do what is asked of you.  My Dad is a hard worker!  Growing up, I would complain when my Dad would ask me to help him around the yard.  I did not like to WORK.  But as I have gotten older, I have realized how important work is.  My Dad is HILARIOUS!  He is such a funny guy and he is always making me smile.  My Dad has the best laugh, and he loves having a good time.  My friends will come over to my house to hang out with my Dad.  One of the most important things that my Dad has taught me, is to always have a good attitude.  He often reminds me to live in the moment, and not stress about the future.  He reminds me that I need to be positive no matter what the circumstance may be.   I am grateful that my Dad has taught me these simple qualities and I hope one day to teach my children them as well.

I am looking forward to having lunch with my Dad and doing the dishes with him!

I LOVE YOU DAD!     

Wanted: A Dressing Room

I decided that I either:

a. provide really good entertainment
                 or
b.  am a really awkward person

let me tell you why...

Last night we were out shopping at walking street and we decided to go into the sketchy mall. 
The one that I hate. 
The one that I am scared of.
And the one where I got robbed.
 I clung on to my purse as tight as I could.  I wasn't going to let anything happen this time. 

ANYWAYS... I saw this shirt that I thought was pretty cute and I decided that I wanted to look at it.  In China, they don't believe in dressing rooms.  They won't let you try anything on.  This annoys me, because I like to try things on before I purchase them.  I have to make sure that I look good in it.  So because they don't have dressing rooms,  I just try things on over my clothes.  By the time that I started putting on the shirt, a crowd had formed around me.  They must have thought it was funny that I was trying clothes on, or they couldn't believe that they were looking at an American girl.  I eventually got the shirt on, and decided that I didn't like it.  It just didn't look right.  I started taking off the shirt and in the meantime, must have grabbed the shirt that I was wearing.  Because, I stood there with two shirts in my hands and I was only wearing my tight tank top.  Everyone that was watching started to laugh, and I didn't know what else to do but laugh.  My cousin, Sara, was with me and she was dying of laughter as well.

 After re-telling this story, I have come to the conclusion that I must be a really awkward person because this isn't the first time that I have been in a situation like this. 

Silly

For the end of the semester, our students have to perform for their parents.  The teachers are in charge of putting together a little skit, and then we have to teach it to our students.  Our theme for the performance is "Under The Sea."  We have been teaching them songs, and rehearsing lines for the past month now.  Today was the first time that they were able to practice in the auditorium.  It was  a pretty big deal and our students were really excited.  They did pretty good except for the fact that they spoke way to fast!  We will have to work on their lines a little bit more next week before the real performance. The other part of Grade 1 is doing a different skit, and so we were able to watch each other.  We were trying to have our students sit quietly and listen to the others who were performing.  I was sitting by a group of boys, and they were being so funny.  I was trying to have them stay quiet but after a lot of effort, I decided to join in on their fun.  We started speaking Chinese with each other, and they thought it was the most funny thing of the entire life.  I must have been pronouncing everything incorrectly.  They were telling me their Chinese names and we were having so much fun.  We even had a little photo shoot.  They love having their picture taken, and they love seeing the picture even more.  I know that I should have probably disciplined them.  I was the teacher and I should have had them remain super quiet, but I was just having too much fun.  I only have 3 more days with them, and I want to make sure that I make every moment count.  

Zhuhai!

We finally went to Zhuhai!  Sharon has been wanting to take us to Zhuhai for a couple of months now, and we finally went this past weekend.  Zhuhai is the beach, known as the "chocolate beach."  The water is not very clean and it looks like chocolate.  Even though this was the case, we still had a lot of fun!  It was fun to be able to walk along the beach.  While we were walking, it started to rain.  It made the whole experience that much more enjoyable.  It also was neat because we have now seen the beach!  We live only 20 minutes away from Zhuhai and we hadn't seen the coast since the first day we arrived to Zhongshan, China.  We took a couple of pictures by this statue that we went to.  I am not really sure what the statue means, in matter of fact, I have no idea at all.  I did however, decide to pose by the it.  That was sweet!  Zhuhai is a pretty big city, we even found a Starbucks.  We of course had to stop by, and I got a vanilla frappuccino.  It was delicious!  Did you know that they have cinnamon and nutmeg shakers that you can put in your frappuccino??  Because I sure didn't, but now that might be the only way that I can drink mine.  Sharon also bought us cake poppers while we were there.  She is such a nice lady, and she always makes sure that we were treated well.  This was our last time with Sharon.  She is such a great person!  I am so glad that we had the opportunity to meet her and her family.  She was very kind to us and helped us experience a different aspect of the Chinese culture.  I loved being able to get to know her and spend time with her. 

Two quick funny stories that happened with Sharon while we were in Zhuhai:
First, she explained to us that she loves to gamble.  She loves to play the game "panda."  She goes to Macau once a month which is like the Las Vegas of China.  She was trying to explain to us what she had won.  She proceeds to pull out a $1000 HKD from her purse.  We were all in shock when she did this.  She then tells us that she had won 20 of them!  We were a little confused, and we didn't really understand what she was saying.  She then starts pulling out 20, $1000 HKD from her purse.  Sharon was just holding $20,000 HKD in her purse like it was no big deal.  She had definitely won the jackpot.
Second, on our way home from Zhuhai... Sharon may or may have not started to fall asleep.  Okay, she started to fall asleep.  I was watching her through the rear view window and her eyes were drifting off.  I was scared for my life.  Asian drivers are not good as it is, and to have our driver falling asleep was bad!  Speaking of Asian drivers, you don't have to take a driving class to get your license.  You don't have to take a test either.  All you do is pay the fee and you are a legalized driver.  Scary right??!?  So in order to make sure that Sharon did not fall asleep, we started singing really loud in her car.  I think that she enjoyed it because Sharon started singing along.  She has such a beautiful voice and it was so much fun because we were able to hear some Chinese songs. 

Wo ai ni, Sharon!    

oh and I almost forgot!  I failed to mention that the rattle snake I tried was from a "snake farm". phew.. glad they didn't catch it out in the wild.