This is why I love China

First let me explain a few things before I tell you how my classes went today.

In my baby class there were some professional photographers taking pictures of me and the kids. No big deal =p

I saw the mime guy today. He waved and was trying to say hi but I really don't think he can talk. So today I mimed to him that I was going to eat at home because that was new.

I had my all time favorite class today. Let me start off by saying I was in a very bad mood. First of all my classes are only supposed to be 15 minutes at most. I showed up the last few days and the teacher wasn't ready for me. That class is listed longer so I thought I would show up a little later and they would be ready. Of course it was the one day she was ready on time. Then I was only reviewing 3 words she had already taught them. I was very annoyed. They are much smarter than that.

So I am grumpy and I go to my next class. My liaison comes and tells me to bring the cards so we can teach her class. Her class are the 5 and 6 year olds. They do their birthdays different here so it really means they are 4 and 5.

This little boy comes up and with Chinglish I figure out he is asking for a sticker and asks if I will bring him one tomorrow. =) I was proud of myself. Then a new little girl said something to me about the sticker, yesterday, and her mom. She talks to me a lot and I have no idea what exactly she is saying. She's new and not shy at all. This was before we began English class.

This week I have been teaching two songs: 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the bed and 5 Little Monkeys- swinging in a tree, teasing Mr. Alligator can't catch me cant' catch me. That song. My liaison heard about it and had me teacher her class. After we sang the second song she was explaining it because I tried to tell the the alligator was really full because he ate all the monkeys. They thought it was hilarious. She said monkey and I acted it out. The kids went crazy! I thought they were going to get yelled at but the exact opposite happened. She let all of the kids act like monkeys. She called one kid up and we acted like monkeys and I pretended to pick bugs out of his hair. She said something and the kids all laughed. She called him a fat monkey (in their culture they call each other fat if they are bigger). Then she asked for a small monkey and had a boy come up and repeat the process.

My liaison talked to them in Chinese for a bit and had them raise their hands. It was either to have them come up and act like monkeys or to see how many kids had to use the bathroom. I'm still not sure. By this time class was over. My liaison leads the class in an English song like a goodbye song. (Side note: These kids probably speak the most English because they get spoken to the most in common everyday phrases of English. My liaison has the best English of all the teachers and uses it a lot.)

All of a sudden she is talking to the students and saying Cierra. Before I know it I'm being hugged by half the class. I didn't realize at the time but it was all of the girls. Then Glory, my liaison, says okay now the boys. I was sitting in one of the little Kindergarten chairs being hugged by about 15 four to five year old little boys. In one giant mass they came at me and pushed me about two inches back from where I had been. Then again a few more inches. Someone starts kissing my face all over. At this point I am laughing. How could I be having a bad day after all of this. Then they are still hugging me so hard I start falling out of my chair. If my liaison hadn't stopped them we would have ended up in a giant heap hugging on the floor. Oh how I love China.

They all tell me bye and run off. The one little girl who always talks to me comes up and smacks my butt. She tells me it is big. That's why they always smack it. Multiple times a day a kid will run up and smack my butt and the go away. Nice.

On the way home a little girl saw me stopped dead in her tracks and said a combination of the words wow and woah. It was funny.