Failed Pigrimage Pt. 1:
Early Tuesday afternoon, before work, I decided to retrace my steps to the Lotus Supermart. Turns out that north and south are opposites of each other. Instead of finding Lotus, I ended up back where my coworkers and I ate dinner on Monday. Not too bad of an outcome--based on the previous trip with all the bus stops, I had assumed it was ridiculously far away; actually it's like a 20 minute walk.
Two Years in a Day:
At work, I got to watch some classes, including a section of very cute kindergarteners. After class, I was getting settled into the teachers' office, when Coco informed me that I would have to prepare a lesson for S3B (one of the class sections) and demo it in a couple hours for her and Jane. Yikes! This first lesson plan was absolutely nerve-wracking and felt like it took forever to finish. My brain was going in all sorts of directions, and I generally felt like I was going to mess something up. When the time actually came to demo it, I scrambled to assemble my flashcards, ascended the stairs, went into the classroom, and proceeded to teach. It turned out to be a lot of fun: Jane and Coco played the roles of students to a T. They'd mess up the pronunciation or start talking with one another, and I'd have to correct or chastise them. The comedic aspect of this definitely relaxed me a lot, and I taught very naturally, which Jane actually commented on. Then, while I was still in a state of post-compliment euphoria, Coco offered up enough suggestions to merit a complete rewrite of my lesson plan. Thankfully, this turned out to be great, as it made the lesson much more appropriate for the English level students I'd actually be teaching it to (Turns out they're pretty good at English). Right as I was heading back downstairs to prepare Wednesday's other lesson plans, Jane said something along the lines of "Oh, Peter, your teaching is good. But since you're so young, I don't want any of the parents to hold that against you. So, if anyone asks, you're 24." Um, ok, will do. Amazing how time flies after college.
Failed Pilgrimage Pt. 2:
Ok, if jogging south, then west, then south didn't work, then naturally north-east-north will do the trick, right? Turns out no. Turns out north-west-north was what I was going for. But on that Wednesday afternoon, I didn't know that. So I got some excercise in and discovered a much more boring area of town. If you're ever interested in looking at the office buildings for a plastics manufacturing company, you know who to ask. There was one funny moment during this little escapade, though. One set of traffic lights seemed to be stuck in one direction, and (strangely for China) everyone was just sitting there waiting for the lights to change. After waiting a minute at the crosswalk for a green, I thought "fuck it" and just crossed. Afterwards, the drivers all decided to do the same. I'd like to think it was because they didn't want to be shown up by a 老外. The world may never know.
The Real World:
My first real day of work was exhausting. I taught K1B, JIE, and S3B. After the first two classes, I thought I might keel over right then. I had been underprepared; the classes were somewhat hectic; and my voice was totally shot by the end of it. As I ascended the stairs the third and final time, I was filled with a sense of impending doom. What mishap would befall me now? Much to my surprise, S3B was fantastic! The super preparation of demoing a lesson plan and modifying it according to suggestions from the teacher of that class worked wonders. Furthermore, the kids' English was really quite good, and they really got into all the activities. I came down the stairs with an enormous grin plastered on my face, and I left work with a deep sense of satisfaction. My voice was still shot though.
-Peter
I like that you taught me.
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