Freshy Fresh

The energy in the room was electric. There were fifty of them. We sang a song called “Arushasha” and had an English-naming ceremony. They were freshman. It was Monday and the vibe was very Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It was a class full of future preschool teachers. They seemed to like me.

I can kind of relate to my freshman. They are in a new place, with a new group of people. They have to eat beef noodles. My students will spend the next four years taking the same classes with the same fifty classmates. It can be overwhelming adjusting to a new situation, I think. The video isn’t from China, but from Africa back in ’12.

In Peace Corps China it is typical for Volunteers to have classes broken up in this way:

50 minutes – 10 minute break – 50 minutes

I am teaching twelve classroom hours per week to six different classes. Composed of nearly fifty students each, three are freshman (who just began this Monday after completing two weeks of military training), one is a sophomore class, one junior and one senior.  It will be somewhat of a challenge this semester to get them all organised and learning something.  I teach two classes Monday, one class Wednesday, one class Thursday and two classes Friday. I have been teaching everyone but the freshman for the past three weeks. Here’s a look at my schedule. If you can read it, props:

Chin-easy

Besides teaching I have been travelling a lot. I just received that full teaching schedule on Sunday while visiting the capital of my province, Lanzhou. It has been beautiful seeing more of China, but I am glad to officially be back at site for a while. Maybe now I can get a routine going.

This last weekend we had our welcome party up in the capital, eight hours away by bus. I met some of the PCV China 20 group in Gansu (I am a 21) and ate a couple of burritos. I never thought I would miss Mexican food as much as I did. I also bought five jars of peanut butter.  It does not exist at my site, so I figured that I would stock up for the winter while visit’n the big city.

> God’s butter <