Moments

So this past week, we were on a holiday from school. So my teammate Hailey and I decided to take a quick 860 mile trip to Shanghai for 3 days. Before we got there I told Hailey we weren't allowed to freak out about how amazingly awesome we both knew Shanghai was going to be. We weren't allowed to stare at all the foreigners, squeal over the Western delights we found, marvel at how people actually waited until the green walking sign came on to walk across the street, or just basically gush over anything that was not like Taiyuan.

Did we listen to me?

PFFFTT! Nah!

People actually waiting to cross the street. SAY WHAT?!!

Me asleep on the overnight train

Me and Hailey on the Bund (famous big road in Shanghai-look it up)

And while we were there, I got to see my friend, Christian who also is teaching in China. It's so crazy and awesome that we are both in China teaching this year. 

Me and my friend Christian

Hailey and I also got to visit these beautiful gardens in downtown Shanghai. We shopped around at the market outside the gardens too. We found this street that looked like Christmas threw up on it. I've never seen so much Christmas stuff in my life. 

There were like 20 of these Christmas shops on this street. INSANE

Me and Hailey at the gardens

There are moments where I often wonder what in the world I’m doing in China. I know this is all part of Father’s plan, but sometimes I can’t always see what exactly He has me doing here. Then He shows me.

 As we sat in the train station waiting to leave Shanghai, a little girl carrying a small bag and a sign came up to us. She saw me playing with my iPad, and she sat down next to me and starting playing with it. I was sort of in shock at first, but I figured “it’s China, I’ll just roll with it” [my life motto now]. We looked at her sign but it was in Chinese so we couldn’t read it. She sat with us for almost three hours while we waited for our train. She was probably the most vivacious, funny, quirky Chinese child I have met yet. I can’t pronounce her Chinese name, but I figured out she was seven years old. She played with me, made funny faces at me, ate the oranges and candy we gave her, gave me hugs and kisses, held my hand. She also kept pointing out how white my skin was compared to hers. She would point at her hand, point at my hand, and point at the white floor. I think she was trying to tell me that my skin was as white as the floor.

Hilarious.

The little girl showing me her loose tooth. Isn't she precious?1

We still couldn’t figure out why she was there or where her parents were. Finally, a lady sat down near us who spoke English and Chinese.  She was able to translate for us.

This is what we found out.

This little girl was seven years old, and her parents had sent her to the train station to beg for money. Her parents were off somewhere else begging, and her father would pick her up later that evening.

It took everything in me not to burst into tears right there in the train station. All I wanted to do was to take this precious, beautiful little girl into my arms and never let go. How could anyone send their seven year old little girl out begging for money? By herself? In a train station where all manner of people are? I just couldn’t fathom it. How does someone reach that level of desperation?

I sat there, wrestling with these questions and unsure as to what I was supposed to do. That’s when I remembered why I was in China: to show Father’s love. In her beautiful brown eyes I could see the hunger for love.  So for those three hours, I just loved on this little girl. I held her hand, let her lay her head on my lap, gave her kisses, stroked her hair, played with her until it was time for her to leave.

I’ve never seen desperation and poverty that close before. Even when I went to Mexico and saw one of the colonias near the border. This was in my face, raw and exposed. And I didn’t know how to deal with it other than to show this child love.

But it broke my heart.

All I wanted to do was to take this child home with me. I wanted to take her away from the situation she was and give her a safe home, a place where she doesn’t have to beg for food or money. But I couldn’t. And that frustrated me to no end. All I could do was just sit there and play with her and give her candy.

But maybe that’s why I was there.

Maybe this little moment, in the crowded, dirty Shanghai train station, was the reason why Father brought me to China. Maybe this little girl will remember the strange, white foreign teacher who played with her in the train station. And maybe some day she will understand that Father loves her. That is my prayer for her: that maybe during those three hours I spent with her, Father worked in her heart.

Me holding the little girl's hand

I know the holiday season is crazy, busy, and sometimes there isn’t any time to just stop and listen. But I encourage you to take some time this holiday season to love on someone who has no one to love them. Whether that’s a sick child in a hospital, an orphan, the elderly in a nursing home, a homeless person, it doesn’t matter. Just love on someone. Because maybe, just maybe Father will use that moment for His glory and bring that lost person to Himself. After all, that’s what Christmas is about isn’t it? Father sent His Son to love us and show us what true love is. 

Meesa Lindsay ... we want to color animals.

Well folks, it's about that time of year. I'm about to hit 4 months of being in China (CRAZY RIGHT?!), and I think the "culture shock" is starting to hit. Before you jump to conclusions, no, I'm not wanting to leave China and come home. Farthest thing from it. Culture shock is different for everyone since every person is unique. So for me, alot of my "culture shock" expresses itself in my frustration with the system and the complete lack of anything resembling efficiency. 

For example, the education system at my school frustrates me a great deal. There's a ridiculous amount of pressure on my kids and on my co-teachers, and it's not fair or just. And I think that's what I have the problem with the most: I see injustice and I want to fix it. But I can't. 

It's strange how the things I thought would frustrate me, don't. And the things I thought I could deal with drive me crazy. For one, I thought the language barrier would make me want to pull my hair out. Nope. I thought the people and their attitudes would make me hate China. Quite the opposite actually. 

I never considered that my job would be the thing that frustrated me the most. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE teaching. I LOVE my kids. I LOVE my co-teachers. What I dislike is the system. And I dislike it because it is just ridiculous sometimes. With a lack of direct communication, it's hard for my co-teacher to know what they're supposed to do. And then it's even harder for them to communicate to me what I'm supposed to do. And what really just makes me so angry is how much pressure is put on my babies and on my co-teachers. My babies are SIX YEARS OLD!!!! It is absolutely ridiculous to expect them to be able to all score a 95 and above on their exams. Just ridiculous. And if my babies don't do well on their exams, the hammer comes down on my co-teachers. It makes the protective mama bear side of me come out. Nobody messes with Meesa Lindsay's babies or co-teachers!!!

And it also doesn't help my frustration level when I get back from a break on Monday morning and get handed a new book and told I need to start teaching from that book TODAY. 

I practiced labor breathing to calm myself down so my head wouldn't blow off. Hee-hee-hoo-hee-hee-hoo-hee-hee-hoo

But as infuriating as my job can be at times ... it also is my greatest joy, the thing I love most about China. And there's those little moments that happen every day, every class that make all my irritation melt away. Then there's the moments Father gives me outside of school that remind me of all the lessons China is teaching me. 

Exhibit A:

I was teaching my kids about different animals. When I put up the picture of a pig, all 36 kids in that class started making these ridiculous snorting hog noises. I about fell over laughing. 

Exhibit B: 

I had a lesson where my students got to draw different animals as part of an activity.  Unfortunately class 3 didn't get to draw animals because we ran out of time. However, news must have spread quickly down the hall about Meesa Lindsay's fun drawing time because on last Wednesday, after class 2, I met my genius kid Dustin out on the hall. This exchange went down:

Dustin: Hello Meesa Lindsay!

Me: Hello Dustin!

Dustin: Meesa Lindsay, this afternoon, in class, we want to color animals.

Me: OH MY GOSH!!!!!! OF COURSE YOU CAN COLOR ANIMALS!!!!

Heck, I would've let them color anything they wanted. This kid's English is amazing!!! Why on earth is he even in my class?! He should be teaching the class for crying out loud!

Exhibit C: 

Last Sunday I was on the bus heading back from a trip up to the north part of the city. It had been a rough couple of days, and I was just feeling exhausted. The bus trip was good for me because I just got to sit and clear my head for a while. Well, I transfered busses near my school, and I noticed a kid wearing one of the red winter jackets with our school's logo on it. I did a double take and it was one of my kids!!!! It was Tim from Class 1!! He was riding on the bus with his mom. I said hi and was greeted with a gigantic smile and a shocked "Meesa Lindsay!" exclamation. He told his mom I was his teacher, and she made him stand up so I could sit down. He sat on my lap the rest of the ride back to school. 

Me and Tim on the bus!!

Exhibit D:

On Saturday, we went out grocery shopping at a store called Carrefour. We get up to the entrance of the store and there's this huge advertisement campaign thingie for some kind of laundry detergent. Anyway, we went in, did our shopping, and came out. But, just as we were coming out of the store, I noticed that some of the employees working the campaign were lining up as if they were about to do some sort of dance. So we stopped and watched. 

Well, as we watched their little dance to Gagnam style, these three college girls came up to me and Sarah. One of them was like "Do you remember me? We met on the bus." She looked kind of familiar, and I've met several college students on the bus before. Anyway, we started talking about the employees dancing and how silly it was. 

Then, the inevitable happened. 

One of the employees came up to me and gestured towards the group dancing, saying "Come, come!" He wanted me to go dance with them. I was like "No, no, no, no." But he wouldn't back down. 

So I went out and danced with the crazy laundry detergent people. 

IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Crazy dancing

And of course a crowd gathered and everyone had their smartphones out video-ing the crazy 外国人 (foreigner) dancing. 

AFter the dance, I walked off back to Sarah and the college girls (who also all had their smartphones out). Then one of the guys I was dancing with runs after me and gives me a big thing of laundry detergent for free. And THEN their professional photographer guy takes my picture with the laundry detergent. 

I would not be surprised if I see my face with the laundry detergent plastered all over Taiyuan. I can see it now "Look! Even foreigners like our laundry detergent!"

So yeah, just another crazy moment in my Taiyuan life. 

Oh and the college girls asked for my number. They said they wanted to practice their oral English, so I gave them my number. And as it turns out they both go to Shanxi University, which is right down the road from my school! I got two adorable texts from them today: 

"Hi Lindsay. I am so happy to know you today. My english name is summer. can i make friend with you?"

"Hello, lindsay. I'm Miki. This is my telephone number. I feel very lucky to meet you today. I hope we can be good friends!!!"

They're so stinking cute! So yeah, I have two new friends, Miki and Summer! 

It's amazing how Father provides these little encouragements in my life exactly when I need them. His timing is impeccable ... of course I should've already learned that lesson by now. I keep having these moments where I'm like "KSJDHFLIAWUEHFLIBJKDSBLGAUHRUI I'M IN CHINA!!!!!! I'M IN CHINA!!!!!!! ASJDFHALSKHF!!!" But, it's where Father wants me for this season. And I am so blessed to be a part of everything here. 

Me and Dasha waiting for the bus. Isn't she adorable?!

Hope y'all enjoyed these little stories. Please continue to lift up me and my team as we navigate adjusting to a new culture. 

Thankfulness

So it's the season where everyone starts talking about things they are thankful for. And so I thought it would be appropriate to take some time to say a few things I'm thankful for (actually it's alot of things, but that's a good thing right?)

1. I'm thankful for my amazing team:

• Our team leaders: Dale and Allysa: for being there for us, leading us, letting us do crazy things, putting up with our silliness
• Chesney: for bringing so much joy to our team. You always make me laugh and smile
• Hailey: for all your wisdom, sarcastic comments, and love of stupid scary movies
• Sarah: for your steadiness and servant's heart.
• Asher and Dasha: for just all the love and fun you bring to the team
• Anna: for being my best friend for the last 4 years; you're a big part of why I'm here in China, and I am so thankful for you

2. I'm thankful for my wonderful family for being brave and letting me come to the other side of the world. Your support and love mean more to me than words can express. I love you all and miss you so much! 

3. All of the people who made it possible for me to come to China. Your outpouring of love and support overwhelms me every day! I am awed and humbled by your kindness and generous hearts-may Father richly bless you for your sacrifices to help me come to China!

4. My fellowship here: I'm amazed by the transparency and love of Father that you have shown me. Thank you all for your wisdom and for your willingness to share you wisdom with young people like me. 

5. China. Oh China ... as frustrating as you can be at moments, I'm so incredibly blessed to be here experiencing your culture and your people. Here's a few things about China I'm thankful for:

•  Jiǎozi: Oh  Jiǎozi how I love you
• Muddy, bumpy roads: you make life fun
• Insanely crowded buses: granted sometimes you can give me major motion sickness, but there's never a dull moment on a crowded Chinese bus. 
• Lack of efficiency: you're teaching me that life does not always run by a schedule. And it's ok to just fly by the seat of your pants some days.
• Fireworks and construction: thanks for making sure I never get to bed before midnight and never sleep past 7:00am (on most days haha)
• Chinese fashion: I could seriously go on about this forever. But I'm just happy I get to have many chuckles to myself multiple times a day when I see Chinese people wearing crazy outfits.
• Hot water and more clothes are the remedy for every illness ... *coughcoughNOTcoughcough*

6. Gerry, our Foreign Affairs Official (FAO): Most schools that have foreign teachers have an FAO who is in charge of taking care of the foreign teachers. This ranges from making sure all their paperwork is in order, to informing them about school events, to making sure they have drinking water in their apartments ... well this last one probably isn't in the job description but Gerry does it anyway. Gerry is AWESOME!!! He works so hard to take care of us, and he's the BEST FAO EVER!!! Sorry to my friends at other schools, but Gerry has all your FAOs beat by a long shot. He's also got a fantastic sense of humor!

7. My co-teachers: Monica, Candy, and Jenny. For putting up with me and my craziness and total lack of teaching background. Also for making sure I know that I should drink more hot water and wear more clothes when I'm sick (not that I listen to them, but it's sweet they try to tell me how to take care of myself). These ladies are amazing-they are fantastic teachers and wonderful people. I'm so blessed to get to work with them. 

8. My babies: Oh my babies ... I want to scream out across the world I LOVE MY BABIES! Or like that scene in Elf I want to sing out "I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOOOOVVVEEE YOU!!!!" You all teach me something new every day-I'm overwhelmed by your love and your sweet spirits. When I look into all of your big, beautiful brown eyes, my heart just melts. I don't know how I'm going to say good-bye in a few months. You will always have a special place in my heart-all 288 of you. 

9. Father. Father, it's been a crazy, wild ride to get me here to China. Thank you for teaching me about love, surrender, trust, and the myriad of lessons you've taught me in the last 10 months. As much as I fight with you some days, you still love me and you do what's best for me. You love me, freely, despite all my faults and my doubting. Thank you that you can change even the most stubborn of hearts. 

Me and Class 3

MY ADORABLE BABIES!

So this post is for the people who do not have FB and cannot see all of my pictures (coughcoughMyfamilycoughcough).

I've been trying to take more pictures of my adorable babies, just because they're so stinking cute and I love them so much. 

Left to right: Jessica, Chelsea, Betsy, Judy (Class 8)

Left to right: Mandy, Katie, Susie, Amber, and Ava

Me and my awesome Canada (Josh)

Me and my dear sweet Katie

Madison and Gabbie (Class 4)

My sweet, precious Archie

Me and my Becca (Class 3)

Me and Betsy (Class 8)

Left to right: Belle, Piper, Jami, Meg, Ava, Wendy (Class 7)

Left to Right: Aidan, Ryder, Jesse, Corey, Gabe, Andrew, Archie (right beside me),
Flynn (Behind me), Chase, Piper, Jamie, Kay

AREN'T MY BABIES THE CUTEST?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They're a mess, but they're so much fun. I love just walking down the hall and having all of them screaming at me "MEESA LINDSAY!!!! MEESA LINDSAY!!!!" I'm overwhelmed by their love every day. 

Twick-o-Tweat!

Oh my goodness, where to begin? So much has happened since the last time I posted.  

Oh and it was parent's week ... this meant there were about 10 parents in every class I taught watching my class. They all had their smart phones out, videoing me and taking pictures of the crazy foreign teacher. And when I went out to dance with the kids during exercise time ... you would've thought Kobe Bryant had just showed up at SMBS. I had parents everywhere taking my picture, videoing me dancing next to their kid, pointing at me, staring with their mouths wide open. It was hilarious. 

I celebrated Halloween with my kiddos. They learned pumpkin, jack-o-lantern, trick-or-treat, and candy. I had them color pictures of jack-o-lanterns, and they also got to "trick-or-treat." I made them all masks out of cardstock, marker, and glitter glue ... let's just say for about four days my clothes, my room, and my hands were covered in glitter. The looks on the faces of my kids when I brought out the masks were priceless! So many oo's and ahh's. 

So yeah, I passed out the masks, after telling the kids that if they hurt the masks they would make Meesa Lindsay very very sad. [Not that I really cared, but I was not about to have 36 kids/classroom going nuts with the masks]. They had to hold up the masks and say "Trick-or-treat" [which sounded more like "Twick-o-tweat!"] and then I would give them candy. 

IT WAS THE MOST ADORABLE THING EVER!!!!!!!!!

Can I just teach American Holidays for the rest of the year?

The parents were also here during Halloween. Pretty sure they thought I was completely insane. 

Here are some shots of the kids with their masks:

My dear Archie 

Sheldon and Bruce (Class 4)

Class 1 Row 3

Josh loved his mask

Class 8 Row 3

Oh yeah, and I've learned a few more things about some of my students. I was showing Jenny all the pictures of my kids, and she would tell me different things about them. And some of these are just things I've noticed about my kids. 

For one, Dustin in class 3 is apparently a genius (as if I didn't know that already). Jenny told me she had to walk him to the bus to go home once, and as they passed all the parents in their cars, he could tell her the make and model of every single car. He knows all his colors in English, as well as a ton of other English words. So yeah, he's awesome. 

And Josh apparently went to Canada over October Holiday (who knew?). So his new nickname is Jiānádà, which is Canada in Chinese. And he is in Class 7's performance for the English show. And he's a Rabbit hahahahahahaha. 

Peyton is not just a troublemaker. He's also super smart. He is playing the part of the Farmer in Class 7's performance. 

Peyton and Josh learning lines in the office

One of my kids in Class 4 has a dad who is a big leader in the Chinese military. 

Stan had surgery on his tongue because it was malformed, which explains why he has a hard time speaking. 

Sheldon is a genius-he scored a perfect on the big midterm. And he remembers everything Jenny teaches. 

I've also got to spend time just hanging around with my kids after classes. They all go outside and have scheduled play time, which includes everything from play-doh, to jumping rope, to basketball, to coloring, etc. 

Meaghan and Anissa (Class 1)

My boys from class 1

Girls from class 1 coloring

More girls from class 1 coloring

Oh and yeah, my kids are AWESOME at jump rope. What was really funny was when I showed them I could do it too. I was hanging out with class 1 and Brody gave me his jump rope. All the kids gathered around, talking excitedly and laughing. Most likely they were saying, "The foreign teacher is going to try to jump rope! How silly!" Well, they were completely shocked when I actually could jump rope. A few of them even told me "Very good! Very good!"

Joslyn (class 8) jumping rope

This is Clay, he's the Class Monitor of Class 1 (meaning he's in charge of keeping the other kids in line). He wanted me to take his picture while he showed me how he could jump rope. He also wanted me to count how many times he could jump rope. He hit 57 by my count. 

Clay

My kids are AWESOME!!! I love them so much. Father is using them to teach me patience, love, and gentleness. He knows I need those lessons, and He's definitely using them to teach me patience. There are days when I just want to bang my head against the wall because the kids are being so naughty. So yeah, Meesa Lindsay is learning patience. 

This is my me

There's few things that can make me laugh more than my kids.  There's only a few things that can make me want to bang my head into the wall more than my kids. 

Exhibit A: 

This week we've spent reviewing for their midterm exam. The two lessons we worked on the past two days were on Abilities and Family. With the family lesson, they have learned father, mother, grandmother, grandfather, and me. And the phrase they learned to go with that vocabulary was "This is my [family member]." So I would put various pictures of family members up on the board and ask "Who is this?" And the kids would answer. So I put a picture of a kid (note: kid is supposed to represent the word 'me') up and ask them "Who is this?"

And what to I get?

36 kids screaming "THIS IS MY ME!!!!!" 

What Meesa Lindsay Feels Like after class some days

Thank you Chinese educational system for making my kids think they can just memorize anything and not use any critical thinking skills!

Unfortunately, no matter how many times I corrected them and told them to say "This is me," it still came out "THIS IS MY ME!!!"

Oi vey. 

These kids basically learn to just repeat, repeat, repeat. And repeat in the order they learned it. So when you mix up the order of the vocabulary cards ... they don't like it. And they get confused. It's freaking adorable. 

And heaven forbid I include various things they learned from different lessons in the same powerpoint. Oh no ... that is not acceptable. 

Hence why I got phrases like:

"Give me a nose please."

"I can grandfather."

"This is my sing!"

Yeah, it's been an interesting week. Meesa Lindsay has come close to banging her head into the chalkboard on several occasions. 

But there's nothing that can lift my spirits up when I'm having a bad day/week/hour more than my kids. 

Examples:

I walk into Class 8 on Monday morning and the entire class erupts in cheers and dancing. "MEESA LINDSAY!!! MEESA LINDSAY!!! HELLO MEESA LINDSAY!!! GOOD MORNING MEESA LINDSAY!!!!" You would've thought I was a rockstar or something. 

Starting to teach my kids the Cha-Cha slide 

One of my little girls had a small bag of Skittles, and she gave me one. She's my new favorite. Don't ask me her name, because she's only one of 50 girls that have a bob haircut. And yes, I am easily won over by gifts of candy. 

We played a race game, where each row had to ask each other "What can you do?" one by one down the row. The last person on the row had to jump up and run to the front of the class to ask me "What can you do?" Oh. my. word. I thought my ear drums were going to bust, they were all screaming at each other and laughing. And then when I would announce the winning row, more screaming and cheering would ensue, accompanied by groans and whines from the rows that lost. Chinese kids are INSANELY competitive and loud [yeah I know, I'm basically a Chinese kid in a white, American body]. It's so much fun to watch them race and actually enjoy using their English. 

The way the boys all made funny noises that I assumed were the equivalent of "ick and yuck" when I showed the picture of my mom and dad. In the picture, dad's kissing mom's cheek. Apparently all six-year old boys find kissing disgusting. What was also hysterical was when they saw the pictures of my two gorgeous little sisters. Almost all of their mouths dropped opened and they swooned. It was HILARIOUS!! So yes, Elise and Emmy, you have many Chinese six-year old admirers. 

My kids drawing pictures of their families

Archie: no matter who is hugging or clinging to me, Archie will shove his way in, forcing all the other kids out of the way so he can hug me. He has the cutest big brown eyes and a deep raspy voice [for a six year old], which makes me giggle inside every time he talks. Anyway, he's a sweetheart and gives awesome hugs. 

My dear Archie

They also love it when I blow my nose. I've had a cold this week thanks to the weather change and the fact that China doesn't have heat inside until November 1. But yeah, I blew my nose in class, and all 36 kids start howling and pointing at me. In class 3 I told them I had a cold, and Dustin (remember, my genius kid) points at me and says "She's cold!" I was like "Close but not quite." 

And on Thursday, I decided to go out and actually dance with my kids, not just stand in the back where they can't see me. Oh my goodness, they were so excited! They kept laughing and pointing at me saying "MEESA LINDSAY!" followed by rapid fire Chinese. I'm pretty sure they were saying "Look even the white teacher can dance!" Yeah, I was able to keep up with most of the steps. Some of the dance steps to Gentleman are too complicated for me. 

All the kisses my kids give me. Oh my goodness, I get so many kisses, it's ridiculous. Pretty sure that's why I keep getting coughs and sniffles. But I don't care! I'll suffer the sickness for those sweet kisses and hugs. 

Class beginning

I'm amazed by my kids. They're a complete mess, but so sweet and cute. Most days it's all I can do to keep from just laughing throughout the entire class, but it's good for my soul. Some times I wonder what in the world I'm doing here and how I'm making a difference, but then I get a hug from one of my kids. And it reminds me, I am here to show them love-that's my job. 

Cookies and Uno

So this past weekend we invited several of our coteachers over to make cookies and play games. Well, only two of them could come-and they're both named Jenny [one of them was my Jenny]. But the other Jenny (Who I will henceforth refer to as Jenny #2) brought her 7-year old nephew because she wanted him to meet foreigners. His name was Chenchen (pronounced Chin-chin-not quite sure on the spelling but it's what we'll go with). 

Chenchen was AWESOME!!!! I have never seen a kid with so much personality-we had so much fun making cookies with him. We made snickerdoodles and peanut butter cookies. 

Jenny #2 mixing the dough

He helped us pour in the different ingredients. I let him try the sugar just to see what his reaction would be. His eyes lit up, and he giggled and clapped his hands in delight. Yeah, kids are all the same. They love sugar. 

Chenchen mixing the cookie dough

And he was fascinated by the oven-neither of the Jenny's nor Chenchen had ever made cookies before. So they all were very excited. But Chenchen loved the oven-he stood there for a while watching the cookies bake-it was adorable. 

Chenchen is puzzled by the oven

While Sarah and Anna tended to the cookies, the rest of us played games. We taught them how to play Uno. Chenchen (who by the way could hardly speak any English) caught on to the game real fast. His favorite card was the Draw 4 card, and every time he played it he would laugh maniacally at whoever had the misfortune of sitting next to him. It was hysterical!

Having fun playing Uno!

And we played spoons. Chenchen also loved this game. He stole a spoon from his Aunt and waved it in the air in triumph. We all laughed so hard. 

One really neat thing that happened during our little party was that the two Jenny's became friends. They realized they both went to the same college and had the same major, but never had any classes together. [In China, you're divided into different groups of students (classes) in your same year and you take all of your courses with that same class-or at least that's how it's been explained to me]. So yeah, that was really cool for us to watch as they sat there and chatted about their college. I hope they will become good friends. 

So yeah, even though we didn't have many people come, our first little co-teacher gathering was a success. We had so much fun, and we hope the two Jenny's and Chenchen were blessed. And we can't wait to have another co-teacher party. 

Oh yeah, and we've decided if we invite Jenny #2 again to another party, she's got to bring Chenchen. Or she can't come. 

Sometimes you just gotta bring out your Madea

So this past weekend I had the pleasure of getting strep from one of my students. How do I know I got it from one of my students? Um ... I'm 99.9% sure it came from one of them-I'm around 288 sneezing, coughing, hoarse voiced children five days a week. You do the math. 

Anyway, Gerry, our Foreign Affairs Official, took me to the school clinic and got me a load of amoxicillin and Chinese herbal remedies. 

My meds

Because of my sore throat, I couldn't teach on Monday. So Allysa covered for me, and apparently my students did not cooperate. My co-teacher Jenny called to tell me this and also to check up on me. She's so sweet. 

I'm starting to feel like I should write a book of all my ridiculous classroom stories. Almost every day something hysterical happens that sends me into bouts of giggles. My babies are a hot mess sometimes. 

Exhibit A: Class 6

Oh. my. word. On Tuesday, they were terrible! I had never had so many of my kids get in trouble. Six different kids had to stand up in front of the class because they were misbehaving so much. And that was after I gave each of them two warnings about their behavior. 

One of the kids, Tom, was being particularly naughty throughout the entire class. And after his two warnings, I finally told him to go stand up in front of the class. He shook his head "no." So I picked him up out of his chair and set him on his feet to walk to the front of the class. His legs mysteriously turned into jello. I'd had enough of the misbehaving in my classroom, so I picked him up and carried him to the front of the class where he stood in shame for about 5 minutes. All the kids still in their seats were snickering and giggling most quietly so as not to be subject to the wrath of Meesa Lindsay. 

So yeah I carried a six-year old Chinese kid to the front of the class, which embarrassed him greatly. 

He was a perfect angel after that. 

Sometimes, all you need is a little tough love in a classroom of Chinese six year olds. 

Note: I'm not sure my kids take me very seriously because even when they're bad, they're so stinkin cute I have a hard time not smiling at them when I'm disciplining them. If I ever become a parent, I have to work on my poker face. 

Even though my kids were terrible in Class 6, we also had a few fun moments. For instance, one of the boys was doing something silly (I still don't remember what he was doing), but it made me laugh. And then I couldn't stop giggling. I was almost doubled over in laughter, and the entire class started laughing at me. It was so hilarious.

Exhibit B: Gus

On Wednesday in class, we were reviewing lessons 1-3 because the kids have their first test next week. My poor babies have their first test ... I hope they do well. 

Ok, this kid Gus in class 3 is so stinking adorable. Actually, pretty much every kid in class 3 is adorable, but that's beside the point. Gus just recently got glasses, and I swear every time I come to class he has a different pair on. This week he's been sporting neon yellow glasses. Hysterical. 

Anyway, I was having the kids volunteer to come up and practice the dialogue with me. They had to bring their book, pencil, ruler, and eraser (rubber) with them to see which one I would ask them for. Most of the kids just brought their pencils, rulers, and erasers.

But not Gus. He's an overachiever. 

When I called on him, he quickly gathered up his book, pencil, ruler, and eraser, and THEN, proceeded to grab his name card and his sticker card. Juggling all six of these items in his little Chinese hands, he sprints up to the front of the class. The rest of the students were laughing hysterically at him, and I couldn't help but chuckle because he was so cute. 

And then as he stands before me with his hands so full he's about to drop something, I'm trying my best to keep a straight face. He just looks up at me through those bright neon yellow glasses like "Aren't you proud of me?! I brought ALL my stuff!" 

Yes, Gus I was very proud of you. 

My sweet Gus. 

Exhibit C: Dustin

Dustin is probably my smartest kid-he picks up the English faster than any of the kids in any of my classes. And he CORRECTLY uses it. Genius. 

Anyway, because we were reviewing for the test today, I went back over their names and how to say "Hello, I'm ..." 

As I'm walking around the room telling each kid their name, I come up to Dustin and he says, "Hello I'm Dustin." I did my happy dance which the kids thought was hilarious. In my mind I was like, "You learned something! You learned something! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!"

Note: As a first-grade ESL teacher, you get excited about the smallest things. If the kid can say one phrase correctly and appropriately, it makes your week. 

But that's not even the best part. After class was over, Dustin came up to me and said, "Meesa Lindsay, can you speak Chinese?" 

IN. ENGLISH!!!!

I squealed with delight and amazement (which shocked him a little bit), and then said with a sad face, "No. I speak English." He sighed and walked away. 

My brilliant Dustin

Exhibit D: Josh.

Last week Josh was absent from classes-I have no idea why. But I missed him alot. He showed back up this week in full blown Josh form. Oh my word this kid is ridiculous. 

I had them drawing pictures of their families, and I gave them a 2-minute warning before it was time to stop. 

Josh looks up from his drawing and holds up three fingers and says, "Three!"

A little conflict happened in my mind. Part of me was like "Oh my gosh he understood that I said two minutes left!!!! AAHHHHHH!!!!" and then the other part was like, "Who does this kid think he is, trying to weasel an extra minute out of me?! Uh uh." 

I told him, "No, two more minutes!"

He said, "Three!" 

I said, "No, TWO!"

He whined and continued drawing. 

When I told them to stop drawing and put away their markers, some of them obeyed. So I went around the room telling the others to stop drawing and put their markers up. When I got to Josh, he was still drawing. 

So I told him to put his markers up. He shook his head at me. 

I told him again. He looked up at me, grinned, and said, "No!" 

I put my hands on my hips in what I thought was my fierce Madea impression and said, "Excuse me?! I know I didn't just hear you say that!" 

He. said. "No!". Again. 

So I took the marker straight out of his hand, put it back in its case, closed his marker case, pointed to his locker, and said, "You put them up. Now. And you do not say 'no' to Meesa Lindsay." 

He just grinned that illegally cute grin of his and sauntered back to his locker and put his markers away. 

Next time he says no to me, he gets to stand up in front of the class.

Corey, Josh, and Archie

Note: Everything I said during this interchange was with grand, exaggerated hand gestures. And I think Josh knows I like him alot so he thinks he can get away with anything. Not. true. Meesa Lindsay don't play like that. 

Sometimes to deal with these first-graders, I just gotta bring out my Madea.

And to Mrs. Shari Hamlin, if you read this, know you would've been proud of my Madea. I'm thinking about teaching my kids to say "Hello-er" just for you. 

Hope y'all enjoyed this. If you can't tell, I adore my kids. They're so little, so cute, so precious, so sweet, so naughty. I can't imagine my life without them ... but a year ago, I couldn't have imagined my life with them. It's amazing how Father can just change everything in one's life. I want to thank all my friends back home for your love and support. Without you, I wouldn't be here, and I'm so, so, so grateful that I am here in Taiyuan. I'm tearing up as I write this because of the amazing grace and love I have been shown by Father and by you all. And a special thanks to my family, for being brave and trusting enough to let me go to the other side of the world. It's been a crazy, wild ride, but I'm loving every minute of it. A note of encouragement: just let go-let Father do what He wants to do in your life. I love that song "Sweetly Broken" by Jeremy Riddle ... it has been my China song, as I call it. Just let go and surrender to Him.