FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

Today, I met my kids. My beautiful, smiling, rambunctious, smart, six-year old kids. I watched them all as they marched to class in semi-straight lines shouting "Yi er yi Yi er yi!" (One two one). I almost cried this morning when I saw them in the hallway as they rushed past my office shouting "Hello" to me in their adorable Chinese accents. And then at the beginning of each class when they all said "Good marning Mees Lindsay!" I about cried again. Although when they said my name, sometimes it sounded more like "Lizzy." Made me almost laugh despite the tears in my eyes. 

They are why I am here.  They are my kids for this one year. I cannot believe I have the opportunity to be here with them and watch them grow up this year. 

I have fallen in love with my kids. And I haven't even met half of them yet. 

Right now I'm pretty sure they don't know what to do with me yet. Poor things looked rather startled. 

One of the most hilarious moments of my day happened when I was just walked down the hall. Class had ended and as I walked past a classroom door, two little girls came out. They jumped and screamed when they saw me. Guess they had never seen a foreigner before. But I smiled and waved at them, and then they smiled and waved back. 

I "taught" 3 classes today. Because it was the first day, I got to give them English names. And yes, I have to give names to all 288 of my kids. The last couple days Anna, Chesney, Sarah, Hailey and I have been coming up with lists of names and making name cards for our kids. Coming up with that many names that six-year olds can hopefully pronounced was a challenge. But it was SO MUCH FUN! By the way, I named alot of them after people I know. So if you're reading this, you probably have a small Chinese 1st grader who has the same name as you. 

So, I got to give each of my 3 classes English names today. I handed out name cards and they colored them while I went around and practiced their names with them. Of course, most of them won't remember their names by the time the next class rolls around. They loved their names and their name cards. They decorated them so beautifully. When I showed some of them to one of my co-teachers, she said "Oh that class vary clevar." Yes, my students are very clever. 

At my school, the students are separated into 3 sections. Each section has all the grades (1-5). And each grade has 8 classes. I teach all the section 3, grade 1 classes. Today I taught Class 7, Class 6, and Class 1. 

Class 7 is very, very clever. But they are also very rambunctious. I have three troublemakers in that class: Corey, Josh, and Jesse. Also in that class are Elise and Emmy. Elise is very smart, I can already tell. And Emmy was one of the few who actually smiled at me when I helped her practice her name. And then there's Ava. She listens very well and is very helpful. This class also has Eli and Peyton, who sit next to each other. Yes I did name two of my kids after my favorite NFL quarterbacks. 

Class 6 is so good. They are so well-behaved and sweet. And they are very, very artistic. So many of them had elaborate patterns and designs on their name cards. Well, elaborate for 1st graders. Shari and Mandy sit in the very back of the class and are my talkative ones. Camille and Joy sit in the front and smile alot and listen very well. My boys are all very well-behaved in this class. 

Class 1 ... oh Class 1.They are so smart but so noisy. The talking almost never stops. The one I think I am going to have the most trouble with is Addison. He already told me no like 3 times. None of the other children have yet to tell me no. And then there's Ferris ... He has this mischievous look on his face at all times. Go figure. Meaghan, Mike, and Melissa are so sweet and smile at me all the time. 

I will eventually post pictures of my kids. I will work on that this weekend. 

I'll also tell you about my co-teachers later. This post is getting long, so I figure I better end it.