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.