Family

When I came to China, I thought it would never feel like home. I was certain that nothing could ever feel like sitting around the living room with my family, laughing and joking and telling stories.

I was so wrong.

I have a family here in China. I have a HUGE family here in China. And when I’m with my China family, it feels like I am home.

Let me introduce you to my China family:

Taiyuan teens: this is the youth group I volunteer at. It’s an English corner where highschoolers in Taiyuan come to practice their English. All these kids are like my little brothers and sisters. And there’s also the college students who volunteer at Taiyuan Teens too. 

Let me introduce you to some of them.

This is Nina. 

Me and my Nina

Nina is AMAZING! And funny, and smart, and full of energy. She is my adopted big sister. She helps run Taiyuan Teens—I love my Nina. She is destined to do big things. It’s so funny—she refuses to tell me her age until I go back to America. Several of us have a bet going as to how old she is. She has also repeatedly offered to help the girls on our team find Chinese boyfriends.

And these are my two adopted Chinese brothers: Jeff and Lee. 

Jeff, me, and Lee

Oh my gosh they are a MESS! But I love them for it. Jeff is in his last year of pre-med and is looking to become a doctor, so we talk about that. He told me if I want to come and visit the med school here in Taiyuan, he will be my guide. Lee is a computer engineer major (a.k.a. a genius). They are both very sweet and funny. And VERY competitive. We play games at Taiyuan Teens, and last meeting we played a game called Trainwreck where people had to run around and find their seat again and so on. Let's just say Lee and I practically tried to kill each other during the game. 

My favorite moment with them was at camp. We all brought different food to share, and I brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I gave them each one, and what did they do? Started using chopsticks to eat the PB&J!!! CHOPSTICKS!!!! I told them “THIS IS AMERICAN FOOD! YOU WILL EAT IT THE AMERICAN WAY! WITH YOUR HANDS!” They looked at me like I was crazy, but they put down the chopsticks.

And there’s my family here at SMBS:

Jenny (left) and Felicity (right)

Felicity: Felicity is our language tutor/awesome friend. She is another adopted Chinese sister. I’ve never met someone so sweet and sarcastic. She is a joy to be with and so encouraging. I feel bad for her though because her mother keeps setting her up on awful blind dates, so we laugh about those a lot. The other day, we were talking about how I will go on to be a doctor and she said, “I think you will make a very good doctor. Because you make people happy.” It about made me cry. 

My co-teachers: Mary, Monica, and Candy.

 

Me and Mary

Me and Monica

Me and Candy

Oh my gosh these three are quite the trio. They are so different but they work together well. I love them all for their different personalities and teaching styles. For Christmas, I gave them each perfume and a pretty hair accessory. I came back from our break to three presents from them. Monica gave me a wonderful, warm, cream-colored toboggan, Candy gave me a beautiful, yellow scarf; and Mary gave me a sparkly, pink, frilly scarf. I’ve never had anything so pink and frilly in my life, but I LOVE it! One of Monica’s classes won my Christmas competition, so they got a Christmas party as their reward. The kids all made Christmas cards and even Monica joined in. This is the Christmas card she made me. My favorite part is on the back of the card: 

Section 3 Grade 1 English teachers!! WE ARE AWESOME!

And of course you all know Dustin. 

I’ve decided he is another adopted little Chinese brother. I don’t know how I’m going to say goodbye to my little brother at the end of the year. His smile lights up my day, and he always says the sweetest things to me. Almost every day he tells me, “Meesa Lindsay, you are very beautiful today.” During exercise time my kids have to go and run in formation, so I go out and run with them in the freezing cold. Every time I run with Dustin’s class, he asks me, “Meesa Lindsay, are you cold?” To which I always reply, “Yes I am very cold.” When I ask him the same thing,  he smiles and says, “My ears are cold.” His class also won a Christmas party. And as the movie played and I passed out Christmas cookies, I came to give him his cookie. He grabbed my arm and pulled me down and said, “Meesa Lindsay, today I am very happy.” It took everything in me not to burst into tears right there. Later in the class, when we were trying in vain to take a group picture of the class, he grabbed my arm again and said, “Meesa Lindsay, I love you.” With tears in my eyes I hugged him and said, “I love you too, Dustin.” 

My Dustin with his Christmas card

And then there’s my friends out around Taiyuan.

Miki and Summer: 

Miki (left) and Summer (right). Aren't they adorable?!

These two are just adorable. They are in the same class, same major, and same dorm room in college. From what they tell me they are practically inseparable. I love hanging out with them because they are so precious and sweet. And boy I have never seen two girls eat so much. I went out to lunch with them, and they just kept eating … and eating … and eating … I’ve heard Chinese are the best at marathon eating, and now I believe it.

And then there’s my Jenny. 

Me and my Jenny. 

For those of you who don’t know, Jenny left SMBS. I don’t understand it, but she assured me it was just the Chinese way. Even though she is no longer my co-teacher, she is still my best friend here in China. Last week I got the opportunity to go and visit her in her hometown. She took me around her city and then out to the village where she lives. As we drove down the dirt road that led to the village, I had a sudden moment of realization, “This is REAL China.”

When I stepped out of the car in front of Jenny’s house, I was greeted instantly by her mother, one of her 16 cousins, and her grandmother. I was practically carried into the house, where her mother forced me onto the couch to sit and have a rest. Her mother, grandmother, and uncle all sat in the kitchen making dumplings because Jenny told them that dumplings were my favorite. Jenny told them I wanted to try to make dumplings, but they wouldn’t let me. I was the guest (a foreigner no less) who was supposed to just take a rest. Jenny did convince them to let me make one dumpling. So I sat down and got to make my one dumpling, and when I did, Jenny help it up proudly and said, “This is Lindsay’s dumpling!”

We sat around the table eating, and I was amazed at how at home I felt with her family. There was noise, laughter, joking, yelling—it felt like I was back with my family around the dinner table. They asked me lots of questions (with Jenny translating of course) about America.

After lunch, Jenny’s aunt showed up with her little 2-year old little boy. The poor kid was terrified of me, seeing as I was the first foreigner he’d ever seen. But after I gave him a chocolate chip cookie, he decided I was a decent enough person to allow into his presence. Her other grandmother and grandfather also came over to visit. And while I was there, all the workers on Jenny’s dad’s farm of course had to peak their heads in to see the very white, bundled up American. And of course we had to have the family photoshoot with the foreigner. 

Left to right: Jenny's mom, Jenny's cousin, Jenny's Dad, me, and Jenny's aunt

What I loved about my day with Jenny’s family was how normal it was, and how welcoming they were to me. Jenny’s mother told me she wanted me to feel at home in their house, that their home would always be open to me, and that they would be my family in China while I was so far away from mine. When Jenny told me this, I about burst into tears. 

So now you have met my Chinese family. I am so thankful to Father for providing these sweet people to love me and care for me. And I just hope that while I am here I can show Father's love to them. 

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.