and life goes on..

in case you thought i died. i didnt. i'm still here.

updates:

we met a couple in our grocery store, Sanya and Charles. Sanya is from Peru and Charles is from Pennsylvania. Charles is here on business, he's in the lighting business. (you can pretty much assume any not-chinese people that are in guzhen, work in the lighting industry, thats why people dont get why 4 americans would come to guzhen). We actually talked to them at the grocery store for like 45 minutes (you can imagine the stares we were getting). And Sanya invited us over to their apartment and she said she'd cook for us! We were so excited. CUTEST COUPLE ever (probably in their late 20's early 30's). They are so much fun! We spent like 5 hours over at their apartment we just ate, talked, laughed and enjoyed some good ol english speaking company. Sanya made us some pasta dishes and this fried tortilla and corn things that were so good. And she made us pudding! They leave in a couple weeks which is a pity because i think we could've become really good friends with them. But we were so happy we could meet them.

For english corner (every saturday Bond hosts this thing where chinese people can come practice their english, we come to speak english with them) we went to the arcade here it town. Haha. It was crazy. Soo loud. Thats something we've gotten used to here is that everything is just loud. Theres constant noise everywhere, but the arcade was especially loud. It was so much fun. Gary had these coupons for like 5 free tokens. So it was Chantelle, Callie, and me, Tina, Gary, Bella (Gary's wife) and Harry (brit) from Bond and some of the regulars that come to english corner. The basketball hoops were pretty popular. Chantelle and I beat Tina at air-hockey (which she called ping pong.. oh tina, we told her what its really called). Um chantelle and me raced a couple of times on those race-car games. They made me do a motorcycle racing game where you actually have to get on a motorcycle. Gary and Harry were playing this soccer game the whole time. Over all it was soo much fun. Oh my gosh, Bella, Gary's wife is HILLARIOUS. She's a stouter women and a bit harsh speaking wise but she is soo funny. They have this raffle at the arcade that a bunch of people get pretty into. And I walked over with tina to the crowd to see if she had a winning ticket and we see Bella and she had like 20 tickets in her hand. Haha. So there was this table full of the prizes and baskets and I cracked Tina up by telling her tina, i'm going to just go up there and grab the prizes and turn to the guy reading the numbers and just be like "xie xie, thank you, xie xie". haha. and just leave the arcade. I told her they probably wouldnt stop me they'd just be so confused and just be like stupid american girl.. just let her go. Then Bella said i should just go up there and take the microphone from the guy and read off her ticket and she'll take the prize. It was a pretty great night.

Oh and so april 1st was our halfway mark. And every semester the heads of ILP make their way around to every city in all the countries that ILP is in and they do a routine check up. So this last monday Jared and Casey came to Zhongshan (usually its steve and casey but steve couldnt make it). So we got observed and analyzed and all that good stuff. Mostly they just want to check up and see how we're doing and making sure everythings okay. They are super nice guys. And it was fun because our school took us out to lunch with them, so free meal, thats a plus. And we just had some meetings and just hung out with them. I was way stressing about it, but it wasnt as bad as i thought it was going to be. So that was pretty exciting and eventful i spose.

Little kid stories:

Yesterday my class got really mad at me. They've been trying to say something to be about my rule chart for a couple days but yesterday we finally understood each other. I had made a bigger rule chart and thought it was missing so i made a smaller one, but then i found the other one so I've had 2 rule charts. One I hang up, the other we use to go over the rules. Well Stella and Yaya were getting really really mad at me for some reason. And they kept saying teacher Chantelle! teacher Chantelle! And i'm like what? Teacher chantelle has a rule chart. And we'd move on. So finally yesterday they had had enough. They were like no you rule chart! Teacher Chantelle! and i finally snapped and was like no. This is my rule chart and this is my rule chart, Teacher Chantelle can make her own rule chart if she doesnt have one. (but i knew she had one). Well turns out Chantelle's rule chart was ripped. And oh my gosh with these kids, if something has a tear, or a spot of something on it, or a smidge of imperfection to it they cant stand it. So they were saying it wasnt fair that i had two and chantelle had a broken one. So they had made up in their mind that i should give Chantelle my extra chart. Oh my gosh. Yea so i gave chantelle my rule chart this morning, and she's like oh no, i can make another one. And i'm like, no you're taking this one or my kids will never forgive me. So today in class I was like look! i only have one rule chart, i gave the other to teacher chantelle (which i then had teacher chantelle, who is on the other side of the room, hold up and show them). Haha. Yaya and Stelle were so pleased. Yaya was like oh Teacher Jessica! You so good! You so good!. haha.
yea.. so then later today they got upset at me again. I taught shop this week which is you have to build something and then take it apart. So we made snowmen today. Lesson learned, dont make things that kids will get attached to and then tell them you have to take it apart. They were so angry at me. I told them we'd make snowmen they can take home next week, but they were still pretty bitter. We sang once there was a snowman so when we took it apart i told them the sun had come out and that the snowman was melting. The other two classes handled it better. But i'm still pretty sure my class will hold that against me until we make snowmen they can keep.

and oh my gosh. so this is probably the humid-est (?) (haha) place i've ever been. Its ridiculous. But with the cold we really didnt mind. But holy crap. It's warmed up here and lets just say if its this hot in april i dont want to know how its going to be in june. Its just gross. You feel sticky, your clothes feel sticky. its just bad. But plus side, i'm going to at least come back tan. yay.

and i'm sorry for how long it took me to write a new blog. I promise i'll do a better job. :)
67 days left.