Dawn's Blog

For anyone who didn't already know this, I am leaving this weekend to go home for a few weeks over Chinese New Year. I'm pumped. Hopefully I'll see some snow this winter.

Anyway, on an unrelated topic, here's some of the stuff I've been doing the past week.

Teaching Chinese children. Usually I teach college-aged and older students, but we're doing a special Winter Camp for kids. They're really cute. Maybe a little bit completely out of control, but they're cute. 

Teaching Chinese children to rap and beat box (or trying to). The rapping was part of the phonics lesson I was supposed to teach. The beat boxing was just something I added to spice things up. It turned out to be an utter failure. But I'm still glad I tried it.

Exploring on the subway. They built a new subway line that ends about ten miles from our village, so my friend Shi and I decided to go exploring on it one day. We got on the subway, picked a stop that had a name we liked, and got off the subway there. Our first try was a dud. Nothing but construction. So we got back on the subway. We picked out a random person and decided we would just get off wherever he did, or after 4 stops, whichever came first. This time we had success. We ended up at the "Pearl Market" (a giant tourist shopping center with hundreds of stalls that all sell the same things, the sales clerks try to convince you everything is "real leather", and where bargaining skills are crucial), bought a few gifts to take home, and even ran into some friends.

Playing volleyball. Yes, I know it is January. Yes, we play outside. Volleyball is not normally a popular sport in China, but it is here. Almost every day, sometimes more than once a day, regardless of the temperature, you can find people playing volleyball in the back yard.  Its almost an obsession. This is one of my favorite things about living here. I even find myself making clothing choices based on how conducive they are to playing volleyball. For example, I never leave home without at least two pairs of gloves: a big pair to wear while I'm riding my bike, and a smaller pair for playing volleyball.


Getting ready to come home! I haven't actually packed yet. But I did get some snacks to eat on the plane, and I wrapped everyone's Christmas gifts.