ben

ben was a struggle at first. i could never get him to sit down. i could never get him to be quiet. and i could never get him to pay attention. he is a crazy kid. but I have learned that crazy isn't always a bad thing. it turns out that once he realized that i wasn't going to let him just run around and not pay attention, he turned all his "craziness" into learning some english. he may yell all the english words really loudly, but at least he is learning something!

-k

cindy

cindy is rarely seen without her best friend, kady. they literally do everything together and they say the exact same things. it's pretty funny to watch them together. besides that, cindy is the ideal student. she listens, she talks when she is supposed to, she always participates, and she is really smart. she is such a cute girl and is so nice to everyone around her.

-k

amy

amy loves accessories. every week or so, she has something new to put in her hair. sometimes it's a colorful clip. sometimes it's a new hair tie. this week it is a small top hat! amy has come a long way since the beginning of the semester. she used to be very quiet, but she switched classes and since then she has become such a different person. she now talks and participates in almost every lesson!

-k

larry

larry is the "class clown". he is always trying to get people's attention and make them laugh, and most of the time he succeeds. he is also very loud. i don't think he understands the concept of "inside voices". even though he is loud, larry is a very good student. he is one of the better english speakers of grade two. if he keeps it up, he will be fluent in no time.

-k

ethan

ethan is very smart. he has family immediate family living in other places besides china. because of that, his english is exceptional. he is the perfectionist of grade two. he had to make sure all of his projects looked exactly like mine, if they didn't he wouldn't leave the classroom until they did. unfortunately, i had to say goodbye to ethan this week because he left to australia for the summer...luckily we had some fun times and learned a lot from each other.

-k

oh and for the record...tonight i ate a chicken's foot. i can cross that off the list.

zam

zam is such a sweetheart. he is one of those kids that you just have to love. he is so willing to help with anything and always participates in the lessons. he speaks chinese a fair amount and i always say, "zam no chinese" to which he replies, "katie no chinese". sometimes he says something in chinese just so we can have our little exchange. it always makes him laugh and brings the biggest smile to his face. he may not speak the best english, but has improved a lot since the beginning of the semester. i'm sure this kid will go far…he has a lot of potential.

-k

grade two

so lindsay and i were chatting about blogging and she mentioned how she just recently did a post about her kids.

we got talking about how we have blogged about a lot of things in china...but we haven't really made any mention about our kids.

wow...how did we forget to write about the best part of china?!

i asked permission if i could use her idea and write about my kids, and she said it was fine.

so each day from here on out, i will be writing about one of my students.

just a quick note to those that don't know...

i am in charge of grade two.

i have 25 amazing students.

i love each and every one of them in a different way.

they each have taught me something new.

i know that it's corny, but i'm pretty sure they have taught me a lot more than i have taught them.

it's amazing how much an 8 year old has to offer, isn't it?

anyways tomorrow the "student bios" will begin.

-k

cinco de mayo

my wonderful mom sent a surprise while we were in beijing.

now this wasn't a "normal" package, it was a cinco de mayo package!

may 5th passed...

may 10th passed...

may 15th passed...

may 20th passed...

FINALLY on may 23, it came!

who says you can't celebrate cinco de mayo on may 23?!

we sure did...we had a fiesta.

it was complete with chips, salsa, and mini sombreros.

it was one of the best nights here only because we were eating mexican food!

mexican food is something we all have been missing...a lot.

the best part is, my mom made sure to send the costco size bag of chips and 3 cans of salsa.

we still have 2 cans of salsa and some chips left...so we can indulge ourselves 2 more times.

THANK YOU MOM.

YOU MADE 6 GIRLS EXTREMELY HAPPY.

YOU ARE THE ABSOLUTE GREATEST MOM EVER.

WO AI NI (i love you).

-k

ps: today marks our last month in china! as of today, we have 30 days left in this country. it is such a bittersweet feeling. i am going to be so sad to leave my kids. i'm going to be sad to leave zhongshan. i'm going to be sad that our grand adventure is finally coming to and end. but i am happy because i am coming HOME. i get to see my family. i get to see my friends. i get to go back to school (yes i'm excited for school).

in 30 days my journey in china ends and real life starts. a chapter of my book closes and a new one opens. i am really excited to see what comes next.

but let's not worry about that, let's focus on china and the last month!

rain

can i just tell you how much I love the rain?

it is one of my favorite things in the world.

here are some of the reasons i love the rain:

-it makes me feel alive

-the sound of rain is so soothing and relaxing

-rain SMELLS good

-it provides all sorts of entertainment

-it gives everything a fresh start

-it's nature at it's finest

today zhongshan decided to rain.

and by rain i mean pour.

i'm not talking about the wimpy rain we get in salt lake...

i'm talking "cats and dogs" status.

the drops were HUGE.

and it won't stop.

it has been raining for most of the day and it is supposed to continue until the end of the week!

naturally when there is rain you have to play in it.

so we did.

all the chinese people probably thought we were crazy.

and maybe we are a little.

wo ai rain.

-k

beijing and xian

just a few things we managed to do on our trip:

-65 hours of travel time on a train

-ate donkey, scorpion, and delicious street food

-visited the summer palace

-saw the temple of heaven, lama temple and confucius temple

-shopped at the famous pearl factory and silk market

-saw an acrobat show--which included 5 people riding motorcycles in a metal cage

-climbed the GREAT WALL

-visited a jade factory and a silk museum

-saw the olympic nest

-participated in a tea ceremony

-walked around tiananmen square

-saw mao zedong's body

-explored the forbidden city

-saw muslims praying at the muslim quarters

-looked at the TERRACOTTA WARRIORS

-took close to 1,500 pictures

i think i would call this trip a huge success!

WO AI CHINA.

-k