Crazy busy like always...phew, I'm tired!

Monday & Tuesday were mostly spent running back and forth between my classroom and the office, marking assignments, correcting & proofreading documents for the school.

The school just installed exercise equipment out by the track...it's like a playground, except for adults :) anyway, they translated the safety directions for each piece of equipment, then asked me to put it into proper English. Some of it was quite funny to me, like "move legs backwards and forwards in peaceful harmony" and "strength waist muscle sidewise " :) I think I did well...

Tuesday was also nuts because I was asked to put on a yoga class at lunch so photographers from the yearbook and China Youth Daily newspaper could take pictures. I scrambled and got 6-7 students to show up, pretend to do yoga for a quick click click, then the photographers left. I didn't want to end yoga like that, so we stayed for 20 minutes and did some more poses, then off the students went back to their busy lives.

Wednesday was the same running around from class to office, until 4:15 when I went to a fashion show. The theme was environmental protection, so all of the clothing was made out of recycled materials. The students used newspaper, bottle caps, shower curtains, recycled coloured papers, garbage bags & twine to create some amazing clothing. I took pictures of my Korean students in their gowns :) Some of the students are definitely headed for futures in design & modeling :)



Thursday was another busy day, especially since I had decided to give a reward to some of my Korean students for all of their hard work up to this point. Since I had them for a double period, I asked them to stay at the break to discuss the reward. I told them they had to decide on something as a group and I would try my best to make it happen.

Well...they wanted to go to Wudaokou on Saturday, an area in the northwest corner of Beijing with a large Korean population. There are tons of markets with Korean food & clothing, etc. I told them I would write a request letter to the supervisor of their program, but I told them to be prepared for a "no, too far away" just in case.

So off I went to the office, where I sat for more than an hour perfecting my letter. I didn't want the program director to say no to the request, so I really worked hard on that thing! So I'm happy to report that he said "Yes"! Wheeee!

Also on Thursday, there was a BBQ for the Grade 12 Environmental Science classes, to celebrate the end of their exams, cleanup projects & presentations. There was nothing for me to eat (yep, I'm still a vegan), but I had to put in an appearance, so I entertained myself taking pictures of the animals in the school zoo. Check out the rabbit!



Friday (May 19th) was half-quiet/half busy :) All the Grade 10 students went to the new Beijing Capital Museum (which had its grand-opening ceremony the day before). All the Grade 10 Canadian teachers were sent, but mostly just to be bodies in the building. We were told to "go, enjoy the new museum". Click the museum picture to see more...



Then...Saturday! Wudaokou! Mike & I picked up the four kids at the South Gate of the school and set out for our day. I thought I would treat them to the way the Canadian teachers travel around BJ :) So we jumped on the 649 bus, then the subway...then I wanted to be there faster (the subway was so slow that day!), so we cabbed it the rest of the way, lol!...



We had a fabulous Korean BBQ outside under some umbrellas when we got there...we all ate for almost two hours! I had four bowls of kimchi! Wheeee! After our meal, we went shopping at a huge market, then to another place for karaoke :) Mike sang (badly), but at least he had the nerve to do it! I sang, but only along with the kids and with no microphone, lol!



The six of us had such a great day! We all wanted it to last forever...but eventually we piled into a couple of cabs with all our bags and headed back to the school. So wiped out, but happy (and full of kimchi)!