it's been a long 24 hours

so i wrote about how we were going to sushi for Dania's bday last night. I was so excited, and if you like sushi why wouldn't you be? Well that excitement pretty much evaporated the second i got into the front seat of the cab we were taking to the restaurant. I don't know if it was the fact that I kept turning around to talk to Shannon and Dania, the fact that I had had a strange feeling in my stomach all day long, or the fact that our one-star cab driver was driving like a lunatic (big surprise), but i swear to god i almost threw up in the cab. i had to close my eyes and think of something totally different from the horrible smells we were passing and the jerky starts and stops of the half-hour cab ride. when we got to the restaurant, Shannon was nice enough to stand outside with me for a while so i could get some "fresh air." Yes, that needed quotes.

When I decided that the air probably would be more fresh indoors, we went up to where the other 20 people we came with were sitting. it was very cosy, and we even had to take our shoes off before we sat at the low low tables on the low benches. i drank some coke and started feeling better, and ended up really having a good time. seriously though, don't sit in the front seat of a cab in Shanghai unless there are absolutely no other options. puking in there would have been pretty embarrassing.

I'm glad I had a good time last night, because today was awful. Not awful in the 'I hate that smart ass kid Ryan and want him expelled' or the 'why does the second floor always smell like urine' kind of way. It was just a lot of work that was really exhausting. I set my alarm for a little later than usual and I still woke up at 6, way way way earlier than I wanted to get up.

Then, since I had first period free today, I went downstairs and to the attached building to get some copies made. When I got there, there was an adorable little kitten sitting on the steps, and one of the Chinese teachers was feeding it bread. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that one of its rear legs was totally mangled (like the circulation was being cut off to the paw and it was almost like a club foot now?) and the kitten was limping, so no wonder it was hungry. And, surprisingly enough, even though he was a stray, he was really really friendly. This obviously made my morning. I spent like 20 minutes down there playing with this adorable, lame, stray kitten. When I scratched behind his ears, he started purring and I almost got teary eyed because I have a sinking suspicion that he's not going to live very long. Of course my immediate reaction was 'adopt him!!' but I obviously can't. Sad. The woman who works in the copy room made a little box for him and gave him some water, so I guess he hung out in there for a while. When I went to check on him later though, he was gone. It made me so sad....there are some scary stray dogs on campus.

Anyway, after that depressing incident, I had to teach 5 classes in a row. Granted, lunch did break it up a bit, but 5 classes in a row is seriously exhausting. I had 6th grade history, where they kids were actually slightly better behaved (but I still deducted points from 4 of their grades). Then my music class.

Let me just say this. I might be a good English teacher. I think I'm a pretty decent history teacher. But good lord I wish I had a syllabus for my music class because I honestly don't know what to do with them. The class was totally boring today for me AND them. An hour and 10 minutes is SO long to teach 5th graders anything, let alone music. I need to find some music books or something ASAP. In the meantime I think we're gonna watch some movies.

Lunch was...lunchy. It always makes me happy when they have the scrambled eggs with tomato because it always tastes exactly the same and I love tomatoes and know that i like that dish. I'm thinking about trying to make it here sometime but I know there must be another flavor they add besides salt. Probably MSG.

Then I had 6th grade English, where I had to re-teach them the vocabulary words for the week because more than half the class was using them incorrectly in the sentences they wrote for homework. And I finally got sick of the kids calling me "teacher" so now I refuse to answer to it. A couple of those kids are just so good and so eager to learn. They're really wonderful, and I'm glad that I get to see them every day. Maybe I'll change my mind in a few weeks, but so far they've made a pretty good first impression on me. Except for the one girl who never responds to me in English, only Chinese. I told this other girl who serves as her interpreter that she's going to lose points if she continues to do that. It's so incredibly irritating.

When English was over, I seriously thought I was done for the day. I started walking up to the office and realized I was holding another book in my hand. So I had to trek down to my ESL class and deal with hyper 4th graders for another 40 minutes. Just thinking about it makes me want to lay back down. I'm pretty sure that a few of the kids failed the quiz I gave, and that makes me feel bad. Oh well, maybe now they'll finally get tutors.

One thing that I think is really funny that I've noticed a lot of the teachers doing (including myself) is actually using our vocabulary words that we're teaching the kids when we're having conversations. I found myself saying something to Shannon about being 'envious' of the fact that she was able to take a nap...and realized that 'envious' is one of the words I taught today. Yesterday I used 'struggle.' Dania used 'creepy.' Jonathan used some other random 7th grade word. I can't yet tell if teaching English is going to make me even better at grammar (as if that were possible....jk) and expand my vocabulary, or just make me start speaking English like my ESL students. I hate that I have to be like "Gota....copy. Draw?' But he doesn't understand me when I speak in complete sentences....

Also, Shannon and I are talking about starting to plan our trip for the October break. Right now we're thinking of going to Xian, where the terra cotta warriors are. It's so unlike me to wait so long to plan a trip, and she said she's totally a 'fly by the seat of your pants' type person. So, perhaps our styles will complement each other well. I'm excited to travel in China.

Anyway. I borrowed Dania's dvd set of the first season of Lost and i think I might just spend the rest of the evening laying in bed watching some. i can't even really believe i had the energy to think of and type all of this.