Living in China brings many adventures.
Here are three stories from this week's adventures.
Oh Tuesday...
On Tuesdays I teach three classes. My last class is my favorite of the three. I like all of them, but this class is the best. Thank goodness I have such a good relationship with them, because oh do I have a story for you.
I was very excited on Tuesday because I was going to share the story of Christmas with my class during the second half. I read them the Christmas story and then split them up into groups to talk about it. While they were re-arranging themselves into groups I glanced down and saw the most horrific thing ever. MY FLY WAS DOWN!
Just play it cool girl...just play it cool...
Thankfully they were all distracted, so I turned away and zipped my pants up and began patrolling the room to make sure they were on task. I made it to my first group, which thankfully was all girls.
I walked up and they were giggling a little.
Uh oh...I gave them a curious look and said, "Did you know my pants...." They looked at eachother and burst out laughing.
"It is ok teacher, no one but us saw"
"We wanted to say something but did no how"
"Oh teacher, your face is so red!"
"It is okay teacher, really"
So embarrassing, but I moved on. Not even 5 minutes later, I am explaining some Christmas customs and traditions my family observe. My throat is dry so I begin to open my canteen to get some water. Before I do that, I mention that every Christmas we get an Apple and an Orange in our stocking that we hang up. I then take a drink of water. While I am taking a drink of water, Cris, on of my boys innocently looks at Tom, his desk mate, and quietly asks "Why do they put apples and oranges in their socks?"
If you know me at all, you wont be surprised to hear that water came gushing out of my nose as I tried to not laugh.
And the award for most unprofessional teacher goes to.....
Now completly mortified, my face is bright red. Tom races up to me and gives me a tissue and I clean up. My students are a mix of entertained and distressed. Some think it is terribly funny, and others are worried for my healthy/safety. After all are assured that I am perfectly alright, they laugh with me. It really is a good thing I have a good relationship with these students or else I would have lost any respect they might have for me.
Saturday I went ice skating with some friends. I did alright till I decided to try skating backwards. Rollerblading backwards is one thing, but ice skating backwards is something different. I don't know why, but it is more difficult for me. Needless to say, I wiped out a few times. And every time I did, I fell on my right side. I earned a nice bruise on my right elbow. I still had fun, but I am a bit sore today.
Fast forward to later that evening. Sydney and I were downtown and we got some eggs. Now, living in China, it is considered a great achievement to buy eggs and make it home without breaking any. I am not going to lie, there is this rush of accomplishment when you make it home with your bag of eggs perfectly intact. Sadly, neither of us girls achieved that feeling of accomplishment. We were buying a cup of hot chocolate before we made the long trek to the bus station to get out bus home. My poor numb fingers decided to dropped my bag of eggs...smashing all of them to bits. I was not happy. I was down right depressed. Granted eggs are cheap and I had only bought 6 of them, but still.
Sydney dropped her baggie eggs a few minutes later, but only broke 2 of them.
All in all, we were able to laugh at the experience and move on.
China has brought me so many adventures so far. All of them full of fun and laughter. I eagerly look forward to the next adventures this month will bring!
