Sunday, August 25, 2103

Dear Family and Friends, 

Well, today marks the last day of my orientation for WorldTeach China. I can’t believe the
first month has flown by so quickly, and that tomorrow I wake up and move to
Nanyue, Hunan. In the past three weeks, I have been tested, tried and been so
inexplicably happy. Life here in China is fantastic. Granted, I can’t hold a
conversation, order off a menu (unless it has pictures), or be one hundred
percent sure of what I am eating, but I can tell you that China is absolutely
more than I could have ever imagined. 
     
Last week, I taught for the first time in my entire life. For practicum,
there are six groups comprised of five teachers, and each group is in charge of
an entire class of students. Each teacher from the group teaches one period a
day, for five sessions. All thirty of us had spent the past two weeks in
sessions teaching us how to be the best teacher possible. Let me put it this
way, nothing could have prepared me for actually being in the
classroom.

In China, it might be the day before that you find out who you are teaching, or
where you are teaching. I planned my lessons according to what we had learned in
our own sessions with our field directors. What we didn’t know, is that we were
teaching fifty-nine of the brightest fifteen year old students in all of Hunan
and the surrounding provinces. So naturally, I came in living in my own dream world. 
Teacher Michael taught the first lesson on rules and
classroom procedures, and it went flawlessly. Seven, yes her name is Seven, came
up to me after class and said “Teacher Eileen, I have a recommendation for you”.
I replied, “Of course! What is it sweetie?” She then states in perfect English,
with very little to no accent, “Will you please ask all the teachers to speak
faster. It is a little boring.”A little later in the afternoon during Teacher
Tina’s session, we asked the students what they wanted to do for a career.
Peter, a definite child prodigy answered, “a speech therapist so I can help
others express themselves.” From that moment on, I knew I was in deep shit and
that my lesson on “this is an apple, repeat after me” wasn’t going to be
challenging enough.

 The children continued to impress me all week. We played hangman once and gave them
the category of “Famous American” and without even guessing any letters, Peter,
who for sure will either be running a Fortune 500 company or be my boss in the
next ten years, stood up and said “Abraham Lincoln”. I turned to Teacher Tina
and said “I didn’t even know that”. Needless to say, Peter’s team won, because
apparently he likes the challenge of answering correctly without any letters
filled in. It is the Chinese version of hangman. 
 
As the week progressed, I learned I love being in the classroom. For my lessons, I
taught them different American clothing styles, different sports idioms, and
also all of my favorite American foods that begin with “th”. To have a student
come up to you at the end of it all and say they loved your class, really is
satisfying, especially when your students are as intelligent as these young men
and women. It also doesn’t hurt when your students ask for your picture and
autograph.

 Now, one thing I did learn about myself this past week is that I never, ever, want to
teach primary students. Like I said earlier, you do not know your schedule until
that very moment. The school added a class of primary students to practicum and
Becky and Geoff (my field directors) desperately needed teachers to teach. I
decided “oh that will be so much fun” so I signed up (once again in my own dream world). 
 Well, I walk into the class and all hell broke loose. Only two of twenty-one students would listen to
me. One young child almost fell out the window while I stopped another from throwing a chair,
 and four students ran away without me seeing them. Becky came into the classroom with them and said “I
think you lost these”. 

I had a great lesson plan on teaching them movement words like dance, spin, shake,
etc. They wanted to punch, hit, throw, and slap. It proves a little hard to
discipline a child when you do not speak their language. I went running through
the room yelling “Shi! Shi!”, thinking I was yelling “No! No!” Actually, I was
yelling “Yes! Yes!” Needless to say, my disciplinary style for the hooligans was
not effective in the slightest. They were pretty stinking cute, but I will never
volunteer to teach a class of such small children ever again.

 Granted, the past three weeks have been nothing but eye opening for me. I am just a girl
from Richmond, VA, who one day realized if I didn’t change my life, then it
never would change. I can honestly say I love China. My sister asked me tonight
on the phone if I liked it better than home, and I could not tell you. Home is
home. There is no place like home, but China keeps surprising me and I fall in
love with it more and more every day. I can already find myself becoming very
protective of it in a sense. 

I want people to know how absolutely breathtaking this place is. Not only is the
landscape unlike anything you will every see again, but the people are truly genuine.  
From the stranger who will walk with you when you are lost to Pan Aiyi, our group’s
adopted grandmother who invites us into her home every day and cooks lunch, I have
never felt so welcomed. I shall miss them all, and each person I have met over the past
month will stay with me for the rest of my life.
 
Like I said earlier, tomorrow I pack my bags again (ugh) and head to the bottom of
the Hengshan Mountain where I will remain for the remaining ten months of my
tenure in Hunan. Things are about to change again, but I am learning that change is
extremely exciting. Change may not always be easy, but as long as you grow as a
human being then you yourself will become a stronger and better person. It saddens me that in the past, fear of change stopped me from doing certain things. I will no longer be afraid of change. I can't imagine my life being in Richmond right now. I know that my place is here. If for the next year I embrace change, and make the most out of this opportunity, then I will consider this year a success. I love you all so much. 
 
 Love,

 Eileen