ELE Classes

I wish I could tell you what "ELE" meant but, I'm not sure what it stands for. All I know is that I got to teach older kids at the school. Besides my basic reading 2nd graders, I taught 8th graders on Thursday, 3rd graders on Friday and 6th grade on Saturday. 

These are two of my 8th graders- Seven and Max. They are so sweet! Max is one of the few that can have a conversation with me in English. He is super smart!

I loved teaching our 8th grade class because they were so funny! We had all boys in the class which made things crazy. Crazy but fun! We would play games and just hang out. Basically our job was to talk in English to them and it didn't matter what we taught. We tried teaching them American slang (Wat up home slice? Fo shizzle ma nizzle! Peace out!) It was hilarious listening to them try to sound gangsta :)

This lesson we taught them all the words associated with family. We brought pictures of our family for them to see and then we played a game. 

The game was a spin off of "Do you love your neighbor?" but we called our version "Do you love your family?"

The game got a little crazy!

The kid momentarily picking his nose was really good at the American Slang! The kid in the stripes is Russ. At first I didn't know his name and so I called him the Beast. He is the class clown and a trouble maker. Obviously the naughty ones always find a special place in your heart :) His crazy personality definitely grew on me!

I even hopped in and played a few rounds!

Frisbee

We decided to combine ALL of the high school classes and play one big game of Ultimate Frisbee.

 

It was a good idea that didn't work out as planned.

There were a million and one kids on the field. The girls standing in clusters all over the field and the boys wrestling and chasing each other trying to grab the frisbee. Although the game didn't go as planned I'm pretty sure the kids had fun and that's all that counts, right?

Basketball

My high schoolers LOVE basketball!

Russ playing keep away with a poor 4th grader. All in good fun :)

This is the famous Bruce Lee! She is so awesome! She gave herself the name Bruce Lee. Such a Tom Boy but extremely sweet! I don't teach Bruce but I love her!

The adorable girl in the middle named herself Candy. Why? She loves candy! She taught us a dance that we performed on English day. She was so patient with us teachers with 2 left feet...me! She was a great dance teacher!

 

These spunky grown up girls are in my 3rd grade class! They have so much life and are always so happy!

Natalie was one of my favorites (she is the one on the far left). She is super sweet and always gives the best hugs!

Day at the Museum

The kids go marching two-by-two hurrah! hurrah!

The Science and Technology Museum. I was a lot cooler inside than the name "Science and Technology" makes it sound. 

Spencer Sandwich! Skinny Spencer, Tommy and Fat Spencer- my studs!

Try to say no to that face! I dare you!

McKenzie loves me! Ha!

 

Rocky is the head of his class. He is such a good leader when he isn't picking on the other kids :)

Cole!!!

Bella blowing bubble-gum bubbles. Try saying that 5 times fast!

Inside the museum. I have incredible balance!

Look how hot we look in our Guanghua track jackets!

They needed a volunteer so guess who the kids picked to be electrocuted??? Me.

It was a hair-raising experience :) Ha ha I'm so punny!

Kids having fun in the museum!

Lucy and I on our way back to school.

Best field trip ever!

Terracotta Warriors

We were super pumped to see the Terracotta Warriors!

There are 3 pit sites of the Warriors. This is the 3rd site. It has not been excavated yet. It was really cool to see the lumps where there warriors are still buried!

 

Do what? With my what?

(Funny sign in WC)

Oversized creepy Terracotta Warrior man that they used for a performance during the Olympics. There was also a oversized creepy looking girl next to him but I strategically made sure she wasn't in the picture :)

This is a lay-out view of the 3rd pit. Did you know that the Warriors were discovered by a peasant digging a well in 1976. 

 

This is the 2nd pit. It is the smallest and only has about 80 men inside. Most of them headless. 

This is the kneeling archer. When the warriors were first created they were painted colorful and had leather on them but over time it all faded away.

 

The first and largest of the pits. So far 2,000 warriors and horses have been unearthed. It is assumed that there are over 6,000 in pit 1. I had an "ah ha" moment in the 1st pit- it was all so amazing. If you ever get the chance you MUST see the Terracotta Warriors before you die! Put it on your bucket list now!

Tammi and I in pit 1.

Did you know: Each warrior was unique and special. Not one was alike. It is said that Emperor Qin, who was obsessed with living forever, had his clay army made to look like his real life army. Also, Qin is the dude who started the Great Wall of China. He was crazy but, he gave us cool things to visit today like the army and the wall. 

Xi'an Vacation

The Longman Caves

Our little group of 8 that went to Luoyang and Xi'an. These caves were gorgeous! Hiking up staircase after staircase I got to see carvings of every size. It took them 500 years from start to finish to carve these caves. Amazing!

There were a bunch of Chinese tour groups all over the place and Denny, who speaks Mandarin, overheard the guide telling her tour group that once upon a time ago the American soliders invaded the Longman caves, shooting and destroying the carvings. We all had a good laugh about it because we knew her stories were bogus! But we pretended to be from Canada- just to be on the safe side!

Erin and I 

We found our own cave to climb into!

Friends from the train!

B-E-A-utiful!

Shoalin Temple Tour

This was our uncomfortable bus ride to the Shoalin Temple. Erin and I had to privilege of sharing the back seat with 3 German dudes. They even offered their laps for us to sit on- how nice... blah! After that initial awkward stage things got better :) We learned that they were on a mission to bring back Kung Fu to China. Apparently they were under the impression that China didn't know what real Kung Fu was, ha! They were a funny bunch.

Kung fu who?

He is totally doing a handstand using only his fingers! Yikes!

Wannabes??

I know. I'm a dork.

Monks practicing their moves!

Charlie's Angels meets Kung Fu

These are the dudes from the Kung Fu show we saw.

Even the monks wish they were Yao Ming

The City of Xi'an

This is either the Drum or the Bell Tower...

Muslim Quarters= My favorite place in Xi'an. It was so cute and homey. The shopping was fun too! I loved the atmosphere and the food here!

 

The greatest discovery in China- DONERS! Ahhh... I'm craving one right now!

This is one of the Muslim Temples hidden down an alley in Muslim Quarters.

 

The City walls at night.