saying goodbyes

saying goodbyes have turned out to be harder than i imagined.
especially a few of those who really made a huge impact on my life and made my time here in china absolutely unforgettable.


one, being my mandarin tutor jack. he was so much fun and put up with the antics of amanda, mac and i, and then once mac left, just amanda and i. we got sidetracked so easily and got him laughing so hard he would cry.

he was patient with us and when we wouldn't study (which was often in the end) he worked with us over and over again on the same material.
we taught him jokes. he taught us cuss words.
we talked about america. he talked about china.
he compared us to the show FRIENDS. we talked about kung fu panda.

on our last tutoring night he brought us a bag of chinese snacks, a nice set of chopsticks for me and a paper cut of the chinese zodiac for amanda.
we also made a music video to "xi shua shua", our favorite chinese song. he taught us the lyrics! a blast!
when he left i said "jack i promise i will try and keep up with my chinese and not forget it" and he said "no matter what, i am proud of you. i just don't want you to forget me"
jack, i will NEVER forget you.

 then, there is Ai. my little Japanese girl who started mid year. she has been sick for a few days and missed the end of school. her mom asked me if i would come over to their apartment because they got me a small gift. it was a beautiful japanese purse. i really loved it. she told me how much she appreciated my love for Ai. she is such a kind person and it made me feel really good about myself and my teaching.  Ai is such a sweetie, and one of my favorites, or... really, my favorite student. one and only. haha i love her.
she had to explain to Ai that i was going back to america and not coming back... Ai was sad and shy when i saw her. she was also sick, but it made me so sad!! tears definitely came when i was walking away. i had to put my sunglasses on so no one saw...

she told me I was "Ai's Superhero" which made my heart melt.

kindergarten graduation

my 5 & 6 year old class did wonderful at their graduation! i definitely shed a few tears. i was so proud of them! not to mention i was crying happy tears because all the hard work was finally over! preparing for a chinese kindergarten graduation is like preparing a broadway production. chinese kindergarten graduations are more important than both high school and college graduations in america! they take them very seriously. it's a time to showcase the children's talents in music (playing instruments and singing), acting, memorization skills, public speaking, art, sports and individual talents. there were literally 25(+/-) different items on the roster.

kids posing with mickey before graduation

how bout those uniforms? burberry-esque :)

alvin and his calligraphy

 the kids & I painted this as a group :)

artwork throughout the year

the 2 girls in the class posing backstage

getting pumped about their performances

drums & xylophone show

xixi & april's piano duet

kung fu/tai chi

april's dance

 reciting shanghai children's folk rhymes and songs

THEY DID IT! 

so proud of them! they worked so hard for those little diplomas.

i wish

i wish that i wasn't wishing away my last 2 weeks here. i still haven't come to terms that i am actually leaving this wonderful journey in about 13 days. i have checked out of teaching. i wish that i could be the happy, fun, quirky teacher that i should be for these kids during our last 9 days but it's so hard. all of the  other teachers in our CIEE group have been done for weeks. all my friends back home are enjoying the summer. schools in america have a been out as well.
but... teaching is why i am here. i do love what i do. i need to make these last few days count.
or at least try to.

and i made a fool of myself, again!

the chinese language is so weird. how many times have i said that? it's confusing and a lot of the time, it sounds the same and you could be saying something totally awful if you aren't careful. remember my pencil v. vagina story ? well, i did it again. but, this time, with my kids... 

for about 2 weeks the kids have been calling each other "xiao ji ji" pronounced "show (ow as in ouch) gee gee". well, the chinese word for chick, like a baby chicken, is "xiao ji".

xiao means small.

ji means chicken.

so, i thought they were being silly and calling each other baby chickens. kindergartners are silly,

and innocent.

right?

right!

on tuesday the students had picture and video day (my 5 and 6 year olds) for their graduation ceremony. when they were getting dressed up in their little uniforms some of the boys kept calling each other "xiao ji ji". being the silly and fun teacher i am, i called alvin a "xiao ji ji"when i was helping him with his mini bowtie.

the look on his face said enough. he wasn't sure if he should laugh. i knew right then, i had said something terribly wrong. 

i slowly meander over to Mark, who speaks both English and Chinese and ask, "Mark, ummm, what does xiao ji ji mean?"

again, the look on his face said enough. his eyes got kinda big.

then... he pointed down at his pants.

way to go jami, you just called a student a penis.

chinese language fail. again.

help find lauren spierer

in order to help spread the word, i am dedicating this post to the search for lauren spierer. she is a student at indiana university and went missing on june 3rd. i know that i have a small demographic for this blog and it's mostly just friends and family, but you never know if this could help.
this is such a sad story and scary that it happened in my home state, 2 hours away. i have friends who live in bloomington too. it could happen to anyone. my dad was talking to me about it last night and it really made me sad, but thankful that i am safe. i can't even imagine what this family is going through....

laundry day

i don't know if you know this, but NO ONE owns dryers in this country. for 10 months i have been air drying my clothing, and it has done quite a disservice to them. most of my clothing i will not be bringing back to the States. some i am sad to part with, but some... eh. i'm over it.

as soon as the sun begins to shine, everyone has all their clothing up in my back alley. and when i say all, i mean ALL!

see the unmentionables? :) they let it all hang out. they hang it wherever they can. and they don't even care who sees.

#1 thing i am thankful for in America? my dryer.
and weirdly... i want some nacho cheese doritos.

children's day

every june 1st is children's day in china. it's also an international holiday but as i explained to Jane (my Chinese co-teacher) it's not celebrated in the States. she could not understand why because "children are so important and need a special day". in china, they make a HUGE deal of this holiday with a fun program put on by the kids, giving of gifts, and even letting them have the afternoon off (optional). there were discounts all over town even!


here are a few pictures & videos from the special program put on by some of the older local classes!

the welcome dance for the beginning of the show!

these little boys did a dance. i love the chubby one in the middle :)

this next part was my favorite and i wish i would have gotten a video!

these kids dressed up as (left to right) as Xi Yang Yang, Mei Yang Yang and Lou Yang Yang from the show Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf  喜羊羊与灰太狼 and did a small play!

see the similarities?

  

This show is a very popular show in China amongst the little ones. heck, i even love the characters... as shown on my cell phone. my phone is a big hit with my students! i am so asian, huh? >< 

these adorable little girls did a cute dance!

here is a video of a class singing some very popular chinese song. i also caught a few kids really getting into it and then Finley and Ai Jung at the end tattling on each other.

that's children's day for ya ;)

dragon boat festival

and yet again it's another random holiday where i get a 3 day weekend! i won't complain. thank you dragon boat festival, thank you.
my friends and I have decided to just take it easy these 3 days, get some shopping done, eat some good food and enjoy our last few weeks together.


 a traditional dish made during the dragon boat festival is called zongzi. my tutor, jack, his fiancee's (her English name is Flower :) mother made these and he brought them over for us to try! they were pretty tasty! its glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves and then stuffed with either meat or veggies. i had a pork one and amanda had red bean!

  they are so intricate looking.

amanda slowly unfolding hers. jack taught us to put the 

chopsticks in the bottom while we unwrap.

unwrapping my zongzi

happy DBF! ;)