A Day In the Life

Soooo I was thinking a "A Day in the Life" post would be fun. I've had a hard time figuring out what to write here...However, a post about my day should be fairly easy to write about. The day wasn't particularly exciting, but this way you can have a real idea of what my life is like in China on a random monday. When I originally had the idea weeks ago, I envisioned having pictures in the post...I have no pictures. I left my camera card at home today sadly.

So here we go....

6am- Alarm goes off and I ignore it and think "There is no way it's time to get up yet" [Mondays are so hard!]

6:15am- Alarm again, if I don't get up now I won't make it to meet Nichola (another teacher and friend that lives in one building over...we usually walk to the metro together). I decide that getting out of bed is actually impossible.

6:30am- Alarm again. I wake myself up enough to text Nichola and say I won't make it. I somehow get out of bed. I don't know how.

7:10am- Leave my apartment...I usually leave at 6:55, but today was different since getting out of bed was nearly impossible.

7:15-Metro time. The metro is only a couple blocks away. Sadly I missed a train by seconds and have to wait a whole 6 minutes for the next one. The metro wasn't super crowded and I ended up seeing another teacher from my school. We chatted and the ride went by quick.

7:35: Clock in five minutes late. I'm usually early. The metro comes more frequently and is less crowded around 7 so I usually get to school around 7:15. I like being early and having that time in the morning to eat my breakfast, check email, and wake up a little. Today felt a little more rushed without those extra minutes.

8:00 The kids start showing up! Almost my whole class comes in on buses so they trickle in as their buses arrive.  (Yes, my two-year-olds ride the bus to and from school!). I had a new child starting today, but I met her last week and she was super easy going. So I was a little surprised when she came in hysterically screaming and crying....In fact, I heard a child crying and screaming in the hallway and actually thought to myself, "I feel bad for that teacher. What a way to start a Monday!"

Well, it turns out I was talking to myself as the loud upset little girl was brought into my classroom. I honestly felt bad for her...it has to be pretty traumatizing as a two and half-year-old to be put on a bus you've never been on before, taken to a place you've been to once and then left in the care of adults you don't know and to top it off one of those adults is speaking a language you don't understand. Talk about stress!

Luckily, she calmed down pretty quick. She just needed to realize it was a safe place where she could play and have fun. She really is a pretty easy going kid.  I'm excited to have her though cause she's pretty smart and she repeats everything I say without prompting so I'm hoping it motivates my other mandarin speakers to speak more English.

9:05: Circle time! We sang a few songs and read some books and it hit me during one of the songs, "they are all singing! and they know the words!" This is a pretty big deal for me. Back in August it was pretty discouraging leading circle time every day with a group of kids that just stared blankly at me, because they could not understand a word I said. I really had to change up a lot of the stuff I was used to doing, but it's really paid off. I had one of those, "I can do this" moments and it felt good.

10:45: My kids go to music every day for a half-hour. This is my prep time, but it's usually too short to do anything more than check emails. I treat it more as a break time knowing that I will work through nap-time and this is when I really need the down time. I don't really have a scheduled lunch since I eat with the kids so I take this time less seriously. I get coffee, use the restroom, put things away, ect. I really like having this time in my day.

11:50: Half- day kids go home! Once I hit 11:50, the day is pretty easy from there. I have 9 kids now and 4 of them are half-day kids. Lunch, nap, and then snack, sometimes a short circle and go out to the bus.

3:00: Wave goodbye to the buses! Back to my room to work, answer emails, and other stuff...usually I leave school around 3:30ish, but I had kick-boxing today so I had to stay until 4:30 for that.

4:30: Kick-boxing! One of the parents from our school comes and teaches a kick-boxing class twice a week and I've been really trying to go twice a week. It's good work out. Today was hard! She started us out jumping rope for five minutes and then we did an obstacle course and a bunch of stuff. The class goes by so quick, but I'm working super hard.

5:35: Metro home...It's always a good time when your super sweaty and gross and have to get on a crowded train.

6:45: Home...ordered some food. Way too tired to cook. Relaxed, showered, did some work, and now it's 9:45 and I'm in bed.

It was a pretty good day! Sorry it was long...you now know a little more about my life on a random monday.