ICE COLD!

seriously, what a difference can be made from standing in a courtyard flooded with sunshine and, i don't know, say a flourescently lit classroom... it's like the difference between standing next to a bonfire and being locked in a walk in freezer for 40 min.  Every day i wake up at 7:30am and i never want to take the covers off.  i know as soon as i do i will step into icy slippers and when i go into the living room the air from the drafty windows will hit me like ice picks.  It's only November, right? i feel for my students. They don't have heaters in their rooms.  Granted my heater only warms things that are within a 3-foot radius, but it's something.  The real shock i think is that i was not prepared for this cold.  i'm in a city about two hours outside of Shanghai.  Shanghai is pretty far south, but apparently not south enough. To keep me warm i have a twill jacket and a cozy grandma sweater + some scarves and multiple pairs of socks... i have to wear at least three layers of clothing at all times.  Including, but not limited to wearing my leotard under my jeans!  It's not going to be enough when the temperature starts dipping below freezing in a couple weeks.Noodles also help combat the cold.  There's a great halal noodle place right near our school that we often frequent.  They make the noodles right in the tiny shop on a counter in the corner.  As i slurp up the broth i hear the familiar slapping noise as the guy beats up the dough and strips  the noodles into a boiling pot.  Here's hoping i don't get frost bite, or become a solid human block of ice, so that i can no longer go to class... wait that might not be a bad idea.

With only seven weeks of teaching left, time keeps on slipping, slipping into the future.  They took away some of my grade 5 classes due to one of my co-teachers retirement half way through the year. What? Weird, but i'm not complaining too much.  Now it's the grade 1 kids that are killing my soul slowly.  Sometimes they are cute little angels, other times they become monsters: kicking each other, hitting each other with their books, yelling about nonsense. i can't handle the randomness and lack of attention span that 7-year-olds have.  It's madness i tell you!  When i'm not teaching them though and see them around campus they're so cute and inquisitive i have to forget that earlier that same day they made me want to shoot myself.  i kid (not really), it's not that bad, but through this experience i've learned that educating elementary children is not my forte.  In the beginning i dreaded the middle schoolers, but they turned out to be my favorite class.  

This is a good thing because i got my final placement, and i accepted my position in the 2009 corps of Teach for America, and i will be teaching middle school science in New Orleans!  i'm very excited, but it's going to be a lot of work.  i can tell simply by the registration process and the preparation for training, not to mention the 5 week intensive training this summer! i think i can handle it after five months of not understanding a damn word/being understood... consider me prepared for many more things and my patience infinitely expanded.  In other news, i bought my return ticket finally!  i will make my triumphant return

to the States on February 24, 2009.  Rejoice, rejoice!  i will spend a couple weeks in the Tri-Cities and then head up north to Seattle to perpetually couch surf for a couple months, looking forward to it!

Last but not least, some random things to share that are a little strange: pickled roses.  They look a little bit like alien babies, and at first i thought they would taste the way it does when you accidently get some of your perfume sprayed in your mouth. But, no.  They actually are a delightful snack, something like dried cherries or other sweet, chewy snacks, but it's best not to look at them too long, just pop one in your mouth and it's quite nice.  Secondly, China has not especially impressed me with its hygienic practices, but this was really thoughtful: microphone condoms. So many people spend their time at the KTV, 

and who knows where their mouths have been! So each patron is given a nice foam cover for their microphone, as shown in the diagram, slip it on and it keeps oral herpes at bay. However, i wasn't surprised that after examination of the package it's actually Japanese.