1st day! (February 13th)

Today was our first day of classes!!! Aaahhh! I was sooo happy to see all these kids again! Well, about half the kids I taught graduated from Happy ABC’s Kindergarten last year, so I know about half of our kids we have right now...but some of my favourites are still here!! We greeted the students arriving at the school for about half an hour this morning, then went to our classroom to get ready. Not all of the kids remembered my name, and I had been prepared for that...I mean, it’s been 8 months since I was here, and they had a whole semester with other teachers since then, so I figured it would happen. I had actually ran into one of my kids, William, who had graduated last year the other day at KFC, and he hadn't remembered my name, which broke my heart a little...but he did remember ME...just not my name. Turned out some of the kids who I had thought would remember me hadn’t (well, not my name anyways), and some who I thought might not remember me did, so I guess it balanced out a bit.

The first one of my homeroom kids that I saw was Chad. Oh Chad. I was terrified to see this kid to be honest. He had warmed up to me eventually last year, but it took a long time, so even though he was one of my very very favourites, I thought there was a chance he wouldn’t remember me. He did! I saw him in a doorway to our classroom and he said my name! We had a big hug and ooooohhhhh, I almost died of happiness. I missed him. I sat with him during breakfast too, and he was great! So funny! I just remember how he was when we had first got here last year, and he had such a bad attitude against the teachers, it’s good to see that he’s not like that again.

The next one of my homeroom kids I saw was Steve. He was sitting at the table crying L Girl Benny told me that he was sick, but he wouldn’t talk to me...so whether he doesn’t remember me, or what, I don’t know...

A few minutes after classes started, Boy Benny showed up. I had been in a classroom, then went out to the hallway and Apple called my name and said Benny was here!!! I skipped (literally) over to the door and there he was! I gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek and then ran and got a box of Jello I had for him. Aahh! I love that boy!!! I took him by the hand and led him to his class, but really just wanted to run away with him and take him home, haha. At the end of the day I went to the classroom to say goodbye to the kids and Benny was there with his mom, and she had brought me some food from her home province...duck tongue. haha. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have normally eaten it, but it was from Benny!! So I had to! And they actually aren't bad at all! I mean, I don't know if I'll eat the entire 2 bags they gave me, haha, but I've already eaten a few of them.

Class was a bit crazy...but it was the first day and all the teachers are just getting to know the program and learning how to teach, so things will get better as we get further along. It was a good day though. The kids are what I really came back for, so I just feel good. Oh so good. And to add to the happiness we had tomatoes and eggs for lunch!!! It’s been a good day. We had dinner with Coco tonight, so the teachers were looking forward to that because her mom told us we’d go to a Western Restaurant, haha....these girls have been having a harder time with the food than I remember us having last year, but that’s ok, and they might warm up to it as the months go on, we’ll see. Zaijian! J

Going to Guzhen

So I am now at the ferry terminal, waiting to head over to mainland China! I had a pretty good time in Hong Kong...we had our tour on Saturday. It was the same tour I'd been on last year, but it was still good. We went to Aberdeen fishing village and took a little boat ride around the harbour area there, then went over to Stanley Market. I hadn't bought anything there last year, but I did buy a Hong Kong shirt this time, as well as a couple other little things. I know other things are cheaper in China though, so I didn't get a lot, and I would tell other people that things were cheaper in China, so they wouldn't waste their money either. Then we went to The Peak and took some pictures there. That afternoon me and the other Guzhen teachers, as well as one other girl went to the ladies market to shop some more. That night we were able to go to the light show too! I had missed that last year, so I was happy to see it. This morning I was able to go to church too! We went to church across the street from the temple and took pictures of it too after sacrament meeting. It was sooo cool to go to church here...even though they weren't speaking english (there were people translating for us), we were still able to feel the spirit these people had while bearing their testimonies, it was awesome! We're about to check-in for our ferry ride though...heading home to Guzhen! Yay!

Hong Kong!

I'm in China! Kind of...Hong Kong is different...but close enough right? I said my goodbyes Wednesday, then my sister dropped me off at the airport Thursday morning. Between my 2 checked pieces of luggage and my carryon, I was 19 pounds overweight! Haha...luckily the lady felt like being nice I guess...cuz I paid zero overweight charges! Yay! The flight to Vancouver was fine, then once I got to my gate in Vancouver I had about 30 minutes before they started boarding that flight. The flight was good...long...but I did have an emergency exit row seat, so LOTS of leg room, which was nice. I slept for about 4 hours...so even though it's 4:30 am in Sparwood...I'm feeling pretty good! It's 7:30 pm here in Hong Kong...and we've got a few hours to kill...already made a stop at 7-11...one of the 23094823047 of them that they have here in Hong Kong, haha. Well, that's all for now...excited to be back!