Yesterday was one of the most satisfying days, if not the most, in Shanghai yet.
1. I had my very first english teaching class. I was quite nervous the last couple of days because I have never been in charge of my own class; all of my teaching experience before yesterday was as a secondary (like the last line of defense, my summer school classes had 3 teachers and I was the third "teacher") teacher's assisstant. The gap betweeen my past experience and the job i was about to undertake, at least in my mind, was immense. I had asked my assisstant (I had my own assisstant, for crying out loud) how best to prepare for the lesson. She told me,
"Review unit 1 through 3, and let's meet 30 minutes before class Saturday morning. Don't worry, you will be great."
Thirty. Minutes. Before class. Riiiight.
I prepare a ton of ideas about Units 1 through 3. The units are about colors and directions, swinging and singing and writing. very basic stuff for a class that I'm told will consist of 7-10 year olds. Oddly, or rather for me, appropriately, I am nervous about the size of the kids. I tell myself confidently I could easily beat these children in a physical test of strength or at worst, a fight. Immediately after having this thought I realize i am very strange. Still, these kids won't beat me up and rebel. One of the activities I come up with is placing different color beverages on a desk and getting the kids to choose them only with words. For example "I want the green one, to the right of the blue one, under the red one, etc. Also I plan on having them play Twister. I was nervous Friday night, for sure, but confident in my lessons.
Saturday morning Lily, my assisstant, told me that we are actually on Unit 8: Animals. 20 minutes before class. I had nothing, and I in my head was a line along the lines of "I am fucked."
It ended up cool. I had overestimated the students English, so I think next time I will have to remember to slow down and simplify my speech. The end of the class I turned one of their songs about birds into a "hip-hop" song and danced with them in the middle of the classroom. First day of work over.
2. Cheapu Lu! After class we headed to the beast of all Shanghai markets, after I got to spend a little time with Ms. Liu. I swear every minute with her feels really good. It's a shame games are played and time is short. I hate Cheapu Lu. It is basically a collection of large warehouses hollowed out, with dozens of little shops selling fake clothing and accessories. It is always crowded, hot, people bump into you, "Lai lai lai!", freaking peddlers chase you if you're foreign, and bargaining can be so tedious just for a pair of shorts. I ALWAYS get screwed, too.
But this time, we had some heavy firepower. Wenzi and Hong Si, two cute older Korean girls, have a reputation as Shou huo yuan favorites. The really big guns would be Super G's Shanghainese girlfriend and her friend. I bought three pairs of shoes, a button down, more Baby Milo, and something else too I forgot. Every purchase felt good. Plus, I think my past experiences hardened me so i had a lot more confidence going in. Cheapu Lu - 2 Me - 1. I'm coming back baby.
3. We went to Fu Dan da xue for dinner with Justin's friends.
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