Class Xmas Party

Today was our Christmas Party. I must say, it was a ton of fun. The class moms were excellent and took care of everything. One of the highlights of the party were the pinatas. Each class (3 in total) had one pinata. My class got to go first to break their pinata. Each child took turns swinging 3 times. After all had gone, not a dent was made in the pinata, so... Round Two of pinata whacking went on and still no damage done. Knowing that we had to break the freaking thing open, I decided to give it a go. On my second swing the stick cracked in two, causing one end to fly at my students, nailing one if them in the arm. I felt horrible, but what could I do. I looked over, and to my luck, one of my parents had video taped me hitting the pinata, breaking the stick, and hitting my student. Just my luck. I had to think fast so I just gave him th stick and told him to take a turn. Thank God all was forgotten after he got a couple swings in. I learned a valuable lesson: make sure you face away from students when hitting a pinata. Despite this event, the party was a ton of fun (even the parents had a blast). Tomorrow is a half day and then we get three weeks off!!! I am so excited. Christmas in San Diego and New Year's in Tahoe... life is good!

Funny kidz stuff

I realize that people wonder how the heck I can work with 4-5 year olds all day long and stay sane. At times I wonder this myself as I ave been known to not be the most patient person on the planet, but somehow I manage. I think what keep me going is how cute and innocent the kids are. They are so sweet and are always good for a laugh. While I know my story-telling abilities are usually shite, bare with me as I tell some of my favorite stories so far.

"The Elephant with Four Eyes"
One of my assignments I had my students do was identify and color their favorite animal. Basically it was an easy task of choosing a coloring sheet, coloring it, and then cutting it out and gluing into their Topic Book for "Favorite Animal". There was no creating the animal, or gluing anything to the animal, just pick it put, color it, and cut it out. This assignment was done during one of my free periods, so another teacher was supervising my class. When I returned to the class students were shouting to me "Miss Fudge, look, I like cats!" "See my tiger!" "Miss Fudge, I like dogs" and so on. As I walked around the classroom I went up to a boy John who said, "Look, Miss Fudge, I like elephants." As I looked at his elephant, he had strategically drawn on a piece of paper a line with to dots to each side (looking very similar to a penis) and had glued it (even though nothing was told to get glued to the picture) where the genitals would be. A bit shocked and puzzled as to why he had done this, I pointed to the line and two dots and asked, "John, what are these?" "Eyes. My elephant has four eyes." I wasn't quite sure how to respond but I also did not want to explain to him that those were not eyes, so now John's elephant has four eyes.

"F,f,f.... fish!"
Part of our curriculum is teaching phonics and words that begin with all the letter sounds. For example: c,c,c, cat and d,d,d dog. One day (of course when a parent was helping out) I was teaching the sound 'f'. I asked the kids to shout out words that begin with this sound. So began the shouting of words "f,f,f, four!" "f,f,f, five" "f,f,f, fox" "f,f,f, Miss Fudge" "f,f,f, F*#@!". As I heard the word come out of little Andy's mouth I could only look up to the mother looking at me wondering how I would handle this.. "No, Andy, give me a new one." "Ok, f,f,f, fish" he replied. "Great job," I responded, as I tried to move on as if nothing had happened, praying that none of the other kids would pick up on this 'f' word.

Love at the Age of Four
My friend Sheridan and I team teach a lot, so our kids all know each other very well and they know both Sheridan and I well. What this has resulted in is students wanting to go into each other's classrooms to share with both the other students and with Sheridan and I. This also has resulted in some very close friendships between the two classes as well. What four year olds do not know is the crushes begin at this age and they are very apparent. One of these crushes that has formed is between one of my girls, Cynthia, and one of Sheridan's boys, Jason. One afternoon Cynthia came up to me, "Miss Fudge, can I go to Miss Potter's class?" "Why?" I asked. "To give Jason a high five," she responded. "Why do you want to give him a high five?" I continued to questioned. "Because we're in love." Ain't four year old love cute?

Thanksgiving!!!

Being in a British school has left me outnumbered. Out of about 85 staff there are only 2 Americans (including myself). As a result, there are many American things that people just don't understand. So as November rolled around and Thanksgiving came up of course other people hadn't given two thoughts about what they would be doing on the fourth Thursday of November. However, seeing that I have yet to miss a Thanksgiving, asked Colter (the other American) if he would want to do anything. What started out as four of us going to dinner turned into a group of about 15 of us. The was a buffet dinner at a restaurant called City Diner, so we all went there. It was fun because for some it was their very first Thanksgiving dinner. Now, I will admit it was not as good as a home-cooked Thanksgiving and there were no mashed potatoes (I know?!?) but over all it was a good time had by all. It ended like any other traditional Thanksgiving dinner with people eating and drinking just a bit too much, we just didn't have any leftovers the next day. I have come to enjoy Thanksgiving because it is a time t bring people together to eat and drink a bit too much, but just have a good time. The best part of having it at a restaurant was no one had to cook or clean up.

Britsh lingo

I never thought I would change my vocabulary, but working at a British School now has me changing the way I talk. I do not have a British accent at all (actually, many think I have the strongest accent in the school) but it does have me picking up words and phrases. Some of these are:

Take the piss- Make fun of
Football- Soccer
Jumper- Sweater
Trousers- Pants
Biscuits- Cookies
Bloody hell- What the heck?
Tidy up- Clean up
Rubbish- Trash
P.E. Kit- P.E. uniform
Mum- Mom


These are just some of them. I know there are more that I have picked up but I cannot think of them off the top of my head. I will add to the list as I start to adapt more British words and phrases.

My first soccer team

I have now been in China for one year and three months and one of the things I have missed most was having a soccer team to play on. Coming from San Diego I was on three teams so it was difficult to be on none for over a year. However, I am now on a team. The league is 7 aside and my team's name is The Penguins (it was meant to be a joke name, but it stuck). It is a co-ed league but only because I make it co-ed. I thought being the only girl would be weird, but it is fun and the guys on my team are great. We have only had one game, but we won! Here is a link to check out th team photo: www.asas.com.cn/super7/teams_tps.asp. I just have to say that I love soccer. Oh, and working at a British School now has me calling soccer football.

Yea for Halloween...

Running and running and running...

This morning I was going to be late for my pilates class so I thought, "I will just go for a run." My friend asked if I wanted to do brunch and I told him sure, but I need to go running first so I will be back in like 45 minutes. I set out with my Ipod in hand for my run. There is a loop I had done before and started down that way but wanted to go just a bit further. Well as I kept running and running and running I realized I had no idea where I was. I thought I was in the right direction so I kept running. After about over an hour I decided to ask a Hotel where I was. They showed me a map and I realized I was completely in the wrong direction. I was told that I could run down this one road and I would be close to where I needed to be in about 1/2 hour. So I took off feeling optimistic till I realized nothing was looking familiar. I had no phone or money to catch a cab or subway so I was not sure what to do. I found a VW dealership and figured someone would speak English and point me in the right direction. Well, I found out that I had somehow ran to the other side of Shanghai and was no where near my home. Anyways, the guy who was helping me told me he could drive me to a subway station. We got in his car and he realized that he didn't have his wallet, which meant no money for me to catch the subway, so he volunteered to drive me home. As we drove we talked and listened to 50 Cent and I was completely embarrassed about how far off track I had run and really had not idea that I was that far away. Just to let you know how far I had run, it took us about 15 minutes to drive to my apartment. We laughed at the situation and I got out of the car. Needless to say, I did not make brunch.

I have learned a valuable lesson about running, I need to bring the 3 M's: money, map, and mobile phone. The good thing about this is that there is a 1/2 Marathon coming up and I thought I could not run that far, but today I accidentally proved myself wrong and I ran for quite awhile; however, I still am not sure if I will do the 1/2 marathon. These things happen to the best of us, right? At least I can laugh at myself.

Fun times, fun times...

Last weekend was a girls' night on the town. I must say it was a night of crazy fun, quotable quotes, and stories we will laugh about for awhile. Ah, it's good to be young. Here is a glimpse of the night.


What can I say, we're quite posh.

Sabrina and I at the bank.

The girls... Sheridan, Anne Marie, Alfreda, Me, Abi, and Sabrina.

The bag of stuff we collected for Anne Marie's "Bachelorette" party

Funny faces = Good times

Back home...

As much as I feel at home in Shanghai right now, San Diego will always be called, "home." Earlier this week I received a call from my brother stating that my mom was being evacuated because of the fires. Seeing that I am in China, I did not know about the fires so I admit I dismissed them for not being too big, until the next morning when I woke up to look up what was happening. Reading about everything and how big the fires are shocked me. Being able to see a list of all the homes that were lost in the neighborhood I grew up in has made me speechless. While my family is alright some of my friends have not been so lucky. It is hard to know what to say and do when people you know and love have lost so much. I want so badly to be back to help out, but what would I be able to do? I remember when my dad died and how people in the communities of Rancho Bernardo and Poway helped to step up and provide for my family during our loss, and this is what I want so badly to do but realize I cannot be there to do anything. But I do know that San Diego is doing a great job with support and that many people are volunteering at shelters and evacuation centers to help to make the best of a bad situation. For all of you who are reading this and have experienced a loss or have been effected by the fire know that my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family, for all of you are giving your time know that your time is appreciated by many people in San Diego. I cannot imagine what it must be like being in San Diego and I know I will be in a bit of shock when I return over Christmas and see the damage.

What would you do?

One of the top things I like about my apartment is location. As the saying goes, "Location is everything." Basically I am in the middle of the city... right smack in the middle. It is nice because I am close to the subway station and many of the big sights of Shanghai. However, with every good thing there is always a twist, something that makes it not so good. So here is mine: since it is in the middle of everything there are tons of people all the time. I am convinced I have to cross the busiest corner in the world everyday to get to my apartment. There is always people and lots of people in big cities brings pick pocketers. I had been warned about a month ago to "be careful of my belongings" on my street. I will admit that I did catch some guys trying to pick pocket me but I heard my backpack get unzipped and turned around. Anyways, they left. I was a bit pissed because there were people watching this whole thing go down and no on said anything. I was relieved that I caught them. I have learned my lesson and now I tie my zippers on my backpack.

Anyways, today as I was coming home I saw a guy opening a lady's bag as I walked by so I touched her on the shoulder so she would turn around and see them. Well, she did. She at first gave me a look which said, "Why the heck did you just hit my shoulder?" until she realized that a guy was trying to get into her backpack. Well, the guy (and his friends I didn't see) then looked at me and I was like ,"Shit, this might not be good." I kind of gave them an innocent look and said, "Sorry" (in Chinese and English) and just prayed and thought good thoughts that they wouldn't do anything. They pretty much all split and just gave me a mean look. I was told previously (when I got the warning) what the pick pocketers look like (they come from a certain part of China) and they totally fit the description I was forewarned about and I swear one of the guys was one of the guys who tried to get in my backpack.

Basically nothing happened. The girl said thank you from afar and I just kept walking and knew I did the right thing. It was one of those situations that I just couldn't watch someone get pick pocketed, but then again what do you in that situation especially because I thought it was just one guy, not a group of like 6?

So what would you do? Would you try to stop it and say something or tap the person's shoulder or would you keep walking?

Moral of the story: when walking on Fuzhou Lu in Shanghai watch your bag and if you have a backpack make sure the zippers aren't able to get opened easily.

A brief update

I must admit I was going to write some witty story last weekend about how a went with a running group to a town called Hangzhou and how we ran through tea fields and a village, but I am too tired to write a coherent story. The tiredness is good and good things are happening here but things are busy. Yesterday as I walked to the bus stop I just was filled with contentment. I am happy with the way things are going here and I am happy with life. Even though I leave my house at 6:45 am and don't get home till usually around 7:30 at the earliest (that does include a trip to the gym) I am happy. I like my job. I like my friends. I am meeting new people. I have found a group to play soccer with on Sundays, volleyball on Thursdays and Saturdays, and running on the weekends. I am feeling a bit challenged in my job but not enough to make me go insane or have to be a workaholic. I found a Mexican restaurant that has burritos along. I have found a store that has cute jeans that are even too long for me. My kids are cute and still listen to me. Overall my parents are happy and I only have one that is causing problems. So basically life is good and really no complaints. While it is not San Diego I am honestly can say that I am enjoying things here.

Hancun

Along with HuangShan, we visited a nearby village called Hancun. It was gorgeous but very touristy because it was the village that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed. Enjoy the pictures.

Huang Shan

This past week is what is known as the Golden Week in China. I am not sure why we get it off, but needless to say, I will not complain or question any one week vacation. Anyways, for my holiday I went to HuangShan, which is Yellow Mountain in English. As you can see, it is GORGEOUS.

Women's World Cup Finals

I must admit it, I was super excited to go to the Women's World Cup Finals. Never would I have thought that I would go to the finals, but since it was in Shanghai there was no way I could miss is. For those of you that didn't follow the World Cup, USA lost in the semis to Brazil (it was a horrible game and has caused a lot of controversy for the Women's National team for many reasons) so they did not advance to the finals. I did get to see them play Norway in the game for third place where they won 4-1. Anyways, the finals was Brazil vs Germany. I cheered for Brazil, but Germany came out ahead 2-0. It was a lot of fun and the soccer was really good.

The wedding

As I have mentioned before, one of the hardest things about being in China is being so far away from everyone and everything back home. The internet and the phone makes being away so much easier, but it doesn't make going to events any easier. This past month was my friend's wedding in which I was a bridesmaid. This is a wedding that I have been anticipating for a long time so there was no question that even though I am in China I would make it back. For whatever reason I really didn't take into consideration how far I really am from Los Angeles and that I would be taking off a week of work during the fourth week of school, which for those who teach know the beginning of the year is crazy. As the date got closer to the wedding and things got crazier for me at school I really started to doubt if deciding to go back was the right decision, but then again, how do you tell one of your best friends that? And so I was torn. I realized that once again I hadn't thought through what I really committed myself too. However, as much as I wanted to take the easy way out and not go, I knew that I would regret not watching my friend walk down the aisle. And so I went.

It was a crazy five days starting with the moment I landed I had to get my dress altered and find shoes and help with getting wedding stuff. It was difficult being in Orange County, so close to home, but not being able to see everyone. And I admit, it was a bit stressful. Even while I was there I questioned if I made the right decision and whether or not it was worth it because of some of the drama that went on and the fact that I flew across the world to spend most of my time running errands.

Well, as soon as the day arrived all the questioning that I had went away. Seeing Jen in her dress and Tim in his tux made me realize that I would have regretted not being able to see them get married. As the wedding began and I walked down the aisle, I could not have been happier and then, when Jen walked down the aisle to meet Tim and exchange vows I realized that nothing could have made me miss them getting married. The wedding was a blast and when everything was said and done, there was a lot of drama and it was not easy for me to get out to the wedding, but it was worth it.

I learned a lot through this experience. I have learned that I need to look into what I am committing myself to when I travel back home and that it is not just a cross country flight but rather a cross world flight. I have learned that making sub plans for a week and having to come back to work after having a sub can be a mess. But, most importantly, I have learned that there are somethings that are worth the hassle.

Soccer = Happiness

For those of you who know me know that I love soccer. For me, soccer is happiness. When I am playing soccer I am truly happy (ok, sometimes when I am losing or get no action I am not happy), but I do love being able to play. Last year was difficult because I didn't get to play soccer that often. I was not on a team and I truly missed it. Going from playing on three teams in San Diego to no teams in China was difficult. Well, this last weekend I found a sports league that has pick up soccer games every Sunday. I showed up not knowing what to expect. Well, it turned into 2 hours of playing and I absolutely loved it. I will be honest, it was 15 guys and me, but it was so much fun. At first they were skeptical of me and I had to prove that I can play, and I think I did that. Today I am sore, but it is a good sore that comes form playing. I also an joining a 7 aside co[ed league and am super stoked. What this means is that I will have soccer twice a week. Actually, I will have soccer 4 times a week because in October I start to coach. I will have my pick up games on Sunday, co-ed games on Monday, coach practice on Wednesday, and coach games on Thursday. I am so stoked to have soccer back in my life again.

Oh, and not to mention that the Women's World Cup is in China too for soccer. Last Friday I saw the Japan vs. Argentina game and the England vs. Germany game. Tomorrow I will see USA vs. Nigeria and I hope to go to the 3rd/4th place game and finals. Man, I never thought I would be at the Women;s World Cup. It makes me wish I would have tried harder at soccer so I could play competitively, but I am happy that I can just play now.

So life is good right now. I am so happy to have options to play again. Last year I was definitely missing soccer, so now I am so excited to play again. I LOVE soccer!

Balancing two lives

This year I am finally coming to the acceptance that my life is not in America anymore. It is a hard realization, but after one full year of living abroad and transitioning into my second year I am slowing coming to the point where I am acknowledging that my life is officially in China, at least for the time being. What becomes difficult is trying to figure out how much of my life in America do I hold onto? It is hard having relationships back home that I want to keep going, and so the effort is worth it, but it is difficult not being able to be a part of things. I am blessed to have the internet and phone to keep in touch with people, but I am now coming to grips with the fact that I just cannot be home for every event, as much as I want to. At times I wish people back home could see my life here, which is why I have my blog, so people can stay connected to what I am doing and what I am experiencing, but I admit it is hard at times to be so far away.

Last year I didn't feel the pull because I was only going to be gone for one year, so it was a long trip, an adventure, but now I am heading into two years. This year it also seems as more events are happening back home, mainly weddings and babies, which are big events and I want to be a part of. I am the type of person who hates missing out on things, so I want to be there for everything, but I have to accept that I just cannot be there for somethings.

So, honestly, I am learning to balance my two lives that I have. At times it become difficult trying to determine what to come home for and what not to, and so I become torn. Knowing that if I was in America I would be home at the drop of a dime, but now that option is not there. I also realize how much I do value the relationships, which makes the balancing act a little more difficult but part of me wants to be able to be there, but the more logical part of me tells me it just isn't possible.

But, regardless, it is good to know that the reason this becomes difficult is that I have good things happening in China and there are good things happening back home, but it makes making decisions just that much harder.

My apartment

Well, my apartment is not 100% together and I still need to buy random things to decorate and make is complete, but it is good enough for pictures. So, for all of you who have been wondering what my apartment looks like here are some pictures.



This is what it looks like on the inside from my bedroom window. There is a center court yard area and you can see how big the buildings are. I just like that there is a little bit of green in the city.

This is also from my window looking out onto the street. The street below is Fuzhou Lu.


This is a shot of the my apartment from the entry way. As you can see it is pretty basic, but definitely does the job.

My dining/living room.

This is my couch I just got recovered. I really like the green color. I just wish they would have recovered my other couch, but I can't complain because the brown and tan combo is much better than the anilam print that it was.

This is the painting close up. I am really proud of it because I made it. Yes, you read that correctly, I painted it. Last week I decided to try to paint. Across from me are a bunch of paint and art supply stores, so I decided to try to paint something. I had no idea how to use oil paints, but I am pleased with how it came out. OK, enough about my painting and onto more or my apartment.

My kitchen.

This is my bedroom. It is small, but I have my living room to hangout in. There are shelves and a closet, but I didn't want to bore you with those pictures.

My bathroom

So that is a brief tour of where I live. As I get more settled I like it more and more. Of course it has its little quarks (like the apple print bed) but overall it is quite nice.

Only me

I feel like I always have random things happen to me. Anyways, today at school I got stung by a caterpillar. Yup, I said caterpillar. I had no freaking idea that caterpillars could be dangerous, but leave it to me to figure it out. One landed on my arm at lunch when I took the kids to the playground. I had no idea what landed on me, but something stung so I swatted it away. I then went to lunch duty where I had to help the kids get their food. While on duty my arm burned like no other so I iced it with a water bottle till I could go to the nurse. It was the nurse who informed me of these "stinging caterpillars". Basically my arm stung all day and it it now still stings 9 hours later. I cannot believe that caterpillars can sting, but I learn something new everyday. Moral of the story: not all caterpillars are nice. Good news: it landed on me and not one of my students (dealing with crying kids is a bit more painful than my sting).

Oh, and to clarify, I did not pick up the caterpillar but it randomly fell on my arm

My first day

The first day of Kindergarten is always a nerve racking day. Kids are left for the whole day to sit at desks with someone they do not know as their parent leaves. While the first day is a big one for children, it is also a big day for the teachers. As much as one plans for the first day, there are inevitably glitches that come up and events that are unplanned.

My first day as a Reception teacher (basically Pre-K on a Kindergarten curriculum) was one that I was nervous about. To think that I would have the children for 8 hours and that really anything could happen freaked me out. I was excited but there was a huge part of me that was really quite nervous. What is I got a crier? What if I got a pee-er? What if the kids ran around crazy and would not listen? What if they didn't like me?

Well, I survived the first day (and I mean "Survived"). While there were not catastrophes and I got through most of my plans, it was chaos. The schedule was not really clear and the other teachers who were supposed to relieve the other Reception teachers and myself from break and lunch were not put on the schedule, which meant no breaks all day.

With that said, over all the day went well. I did have a high number or criers, but by the end of the day that stopped. My kids are really cute and are quite well behaved. I can definitely tell the difference from teaching at an English school versus a Chinese one in that the kids understand so much more. While not all the kids have English as their first language (one of my boys just moved from Norway last week and does not know any English), the overall comprehension is so much greater.

Today I went into my second day hoping for not as much chaos as yesterday, and I got it. I was stoked to get through my lessons and have things "under control". I still have a lot to figure out and I know that I have many mistakes to make and lessons to learn, but today was reassuring in that I know that it will get better. I don't want to give the impression that things were bad, because the reality is that things have been way better than I thought (I hope I am not jinxing myself).

I am really excited for this year and my kids are already growing on me. I definitely have an international classroom as I have students from the UK, Australia, Korea, Hong Kong, Norway, France, India, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and I am sure another country or two that I am forgetting.

My apartment.... Part II

So admit that I was super excited about my apartment. This past weekend I went and bought new towels so that they color coordinate. My friend who visited even said that they made my place look grown up. I still need to add other touches, but I decided to wait on getting the rest of the furniture. There is a couch that needs to be recovered and a bed added to my bedroom. Well, today was my first day at school and was crazy because we had a team building activity. I left this morning for work at 7 am and got back at 6:30 to meet with my landlord to see my new bed. Anyways, as I walked in the door she had a lady in my apartment measuring the couch to get it covered. I was excited because they brought a lot of swatches to choose the color. My landlady wanted to do grey and black but I thought it would be too many colors. I wanted to do blue but she didn't want to do blue again (I don't blame her), then I said red, and she didn't want that, but I think we have compromised on a greyish green. Now I decided to see my new bed. As I walked in the room there was a bright lime green bed with white apples. I didn't know how to react. I honestly could not hide the shock and horror of it all. I feel bad because it is brand new but it is absolutely hideous. I am trying to figure out how to save it or how to get a new one.

So, what are your thoughts? Do I embrace the apples or do I change the bed?



Now... the view I cannot complain about. Yesterday when my friend came we sat on my balcony and this is what we looked out into.

To give you a quick intro to Shanghai... The crown building is the Westing hotel. I am in Puxi, but in the distance is Pudong. You can see a little triangle light in the background. That is the Jin Mao (which was the largest building in the world but now is the third largest). Right next to the lighted triangle is a little light. That light belongs to what will be the world's tallest building (it is still under construction). Both these buildings are across the river in Pudong.