This weekend, I got to go with six other teachers from ISW to Turtle Head park. It was a way to celebrate Sarah's (one of my apartmentmates) birthday! All of us simply walked around the park and spent time together. It was quite big and we did walk the length of it within the few hours we were there, but it was definitely an enjoyable time. The flowers are blooming here and the color of them among the fresh green of the trees was a beautiful site. The park is also right next to Taihu lake which also was rather gorgeous. The Father's majesty was truly displayed throughout the park. As we walked around taking pictures, people were also taking pictures of us. It's not everyday that foreigners are walking around the park, and one little girl even came up to the group of us and asked if we would take a picture with her. I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to being part of the minority, but it's definitely a good experience!
The Sarahs and I caught a taxi back to the apartment when we had finished our adventure in the park just in time for me to meet my cooperating teacher and go to Starbucks. After we both got some much needed coffee, we talked about which classes I would take over this week, the curriculum I would be teaching, and how we could adjust classroom management to better meet the needs of our students. We spend over 3 hours there, but it was time well spent. I loved being able to talk to her outside of the school environment and work with her to do the best we could for the students. It was true collaboration and I loved it!
After getting back from Starbucks, I had a mini adventure trying to find Kim's (the physical education teacher) apartment by myself. I met people there to continue celebrating Sarah's birthday and praise the Father through song. It was so wonderful to take time out of the busy weekend to do what I was made to do :) This also gave me the opportunity to get to know some of the other teachers I had not spent much time with yet which was wonderful.
That brings me up to Sunday! After skyping with my amazing family, I took an adventure to Stuff Mart with Sarah to try to find some sort of foam or mattress pad for my bed. When I say adventure, I truly mean an adventure. I wasn't sure what to expect when Sarah said we were going to a place called Stuff Mart, but she just prefaced it by saying "This will be a truly Chinese experience." When we got there, I was pretty much speechless. There were at least 10 different buildings with 3 or more floors in each building. Navigating through the different streets and stores was quite interesting as there isn't really any way to know where the different shops were. Thankfully Sarah looked up the word for "mattress pad" in Chinese before we left, and after over an hour of asking different store owners where to find one, we found who we called "the foam man". He sold us a thick piece of foam and sewed a cover on it for us in ten minutes. We were out for about two hours, but my body is very thankful that we finally found the foam man and got a mattress pad.
Also on Sunday, I got to go to the fellowship in town. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and see a lot of the teachers in a setting outside of school. It was good to be filled again and encouraged by the people there. Afterwards, a large group of us went o Jiatsa to celebrate Sarah's birthday once again. I think there were 17 of us total, and we got our own room in the back. Eating with a large group is always like family style dining. Our table even had a huge lazy susan on it! Sarah ordered over 10 dishes for the large group of us, and we all shared whatever was on the table. It was great! I ate sweet potatoes and cauliflower which I don't usually like, but it was absolutely delicious!
That brings me to Monday. School went well as I taught math and science, and I can't remember anything too exciting happening. Once I got out of school, I went to the supermarket across the street with Haley, the other student teacher at ISW. We got some good snack foods included oreo sticks covered in coffee flavored chocolate. So good. Then we decided to be adventure and walk a couple of blocks to get fresh fruit and produce. Although neither of us know Chinese, somehow we successfully order really delicious and cheap street food along with fresh pineapple and apples. We also found an awesome bakery down the street and got some good deals on bread at the end of the night! I was a little nervous because of the communication barrier, but we did it! We were very proud of ourselves by the end of the night. It also gave us some great insight into how our students who do not know much English may feel everyday in our classrooms. How cool is that!
Tuesday was a pretty good day within the classroom as it was my first day teaching three different subjects, and those lessons all happened to take place back to back in the morning. They went fairly well and I learned a lot through the experience! Later in the day after working on classwork and more lessons, I got to go with the Sarahs to visit the art teacher and his wife, along with their two kids. Joy is 2 years old and Thomas is just over a week old. It was nice to see their family environment and be welcomed in. The kids are both so precious and Thomas is getting pretty big already! I got to hold him for a short bit as well which was a good way to end the day :)
I absolutely love my second grade classroom and all the Father has taught me through them. Although it can be very challenging at times, my cooperating teacher and I are working on a new classroom management system that seems to be working a lot better. I'm not teaching math, science, and humanities, and next week I'll be adding reading to the list! The planning can get somewhat stressful, but it is definitely all worth it. I know this is where I'm supposed to be right now and that confirmation is amazing! Everything has felt so natural and the peace and comfort truly surpasses all understanding :)
I am so very proud of you, my daughter! God has blessed your faithfulness! And I am also very thankful you got a mattress pad! It would not do to walk around bruised and tired all the time. Remember my BOGO. I love you!
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