Parents Come Watch My Classes (also, I find Frosted Flakes in Guiyang!)

It has been a busy, and stressful, week. I had to write progress
reports about all my students, and since I teach 11 classes now it was
quite a lot. That part wasn't too bad though, I just got on a roll and
did them all in a row. I was more stressed out about the parents
coming to observe my classes, especially since it's my first demo
class for them as a new teacher. I've been teaching for 2 months but
it feels like I'm still really new. I tried to think of good things to
do and some creative ideas and games. Overall, I think it went pretty
well. Some of my classes, the parents didn't smile or laugh at all
like they did in others, which made me a bit nervous. A couple of moms
spoke good English and made suggestions for my class. It definitely
kept me anxious for my long Saturday and Sunday work days. But now I'm
definitely relieved that it's over. The other teachers will have their
mid term demo classes the next couple of weeks. And the rest of them
will be easier after this initial one. Plus, this next week is
Halloween, which I'm excited about. I've bought candy and I am
planning Halloween themed classes.

We had a really laid back Sunday night at the Xinjiang (Uyghur)
restaurant. I have been watching the TV show Bones, which I'm totally
obsessed with right now. And it seems appropriately Halloween themed.
Today, I slept in late and when I woke up at 1 pm, was slightly
disoriented when I tried to turn on the light. Soon I discovered the
electricity was out not just in my room, but in our entire 25 floor
building. So I headed out to get some food. As I passed the lobby, the
workers had candles out for light. After I ate too much, though it was
a perfect misty day food- bao zi, fried dumplings, and congee, I
headed to Highlands Coffee. I heard someone mention it, and it's in my
Lonely Planet guide to Guiyang. It's owned by an American. I used my
map to find it easily, and there I got a mocha and met Chris, the
owner. It was sort of nice, after walking down the streets to the
constant "hello's," and even people shouting "lao wai!" (foreigner!),
to be able to order a mocha and talk to someone in English. It was
also a convenient place to hang while I lacked electricity, because I
could access their wireless internet on my iPod and sit and read.
Chris also told me they do various events for Thanksgiving, Christmas,
and so on. So maybe I'll be able to get to know some other foreigners
in the city. Not that I don't enjoy hanging with the guys from my
school- but it is all guys, and maybe surprisingly, I miss hanging out
with girls. My world is basically the people I know through the
school, which is great. But it would be nice to meet some other people
too. I know there are lots of Americans in Guiyang through Peace
Corps.

Highland Coffee is near the giant underground Wal-Mart, so I headed
there to do some shopping. They have cereal, which I can't find at my
close by grocery store, and peanut butter. They even had Land o Lakes
American cheese, so I bought some. All these things are sort of
expensive for China, but not any pricier than they'd cost in the US.
A few Western comforts are nice- as much as I like Chinese food, it's
good to have these snacks. I got milk, which is weirdly not
refrigerated. I don't understand this, so someone must explain to me
sometime how this works. At least I know my way around the city now,
at least somewhat.

One of observations about living in China is that I am always reminded
that if I ever complain about my job, someone has a job that sucks
worse. Actually when anyone I know complains about their job, I just
think how I see people every day who have a way worse job. Like when
some guy is carrying, on his back, a huge pile of boxes that are
clearly very heavy and at least 5 times his size (I'm not
exaggerating, I swear). Or today, I saw a woman whose job is to sell
tissues at the public toilets. A bus driver here- that's absolutely
crazy. You tell me your job, I'll tell you a job in China that sucks
more.

Well at anyways, gotta say time flies here, it's ridiculous. I can't
believe October is almost over. I've been here for more than 2 months,
but it still feels like I've barely lived in China for any time at
all.