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| Bear-ing childrenI turned my students into bears this week. My roommate Anna (who is also the art teacher at school) and I were watching a movie last week and there was a line about bearing children. The next thing I know Anna is crying because she is laughing so hard. For some people that is a common reaction to extreme laughter, I had just never seen Anna this extreme before. When she finally gained her composure she explained the vision that streamed through her mind as she heard that line spoken. Anna saw children walking around and turning or being turned into bears. Now I thought this was funny, but not nearly as much as Anna did. My kids have Art first thing Monday morning, so this past Monday as my students came into the classroom I explained what our top priority was for the first 10 minutes of the day - making bear ears. Some of my students went all out drawing paws on their hands and bear noses on their faces. They then proceed to art walking through our elementary hallways dressed as bears. It was quite a site as they entered the art room and Miss Kueck was taken by surprise. I must say, it was quite a good laugh. I, Kira Sparks, have now become a bearer of children...literally. | | |
| take a walkI went for a walk a couple of days ago. It was pretty calm and peaceful, I was needing that. I realized I like taking walks. I went over by the ocean, in this park. Just quieting my mind and thinking about the world's problems. Not really, but just thinking about life. I was standing up on this hill/cliff overlooking the ocean...just taking it all in. A Chinese man came up to me and asked me where I was from. Of course I told him America, and then told him that I live here in Qingdao. He was very surprised by that and we began to talk about how I was a teacher and how he used to be. He said he was over 60 now so he was retired. He seemed so content as he shared that with me. He told me how he studied English over 40 years ago. He asked how old I was, and then said "young and beautiful." He asked me where my forefathers were from. I couldn't really say. I'm not certain. I didn't like that I didn't know where I was from. He said he was so glad I was here teaching and he welcomed me to Qingdao. Then he went on his way. I continued to look out over the ocean, and was so intrigued by this man. It wasn't because of what he had said to me, but mainly the way he looked. He was so peaceful, so content, enjoying his life. I was inspired to really live out my life. To take risks, to strike up conversations, to arrive at 60 years old and have people see my inner peace seeping out from inside me.
I like to take walks. | | |
| Adventures in ShanghaiYou may or may not know that this past weekend was the Chinese New Year. For this special holiday we have a two week vacation. I, along with 3 other teachers from my school, went to Suzhou and Shanghai. We were planning on spending a couple of nights in Suzhou and then spending a day in Shanghai, however things changed quickly after arriving. We took the train, for 18 hours, and upon arriving to Suzhou found out that we could not buy a return ticket to Qingdao. So we decided to head to Shanghai the next day. So instead of spending one day in Shanghai, I was there for 5 days staying in a hostel and wandering the city. Hostels are the way to go when traveling, incase you had not discovered that yet. It's cheap and you meet cool people. Some other highlights of the week...eating at Papa John's, traveling to the top of the TV tower, staying in a room with two random guys, visiting the aquarium and traveling through the world's longest underwater tunnel, and lots of cheap noodles.
I'll try to post pictures soon.
Wish I could go to homecoming too. | | |
| i'MgoiNgtoteLl*****aboUtTHatOk...first let me apologize for the asteriks, but I'm trying to be aware. One of my students had me over to their house for a birthday dinner last night. She was playing with her sister, who is 5, and accidently hit her a little too hard. Her sister, the 5 year old, looked at her and said, "I'm going to tell ***** about that." I would type the Father, but it looses it affect, so imagine another word for Father. Sorry, maybe it's not as funny after explaining it like that. Just thought I'd share. Much love! | | |
| LEakYpiPesPicture with me, if you will, a Tuesday or Wednesday evening. You've been at work teaching fifth graders all day. You come home decide you want to take a bath...so you do. Maybe within 30 minutes to an hour there's a knock at your door. You look at your roommate and you think to yourself, "who could that be?" With a little hesitation you answer the door, only to find a Chinese man standing on the other side. At this point you realize what's about to happen. He will begin speaking Chinese and because you have only been studying the language about a month (and only two hours a week at that) you will not understand a word that he is about to say. You turn to your roommate, who speaks the language a little better than you do, in hopes that she will understand the word vomit that is about to be spewed. And so he comes inside and begins his monologue. When he realizes what he is saying is not really being absorbed, he takes things a step further. You may be familiar with what happened next, because in the states we might refer to this as a cross between charades and pictionary. That's right, this man proceeded to draw pictures of rain and umbrellas. He then started pointing up and then to his clothes and then to the pictures. What we were finally able to decipher from this performance is that our shower was leaking into his apartment, but what the umbrella has to do with it all I have yet to figure out. Needless to say, we were showerless off and on for a couple of weeks. This problem has been resolved and I can now shower anytime and any day I want, in the comfort of my own home. | | |
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