.bathroom.tailor.propane.tears.english.

lacy:

today was pretty eventful; spending some time with students and friends :) we both had two classes.... which by the way one of my classes was pretty funny! in my sophomore oral english class, we played charades; i gave them phrases that are commonly said... like goodbye, hello, i cant hear you, i need to go to the bathroom, etc.... because when you go to a different country not knowing the language, you find it yourself playing a lot of charades! one of my students ended up with the "i need to go to the bathroom" phrase.... well the way he acted it out was hilarious! he held himself like a 5 year old would if they had to go to the bathroom; then he pretended to open a door and he squatted down! the whole class was laughin! i was laughing because i hate squatties; i dont like goin to the bathroom in a chinese toilet.... i hold it till i find a western toilet :) if i absolutely have to, i will; which so far has only been on a train.... but peter is the one who acted it out and he has pretty good english and is always funny.... its one of my favorite classes!

anyways, i went to the tailor with a student of andy's, jodie.... shes really cool and very good at english! shes a senior and plans to further her study in england, which i think she'll be great there! she had a coat made the same place i did, so i went with her.... the tailor there is hilarious! the way her voice sounds and the way she talks; she always sounds angry and like she is arguing with everyone, but shes not! haha its kinda like if you were to start yelling in an angry voice about how its such a nice day today lol jodie and i just laugh; its almost as if the tailor puts on a show because we are laughing :) sunday night she is taking me to a restuarant with spicy noodles, so thatll be interestin! at the same time, andy was goin on a hike with a student, jim, around the wooded area of the campus.... he said him and jim had a really cool conversation; ill let him tell you more about that since it was his experience :) which i have to say that he has been doing awesome with the "trooth corner"! he has been doing really well tryin to explain truth to the students; because some students are better with english than others, so he has to make sure everyone understands and not just a few.... it is really awesome when you see their face light up because they understand; like a light bulb just went on! one thing i wish we had was a "bble" that was half english and half pin yin.... meaning that the chinese language is not in characters, but written how their words are pronounced; i have been really tryin to learn more of the language.... i can hear and understand certain words in a conversation, but i cant really make out what is actually said; i am getting a lot better and its gets more and more exciting! it would just be cool to be able to read a verse in chinese, but since i do not know characters, that is hard to do lol anyways, all i want to say is that i am proud of andy and please continue to think specifically for this corner because their minds and hearts are thinking!

well later tonight, we had about 14 of andy's students from last year come over; it was a packed house! we fit them all in our little living room; it was awesome! we just showed em pics of our wedding and some of our trips in china.... they didnt stay that long, but at the end they took tons of pics! seriously, i was blind for a while afterwards from all the flash! they all wanted to get a pic with me and andy; my eyes were killing! :) but it was a good time to meet his students from last year!

after they left, we went to ghetto hotpot for a late dinner.... we took a student named george and our friend kerry who is a teacher here; it was a good time! hotpot is hard for me to describe; andy is better at describing things.... in the middle of the table, there is a huge bowl over a propane fire with water and some spices all heated and constantly boiling..... then you can add different things in there like lamb meat, potato noodles, noodles (they have awesome noodles), cabbage, tofu, sliced potatos, etc.... then you can just wait till its boiled in the water and use your chopsticks to fish it out! you can dip it in either garlic sauce or this peanut sauce.... if you like spicy and some people do not like spicy, they have a divider that divides the bowl into two parts and you can have different flavors..... their spicy is RIDICULOUS! i like spicy, but they have so much ginger in it that it makes your face turn red! no joke! our friend george was eatin it up! i have tried some before thinkin it would be good, but it was unbearable! my tongue was on fire! and after i said that, george said his face was on fire, haha.... he is a sophomore and his english is very good; i would think he was a senior! we hang out with him quite a lot; hes always around peter hall hanging out with the foreigners.... kerry had some of the spiciness and had to back out haha; george kept telling him to come back! it was funny cause kerry was tearing up! it was a pretty good day!

earlier i had text some of my students; girls that i hang out with the most.... sarah, raina, sandra, janey, angel; these girls helped me with double dutch for culture week! they are awesome and so crazy! i always have fun with them.... its hard to find students here that speak good english and understand the kind of humor i have, but these gurls have a similar humor as i do so we click very well! it can be frustrating sometimes always trying to explain and define your words; thats why its refreshing to hang out with these girls because they are very good with their english.... i asked them to come to power hour with me this sunday and 2 of them will go with me; im not sure about one.... raina and i are going for a walk tomorrow around downtown because she wanted to tell me about her job interview last weekend; she said it was funny and had to tell me, so i will ask her if she will go with me then.... keep these girls in mind; its crazy that it has only been almost 3 months and i have become very close to some students! ill have to get pictures with them soon, so i can put em up here :)