Student Schedule

So the past week hasn't been too interesting, I didn't teach much because of the holiday. And, get this--there's another holiday next week! So I get to teach on another Saturday and Sunday to make up for the break, haa. And there is no other break until New Years Day. YAY. I CAN'T WAIT. (is the sarcasm coming through....)

Judging you, China. I'm judging you.

So over the Mid Autumn festival, I got to eat with some teachers. Which is always a good time, the Chinese are great hosts. (You guys remember the 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony, right...)

Okay, so excluding Mulan and her dishonorable tea serving skills, they are great hosts.

I also got to eat with some Taiwanese friends we American teachers met at an Italian restaurant a few weeks ago. One, Yuju, had gone to college in Oklahoma and working in the US for ten years, and was ecstatic to hear people speak English in the restaurant. So she invited us out to eat with her friends. 

BONUS: Yuju works with a sunglasses company as a liaison between an American company and hers. So all of her friends were the factory owners of the parts of sunglasses. She literally introduced them as: "This is Stacey, her factory makes lenses. This is Lily, her factory makes frames...." and so on and so on. So we made some well connected friends.

The rest of the week I chilled here at my apartment. I made friends with some of the teachers' kids, who are the age range of 6-10 years old. I have a ball and candy. So that makes me popular. Hey, I don't pass up friends. Even when they can't speak English and are half my height.

Now on to my observations of my school. It has taken me a few weeks, but I think I have the student's schedule down. (Yah, I'm not told anything about anything. So most of my observations are just some guesses of what's going on.)

Okay so here is what one of my students does all in ONE DAY:

1. Music blares across campus. Wake up around 5:30AM

2. Run a mile with rest of school around track: 6:00AM

3. Eat breakfast

(On Mondays, go to Flag Raising Ceremony at 7:00AM)

4. FIrst class 7:30AM (Classes are 40 min with 10 min breaks, sometimes they are 15 min. I don't know why.)

5. 2nd period: 8:20AM

6. 3rd period: 9:10AM

7. 9:50AM- Walk from class back to track

8. 10:00AM- RUN SOME MORE, and do this choreographed stretching to a song that tells you what to do

9. 10:35AM 4th period

10. 5th period: 11:05AM

11. LUNCH TIME 11:45AM

12. LUNCH OVER 12:10pm.

13: 12:15-1:40pm Nap time

14. 6th period 1:50pm

15. 2:40: Eye exercises. (This song comes on, the students sit at their desks and rub their eyes for 5 min.)

16. 7th period 2:45pm

17. 8th period 3:35pm

18: Class over 4:15pm, free time and dinner time until 6pm. 

This is where the girls disappear. I have no clue what most of them do because the boys and a few girls play basketball, but the rest of them seem to literally disappear into thin air. The same with women teachers. The men play basketball, badminton, ping pong, but I have yet to figure out what the heck the women do or where they go. 

Okay, so after free time is where I get lost. I know the students go somewhere, but I'm not entirely sure what is going on. I think they go to various "clubs" which, honestly, is more classes.

19. So from 6pm to 9:30pm they are back in the classrooms doing stuff, but I have no clue what.

20: Lullaby music plays at 10:30, and lights out.

Yep. So how accomplished are you feeling today now that you've seen this......haa.

Also, their school uniforms are gym clothes. They wear a school shirt and track pants. So the running is no problem in those outfits.

Yah. So that's a day in the life of a 16, 17, 18 year old Chinese high school student. 

It was exhausting just to type, honestly. But they are the best students ever. If Americans loved foreigners as much as the Chinese do, the world would be a better place!

This is what the world would look like. All the time.

Although, truthfully, this is how I see the world anyways :)