Feeling the Love

My school is amazing. Longwan High School is the top school in the entire Longwan District, meaning the students had to have had a high score on their final tests in middle school. The teachers have all been very welcoming, and those who don't speak English still like to talk to me by pointing or acting out things :)

Sometimes this happens. But we get through it.

I am the youngest foreign teacher they have ever had, and some of the teachers have taken on the role of doting mother. Frequently asking if I've eaten, had enough rest, do I feel safe, do I want to come over for dinner?, feel free to knock on my door anytime, have I talked to my mom online today she probably wants to hear from me I should talk to her...etc

They take me out to eat often, and last time I took a few pictures of the restaurant which had a pretty standard layout for here in China.

The first floor you have the dishes and fish. You pick out what you want to eat.

Turtle is common. I honestly don't know if I've had it or not
because like I said, I don't ask questions.

The second floor or more of the building there are tables and sometimes rooms where you eat. The teachers love to buy me Budweiser and I haven't had to heart to tell them I hate beer. So I've just sipped along the best I can the past few weeks. (Don't tell AU!! Just kidding. This is from the girl who bartended while attending.)

I recently got the Chinese equivalent of Facebook and told my students my account number. So now in the evenings I get a lot of students wanting to talk to me, which I love. If instant messaging is what makes them want to practice English over their holiday break, I'm here for them. 

The past few days of the break I spent with a few student teachers who came to Longwan from their college to observe teachers and get experience before graduating. Ruby, Abbie, and Echo were all really nice and showed me around Wenzhou. I went to a famous island called Jiangxinyu. My phone/camera was almost dead so I only got one picture, but I found a few online, too.

This is the island from the city. The island is on the river that runs through Wenzhou.

A traditional covered bridge, this is the one picture I got before my phone died.

This is a Buddhist monastery. We got to walk through it and see monks working and studying. Inside was really beautiful full of colorful statues all having to do with traditional Chinese folklore.

I stayed with Ruby, who had studied abroad in Oklahoma last year. Her mom said seeing me made her think of my mom because she knows exactly how she feels, and that she wanted to take care of me just like Ruby's host family in America took good care of her. :)

I also went with Ruby and her neighbors to the Wenzhou Museum. They had a special exhibit labeled "Foreigners in Wenzhou" that had terrifying mannequins. 

No wonder people stare at me if this is what they think they are going to see!

Here is me, the boys (Jason and Billy), and Ruby. The brothers were Ruby's neighbors.
Their parents pay a fine to have two children, but that is common in
Wenzhou, which is one of the few places in China that has a large
middle class. I loved having them with us, it made me miss the kids I babysit!
The younger one, Billy, liked to hold my hand and lead me to his favorite exhibits.

Ruby and her neighbors share a laundry room and the apartments are connected so they are very close and she thinks of the boys as her own little brothers. But she told me she wishes she could've had a sibling. Her parents work for the government and if they were to have two children they would have lost their jobs, unlike her neighbors who just pay the fine. She did tell me that if when she gets married her husband is also an only child, then they could have two children. To which I  responded, "who keeps track of all this??" There is a whole division of the government dedicated to just that, apparently.

If some one told me I had to follow all those rules, I would tell them:

But that's China for you.

The next few days of break I am spending with Shelly and some other teachers all from the same hometown. It should be a good time. Whenever someone invites me to anything here, I go, because you should: