Wow...
I've been living in China for a whole month now! Craziness.
I'm enjoying it now much more than I was in the first couple weeks, and I will say it's quite nice and quite interesting being here. I think once you get over the culture shock, you learn to really appreciate the culture and the people here. Of course there are still things I don't like about being here, but I could have said that for just about any of the places I've lived.
I have to say I am really enjoying my job. It feels so wonderful to finally be doing what I have been working towards, and to have it pay off. The kids are mostly very cute and enjoyable to work with, and it's awesome to work with students who care about learning and who are enthusiastic about English (which is completely the opposite of the experience I had last year.)
I only can hope now that eventually California will stop being so shitty when it comes to English as a Second Language programs in their public schools. If my teaching credential is going to be of any use beyond the experience I gained from participating in the program, something will have to pop up in the next five years for me to be able to work in a public school as an ESL teacher. That has been what I've wanted to do; although private schools may pay better, it is really the students who are in public school who need the most help, because their parents can't necessarily afford private language schools and there are SO many immigrants in public schools who desperately need ESL classes but instead get stuck in regular English classes and have to do so much extra work that is not even relevant to their learning needs. This all frustrates me so much because I can see that they are trying so hard and working their asses off, for a lot less payoff than a native speaker would get if they just put in a little more effort than being the lazy asses they are.
Anyway, it feels really great to know that I'm finally doing what I worked towards and I am really loving it. I'm proud of myself. I'm coming up with fun activities to do with the kids, and I'm doing it on my own. The kids are receptive and seem to like me, and I feel like I can be myself in my classes. It really can't get any better than this (beyond the fact that I'm having to live far away from loved ones.)
Speaking of those loved ones, hopefully I find out today what dates I will have off for Chinese New Year, and Rudy can book his flight to visit me! Things with him have been going so well, I can't believe we were so worried about if our relationship would last long distance. I know it has only been a month, but at the same time, it has been a whole month and nothing seems to be going poorly at all, aside from some technical difficulties we had at first with getting Skype to work properly. Not seeing each other is hard, and we both express that to each other often, but that's also part of the deal, and it feels good to at least hear him say he misses me. I think this will be very manageable since I am only gone for one year. If there were no end in sight, it wouldn't be nearly as ideal of a situation. I think if he visits me during Chinese New Year, then I visit maybe in April near my mom's birthday, and then again sometime in July or so, we have only a few months to go without seeing each other at any given time, and that's not bad at all. When I was with Aaron, we'd go a few months without seeing each other, but we weren't talking on a daily basis, or even getting on Skype. I am really impressed with how Rudy is committing to this and doing the work to keep things going. :)
Well, I'm hungry, so I think I will go get something to eat from the kitchen. I don't work today until about 2:00, so I get to relax. :) It was a long weekend (well, the official weekend, not my weekend) of a lot of work, so it's nice to have today be pretty relaxed (I just have two one-hour classes today) and then have my actual weekend tomorrow and Wednesday. Hope you guys have a good week!!
I'm enjoying it now much more than I was in the first couple weeks, and I will say it's quite nice and quite interesting being here. I think once you get over the culture shock, you learn to really appreciate the culture and the people here. Of course there are still things I don't like about being here, but I could have said that for just about any of the places I've lived.
I have to say I am really enjoying my job. It feels so wonderful to finally be doing what I have been working towards, and to have it pay off. The kids are mostly very cute and enjoyable to work with, and it's awesome to work with students who care about learning and who are enthusiastic about English (which is completely the opposite of the experience I had last year.)
I only can hope now that eventually California will stop being so shitty when it comes to English as a Second Language programs in their public schools. If my teaching credential is going to be of any use beyond the experience I gained from participating in the program, something will have to pop up in the next five years for me to be able to work in a public school as an ESL teacher. That has been what I've wanted to do; although private schools may pay better, it is really the students who are in public school who need the most help, because their parents can't necessarily afford private language schools and there are SO many immigrants in public schools who desperately need ESL classes but instead get stuck in regular English classes and have to do so much extra work that is not even relevant to their learning needs. This all frustrates me so much because I can see that they are trying so hard and working their asses off, for a lot less payoff than a native speaker would get if they just put in a little more effort than being the lazy asses they are.
Anyway, it feels really great to know that I'm finally doing what I worked towards and I am really loving it. I'm proud of myself. I'm coming up with fun activities to do with the kids, and I'm doing it on my own. The kids are receptive and seem to like me, and I feel like I can be myself in my classes. It really can't get any better than this (beyond the fact that I'm having to live far away from loved ones.)
Speaking of those loved ones, hopefully I find out today what dates I will have off for Chinese New Year, and Rudy can book his flight to visit me! Things with him have been going so well, I can't believe we were so worried about if our relationship would last long distance. I know it has only been a month, but at the same time, it has been a whole month and nothing seems to be going poorly at all, aside from some technical difficulties we had at first with getting Skype to work properly. Not seeing each other is hard, and we both express that to each other often, but that's also part of the deal, and it feels good to at least hear him say he misses me. I think this will be very manageable since I am only gone for one year. If there were no end in sight, it wouldn't be nearly as ideal of a situation. I think if he visits me during Chinese New Year, then I visit maybe in April near my mom's birthday, and then again sometime in July or so, we have only a few months to go without seeing each other at any given time, and that's not bad at all. When I was with Aaron, we'd go a few months without seeing each other, but we weren't talking on a daily basis, or even getting on Skype. I am really impressed with how Rudy is committing to this and doing the work to keep things going. :)
Well, I'm hungry, so I think I will go get something to eat from the kitchen. I don't work today until about 2:00, so I get to relax. :) It was a long weekend (well, the official weekend, not my weekend) of a lot of work, so it's nice to have today be pretty relaxed (I just have two one-hour classes today) and then have my actual weekend tomorrow and Wednesday. Hope you guys have a good week!!