Welcome Grandpa Bob! --Nina

On Monday, everyone at Yongfeng was very excited to welcome a special visitor to our school--Grandpa Bob! Grandpa Bob (otherwise known as Robert Lipp, for those of us who are not elementary school students) is the generous donor who helped to rebuild the school from the shack it once was, and he continues to support our school by sponsoring two foreign teaching fellows (that's us!) every year, financing extracurricular projects at the school, and just generally being wonderful and kind to our kids (and to Abby and me). All of the students love him, and they very much look forward to his visits a few times a year. This fall, it came at an especially good time, since they have been pummeled with midterm review this week, and it was a very welcome break. 

Bob, as well as his son, Jeffrey, and a whole gang of local government leaders were greeted by an adorable welcoming party as they arrived.

The drum dance team in their welcoming parade formation, looking sharp. Do they ever actually play the drums they have strapped to them? No. But it's okay. They look intense.

Molly and Ross, playing with the principal's drum while they wait for the brigade to arrive.

Nate, looking handsome in his shiny outfit. (Erik and Ross were too busy jostling to get their turn with the big drum to pose for my picture.)

The kids very patiently waited for the group to arrive for about an hour, since we weren't exactly sure when they'd get here, and of course, we had to be ready. This is John, Erik, Nate, and Henry, practicing their drumstick swishing.

 After everyone arrived, the drum team did a dance routine on our exercise court. It was quite impressive and lengthy, considering that they threw it together last week. (Yes, they did get taken out of class to practice it, but that's okay. We have interesting priorities at Yongfeng.)

Bob and Jeffrey then met with local leaders to discuss future plans for the school and our program, while the students very patiently waited in the auditorium for our assembly. Everyone had been working very hard this past week, preparing dances, songs, and speeches.

These girls worked with the other music teacher at the school for the past two months on a dance routine that was meant to represent our school's gratitude towards Bob. Actually, about half of the girls in the school learned the dance, and these six were chosen as the best. They surprised us with these awesome coordinated outfits, hairdos, and makeup.

 After this dance, Abby's 3rd graders performed "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," my 4th graders sang a very solemn rendition of "I'm H-A-P-P-Y" (I learned that they were very very very nervous that they would mess up, so they did not get a chance to smile. It was kind of hilarious, while also sad.), Abby's 5th graders sang "The 7 Days of the Week," and my 6th graders sang a version of "This Land is Your Land," which Abby and I rewrote to be applicable to China, instead of America. I was especially proud of the 6th graders, since the English in that song was pretty tough, but they did an amazing job, and most of them surprised me by memorizing it over the weekend! I love those 6th graders. We also chose representatives from each grade to give a little speech and present class cards to Bob. They all also did amazingly, especially Joseph, the 6th grader who was given the task of saying the speech in English. I was very proud of him.

Joseph!

The assembly also included a performance of the school's morning calisthenics routine (I strongly encourage you to see Abby's last post to get a better idea of what that is), as performed by some of the star dancers.

Bob and Jeffrey, with the calisthenics performers, as well as some of the class representatives.

 After a very long lunch with the local government officials that involved way too much toasting, Jeffrey read "Stone Soup" to a group of students in the library.

 Finally, during the last period of classes, Bob, Jeffrey, Abby, and our principal observed my 6th grade music class. Luckily, it went very well. The 6th graders learned how to transcribe rhythms, and everyone seemed to have enjoyed the class. Our principal told me after class that he wants to audit my music classes since he never had a chance to learn how to read music. He was a bit overenthusiastic...Abby said that he was picking up the whiteboards of the kids in the back of the class and saying "Wow! Very good!!" while pointing excitedly. I'm pretty sure I thought he was a disruptive student and glared over in that direction a few times during class. (Keep in mind that he really got into the toasting at lunch.)

Will, one of our program's managers, also came to visit with Bob. He was a teacher here two years ago, and the kids love getting the chance to see him again. It's hard to find him in the sea of children. 

The 6th graders spent a long time beautifully decorating our school's new display blackboards. (I apologize for my thumb. Someday I'll learn how to take pictures.) 

I'm very happy to report that Abby and I have the rest of the week off, since the students will be busy taking midterms all week (poor things).