The End --Nina

Our last day of school was last Monday (per usual, we found out when finals were four days beforehand), and I left Yongfeng for the last time (for now!) on Tuesday afternoon. The school held a send-off party for us, in which various teachers and student representatives gave adorable speeches about us, and we received lots of cards and little presents. The homeroom teachers were in charge of getting the kids organized to do this, and my classes' homeroom teachers were a little last minute about all of this. But, my kids still got together lots of little things for me by themselves, from homemade cards that I'm not allowed to open until I'm back in the US, to cell phone charms and glow-in-the dark bracelets. Most importantly, I have everyone's contact information (screen names and phone numbers), so when/if my kids have internet access, we can still be in touch!

Taking Children Out to Have Fun! --Nina

In China, there isn't a common word for "field trip," so whenever discussing our plans to take our kids on field trips with the principal, bus drivers, etc, I had to say, "the thing where we take children out to have fun." I organized two field trips this year, one to the Shaanxi Nature Museum for the 4th graders, and the other to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the Terracotta Warriors for the 6th graders. Both of those field trips have been organized before by past fellows, so that made the planning process much easier. It was great getting to hang out with my students in a more relaxed, fun environment. I put some of the most mischievous kids in my chaperone groups on purpose, since they are often the most funny and lovable outside of class (during which they can sometimes wreck havoc). I think the kids had a great time and (hopefully!) learned many things that sitting inside a classroom all day couldn't teach them. Unfortunately, car sickness is a huge problem for our kids (since they aren't used to that kind of transportation), but beyond that, there were no problems!

My Students' Masterpieces --Nina

Abby and I both love teaching art class. Once we've picked a fun project to do (thank goodness for the thousands of art teacher bloggers who provide us with inspiration), it is the easiest class to plan and execute. The kids are generally well-behaved in art class, and it's great seeing the creative sides of our kids. I wanted to share some pictures of some of the great things our kids have created this year! 

From Puberty to Goat Teats -Nina

As usual, this post is coming much later than I would have hoped. This time, I am happy to report that I think it is because I have finally adjusted to life here, and not every little disturbance and hiccup seems blog-worthy anymore. I never would have considered writing a blog when I was living my usual life in America, and now that Yongfeng has become my normal, my stories don't seem as crazy to me anymore.  But, I did promise some updates on the recovery of my phone and 6th grade puberty class.

Recent updates -- Abby

Things have been going well recently at Yongfeng!  After some tense drama with our contractor about the new doors (he decided we should get doors that had a space for a window and didn't want to install glass in them, leaving us with bedroom doors that were completely open to the outside) and the Week of Dust that followed, construction at the school is finally over and we can stop worrying about what dangerous tool the sixth grade boys will get their hands on next. 

A Typical Wednesday --Nina

Life here is full of extreme emotions that fluctuate depending on how our kids decide to act in any given class. Here is an example of what a day can be like at Yongfeng, as seen through the lens of my emotional highs and lows. 

...and we're back! -Nina

School has been in session for two weeks now, and our wonderfully long break already feels like it happened ages ago, since so many ridiculous things have happened in this semester already. I'll do my best to summarize everything! I apologize for the delay in posting, but it seemed wrong to give weekly updates about my break, since it wasn't exactly relevant to Yongfeng.

We did it!!! --Nina

Abby and I just finished our first semester. Finally. The month of January has been rough, but we made it through. Some of the issues that came up this month:

1) Never knowing when the semester would end. Our lovely school district is all about planning things last minute, so we didn't know how many classes we had left to prepare for the final, nor did we have a specific date to look forward to or buy plane tickets for. 

2) Four straight weeks of finals review. That means that the kids had to endure only their core classes (math, Chinese, and English) for eight periods everyday. That also meant that we were stuck teaching kids who were beginning to loathe school with a passion. Although we tried to play fun review games, mine often ended with angry, competitive boys handing in their materials and refusing to play anymore, since they decided my rules weren't fair. Also, the kids became very creative about the methods with which they distracted my classes. My favorite was when Paul hid a broken table leg in his desk and started banging it on whatever he could find. 

Silliness - Abby

This has been a rough week for Nina and me - it's an eight day week for one thing, and our kids are in review mode for finals.  We had three days off for new years, and to make up for these days off had to work this past weekend, so Friday-Friday straight we have four periods a day with these kids who are bouncing off the walls, desperate to take their finals and be on break already.  I've been meaning to post for so long, so I'm going to take this chance to post some silly highlights (ok, mostly just adorable school supplies) from this past semester to cheer us up.  Readers: please leave me your favorite youtube animal videos in a comment in the end.