On Thanksgiving day Shayne and I were invited to a different school in Bengbu for their English Festival. We were told we would just say hi to some students and teach a 15 minute lesson to about 20 kids. Sounds fine, right? Well…we arrived at the school and guess who was there to greet us and be our escorts? Why Mickey and Minnie Mouse of course!
They escorted us to the back of the school where ALL the students were lined up, gave us microphones, and told us to give a speech (say what??). Shocked, we gave the stupidest speech ever explaining that today was Thanksgiving and we eat food on Thanksgiving and visit family and be thankful, etc.
After the speech, they took us into a classroom to teach. Turns out a 15 minute lesson for 20 students was actually a 30 minute lesson for about 100 students. I was really nervous because the game I came prepared with—we COULD NOT play with that many students. Luckily, I brought enough supplies for all the kids to make an Indian headband, taught children songs, answered questions and somehow it turned into a decent lesson!
Gifts from the school: a head hand warmer (yes you put your hands in that thing and carry it around) and a Wednesday water bottle.
A picture given to me (which I find hilarious—what little girl draws that?) and kids peeking through a door to look at us.
For Thanksgiving dinner, we all worked on trying to make the most authentic American dinner as we could and I think we did pretty well! We didn’t have turkey, pumpkin pie, or even an oven, but we did make rolls, peas, corn, stuffing, chicken, cornbread, and chocolate pudding pie! We also invited some of our fellow teachers to eat with us: Mary, our native coordinator; Superman (yes that is his real English name), a fellow teacher and friend; and Jef, a fellow teacher from the Philippines and the only other foreigner at our school. These three speak the best English of everyone at the school, but Jef speaks the best.
My China family:
And what better way to end Thanksgiving than the traditional dance party?
I just love these people. So glad they’re all here with me.
Lessons learned today about Chinese culture:
1. White people are equivalent to Mickey and Minnie Mouse in terms of celebrities.
2. It’s totally okay to change plans last minute and not tell your guest until they are in the classroom.
3. There’s no better gift than a giant head for you to carry around.
4. American food is VERY sweet to the Chinese. All this time we’ve had a hard time eating what they eat and it never occurred to me that they wouldn’t like sweet potatoes or gravy because it was too sweet.
5. Dance parties are hilarious with my Chinese friends.
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