Decision to decisions are made and not bought.

[NOTE:  my links are the same color as my background, because I fail at life.  If you see a space within the main text of a paragraph, run your mouse over it, because it's probably a clickable link.  Hearts.]

First off, Joshua Lally's birthday at Lush this Friday was amazing, epic, beautiful, and ALL other positive adjectives.  Lush introduced a series of "girly" drinks with the tagline "EPIC" - about 1.5 liters each - for 100 yuan.  I really want to bring a camera one night and take pictures;  college kids are going CRAZY for the dang things, mostly for shock value and the ability to Facebook pictures of the tankard home to their friends.  A bunch of imported beers were also announced, including the most delicious thing I've ever tasted.  Blows the Arrogant Bastard out of the water.

Good people, good times.  And afterwards, Josh, AwesomeCritcizingGuy and I watched the new "Star Trek" + ate copious quantities of BigMacs!  (Quickly coming to appreciate the quality of McDonald's, you have NO idea.)

... The only problem was that my classes at Capitol Normal University's high school began the next day at 7:30am :-\

Running through classes on adrenaline was a heck of a feeling, though, and definitely got rid of the first day jitters.  The program I'm teaching is just for one day on the weekend, for 14-15 year old students at CNU-HS.  There are six teachers (I'm definitely the youngest, dammit, though there are a couple others 20-somethings who just got out of college).  The set up:  six class groups of about thirty students each, but we only teach four classes each Saturday.  Teachers come up with the lesson, give the lecture in 45 minutes, and then move to the next class room.

And, dears?
THE STUDENTS IN CHINA ARE FREAKING AMAZING.
THIS APPLIES TO EVERYTHING I TEACH.

... Actually?  Let's do bullet points, those are easier to read.

BEIJING FORESTRY UNIVERSITY (kids)
Contacts:  Mr. Wang and Amy

• 4 year olds = Four of them, two girls and two boys.  They got English names and workbooks/readers, which made their parents happy, and (thank God), I remembered to bring stickers, which made the kids somewhat docile for an hour.  By the end of the class, they were calling me "mama" instead of Laoshi Paige.  Adorbs.
• 10/12 year olds = Four of them, three girls and a boy.  They all go to Tsinghua University primary school, and are of varying degrees of "bright", though all can speak English fairly well.  There's one little bitty tiny girl who literally cannot stop talking - she got incredibly excited when we began to list foods.  The boy (very tall, a couple years older than the girls, speaks with a stutter) is a bit shy, and has some problems with grammar, but listening in class will be good for him.  The kids' favorite sport?  Table tennis.  Not even joking.  :D
• There are apparently three other groups of children that they signed me up for afterward - more 12 year olds, and an 11 year old who has spent a lot of time in the United States and can speak English very well.  The more I do this, the more it feels like a scam (never teach the same people twice, always "demo" classes, and haven't been paid yet), but listening to the kids say Chinese words is helpful for pronunciation, as is attempting to talk to their parents.  
• This is the job I'll cut if I find myself getting overwhelmed, as it also takes the most energy - the little ones might be adorable, but they need a lot of attention.

LANGUAGE TRAINING CENTER

• Just one little girl named YuGe, age 14.  She wants to go to university in the United States, and is about to take her final examination in primary school (which determines which high school YuGe will attend).  Apparently the one I'm teaching at right now is ranked #4 in Beijing, which is VERY good, considering how many high schools there happen to be.  
• YuGe loves Twilight, Justin Bieber (AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaaaaAAAaaa), and learning about American culture.  Her parents are very wealthy;  their house is a villa, and, in Beijing, where property values are sky-high, having a three story house all your own isn't very common.

CAPITOL NORMAL UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL
Already mentioned a bit about this, but there's a great deal more to say:

• The other teachers are highly qualified for their work - everyone else has taught the high school age group before.  Five - four guys, and me - are 21-35 years old, with one older lady named Kathryn (about 45?  50?).  Kathryn works for a publishing house in Beijing, but used to teach at the University of Florida in the United States (journalism and media communications), and later on Tsinghua (primarily English).  
• We come up with our own lesson plans, and teach them four times each Saturday to four different groups of kids.
• Classes are ~30 students, some of whom participate more than others.  Most just want to sleep or work on other homework, but there are a few dynamic kids who sit in the front.  My first class was *glorious*.  One little boy is studying German, and got really excited when he found out I did the same in high school.  
• Students have a lot of homework.  There's no way to properly express this to you.

IT BUSINESS CLASS (reading and writing)

• Haven't actually gotten to meet these guys, yet, but my task is to basically teach them reading comprehension and writing skills.  They'll have homework, both in class and to take away.
• Apparently there are fifty students.  Christ.

As always, love and miss you all.  And classes in Mandarin are going decently (though obviously not this fun).  Haven't really connected with any of the students in my class, and the cliquage has already begun - mostly into different nationalities, which is understandable.  I'm the only one whose native language is English :-\

Anyhow, more later!


<3 and stars,
Pajj