I can’t believe I have been here four months already! Life in China has taken off and is keeping me busy. I started teaching almost three months ago. I'm teaching five “Oral English” classes to Accounting students. In total, I have 199 students. It has been an adjustment teaching English, but now I am really enjoying it. The first month of teaching I was a little discouraged, because I didn't feel like I had much contact with my students outside of the classroom. However, this second month I have been SO BUSY spending time with my students! If I'm not teaching, I'm shopping with students, eating meals with them, or having them to my apartment. During the winter season, I have a lot of opportunities to share about the history and traditions of our holidays and what we are celebrating. I've been asked many questions and have been able to share a lot. I am very thankful for the opportunities.
Since living here I have become very thankful that my Italian grandmother and mother taught me how to cook when I was a teenager. I never knew how my cooking skills were going to be put to the test. I've taught so many students how to make cookies, cakes, pizza, spaghetti, and the list goes on. This has been a good medium to get to know my students better. The students have been so excited to come to my house, and I'm building stronger relationships with them. My calendar fills up very quickly with lunches, shopping trips, and coffee shop chats.
Another opportunity I've been given is to study Chinese. I am able to take Chinese classes at my university for free. I'm amazed at how much I've been able to learn in such a short amount of time. I am nowhere near fluent, but I've learned enough to communicate in common situations. I've also been able to reach out to some Korean and Japanese exchange students. During one Chinese holiday I invited them to my apartment, and we also went to the zoo. I was also able to introduce them to some Chinese friends. It's always interesting when we get together, because we have three different language backgrounds. We often use broken Chinese to communicate. So the conversation is always exciting. Hopefully, I will continue to become more and more fluent in the days ahead, so I can communicate even more effectively.