I finally feel like we're settled in and have finally gotten used to everything. I'm getting to know the area better and I'm figuring out how to get places. Classes are going well and I'm just really liking China. 2 weekends ago we went on a field trip to a museum and then last weekend was the first free weekend we had. We went shopping at Jinli street and it's basically a tourist shopping street with traditional buildings but it was really cool. I went with Gillian and my roommate Lauren. We shopped for a while and then got some pineapple rice served inside half of a pineapple. It was pretty delicious. We sat down to eat it and this old man came over and started taking pictures of us. Gillian and I have blonde hair and Chinese people love blonde hair. A few girls came over and started taking pictures of us too and then before we knew it there was a huge crowd of people (mostly teenage girls) taking pictures of us. People started sitting down and taking pictures with us too. It was hilarious. We took pictures with people for a good 15 minutes and then Lauren suggested that we try to make our way out or it would never stop. As we were walking around I saw people turning around and taking pictures of us on their phones too. We were pretty amused.
I started teaching English last week. I have a class of three 7 year olds once a week and then I teach 6 middle school classes. I have a little trouble with the 7 year olds because it's hard to keep them focused and on task but I really like the middle schoolers. This was my first week teaching middle school and I had 3 classes of 8th graders on Monday and 3 classes of 7th graders today. I really like that age because they actually listen and participate in class. The classes are 40 minutes each which isn't bad at all. The middle school classes have 40-50 kids in each class so they are pretty big classes. Today I asked the kids to introduce themselves and one of the little boys told me his name and his phone number and then said call me. It was so funny. Several little girls have come up to me after class to tell me how pretty my hair is because it's blonde and curly. When I walked into each class for the first time all the kids gasp and just stare at me. I guess they aren't really used to seeing blonde people in China. People on the street wave and say hello to me too because I'm western. It's usually only when I'm walking alone but it happened at least 3 or 4 times today.
Next week is Chinese National Holiday so there's no school or work for a week. I don't have class on Friday so my holiday starts today. Tomorrow a group of 8 of us are leaving to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge to go hike for a few days. The gorge takes 2 days to hike and then we're planning on doing some day trips. It's a 22 hour train ride from Chengdu to Kunming and then another 9 hours to Lijiang. We've got a hard sleeper on the train so we have beds, which is great. From Lijiang we'll take a 2 hour bus ride to get to the gorge. It will be a lot of traveling but I'm excited! I've taken a 24 hour train ride before from Hong Kong to Beijing and I slept for a good 12 hours so it wasn't bad at all. I have a book, homework and some sleep to catch up on so I should be set. I'll be back in about a week and I'll try to update about the trip!
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