New Classes. The Name Game

Hello all. Checking in again from East Asia. It's hard to believe that I have been here for 8 months. Everything is going pretty well. Life here is strange, but I am dealing with the day-to-day oddities. Socially, I have been hanging with a few buddies on the weekends and exploring the city...my luck with the ladies has been a bit thin lately. Work continues to be great. The increased responsibilities since the departure of Chris & Brent have not taken much of a toll on me.

These past few weeks have been pretty big for me at work. I went from having 1 class all to myself to 3!!!!!

I now have a class of 21 kids every Saturday from 1 to 3 o'clock. They are very bright. Technically, I am sharing the class with Sandy, the Chinese teacher. She teaches them every Wednesday, and I have them every Saturday. Up until a few weeks ago, she had the class by herself, both days. She is a freaking great teacher, so these kids are sharp and excited to have a native speaker teach them. They have been great thus far.

Also, I have my own mini-class!! This is especially cool because these classes are rare. The class has only 5 kids in it and they a very dedicated...their parents pay a ton of money for the opportunity to have their kids learn from a native speaker in a small class setting. The fact that my boss has given me this class tells me that they are comfortable/happy with my teaching. I think I am getting better at this every day.

One area that I have been concentrating on is names. I am working hard on remembering as many students names as I can. It's not easy, there are about 1200 kids in the school. I think that if I make the effort, the kids will appreciate it and it will allow me to gain their trust and respect. Nothing is more important than the relationships I have with the students. If I don't have their respect and friendship, than my job becomes nearly impossible.

These past few months have been very good for my soul/spirit. It sounds corny but working with the kids has really helped me gain some insight into who I am. They bring out the best in me. I can't tell you how many days I leave my job with a smile on my face and feeling like I did something truly worthwhile...that is priceless.

A visit home may be in the workings for sometime late in the summer. I am considering making the trip in August or perhaps September...not sure. If I can amass enough cash, I'm gonna do it.