complete metamorphosis

In response to recent comments, yes, my kids call me Ms. Jen. I had the kids in Beijing call me Ms. Fong, and was ready to do that here, except that Anne's last name is Feng. And it sounds the same. So I didn't want to be Ms. Fong #2. I contemplated other names, and decided to have it be very casual. Maybe they understand that Jen is my first name, and maybe not. I have a friend who went by Chairman Bailey in Beijing, but I just don't think I can pull that off.

The kids love it when I say or repeat words in Chinese. I have learned "be quiet!" "an jing!" and they are so surprised when I break it out. I have also learned Complete Metamorphosis. "wanquan biantai" Impressive, eh? biantai (I think that's the spelling) also means to have a sex change. So whenever we say it in class, the kids always start giggling. it's pretty funny.

Yesterday we had another English teacher's meeting which I had to go to. And once again I didn't understand anything. But they were apparently talking about last semester's test scores and how to improve them. Afterwards, we went out to dinner at the restaurant near my school which I have now been to 3 times with people from school. I love these school group dinners. They are so good. I ate so much.

I finally got my school uniform for flag raising. It isn't like a real uniform. It's actually just sports clothes. Which is completely fine with me. I just got myself a nice pair of navy warmups and a short sleeved, collared polo like sports shirt. Cute.

Dinner with my student went well. Her dad didn't actually end up cooking dinner. Instead, they figured I would want to eat western food, in case I missed it at home. They took me to a hotel restaurant and insisted on a steak. It was quite expensive and I was reluctant, but they kept pressing. So I got an 88 kuai New Zealand Sirloin (11 dollars). Remember, my chinese dinners average maybe 15 kuai. Maybe 25-30 for big group dinners with program people. So this was pretty pricey. It was really good though. I hung out with my student, Nancy, and she showed me her awards and stuff. She won a trophy for an english competition last year: Best 5th grader in English in Shenzhen. Crazy. And she's really good at piano and really smart. Impressive. She wants to eventually go to university in Hong Kong where they have a program where you spend 2 years in HK, 1 at Oxford, and 1 at Harvard. Really impressive and ambitious.