Good-Bye Annie and Hello Little Ones

Thursday morning, Annie and I went on an adventure to find a dumpling restaurant that Cindy had recommended. It had dawned on me that night before that Annie hadn't had any dumplings on trip and that has to be a must while visiting China! We actually found the restaurant quite easily and had an awesome lunch. Dumplings are so yummy! I went to work and Annie went to the China Museum of Science and Technology.

After my last class, Annie came to the school so I could show her around and introduce her to some of my friends. We went out to a late dinner at the Korean BBQ place we all like so much down the street. It was a group of Marie and King, Laura, Miles and Annie and I. It was so much fun. I'm really happy that Annie got to meet some of my wonderful friends here.

This morning, we went out to get our nails done and then went out to an early lunch. Annie picked up some more candy for her people at home at the Lotus. As we were leaving the store, we saw a piggy bank. Annie had been searching for a piggy bank for one of her little cousins the whole time she was here. It felt like a sign that the trip was a success!

I walked Annie to the subway to say good-bye. We had run out of time for me to go with her to the airport. I was sad to see her go. It has been so nice to have a really good friend visit and share this fantastic city and some of my community here with her. She worked so hard to save and plan for this trip and I appreciate it immensely! Now at home I'll have someone to remind me that Beijing wasn't all just a long dream... Thanks for being such an awesome friend, Annie!

Tonight, I had two classes. One with with an older elementary class and both students were a bit under the weather, but did such a good job trying to keep their energy up for the class. Then, I taught a brand new small star blue class. Small Star Blues are the first level that EF teaches and they are suppose to be three, but I think a few of them are quite a bit under three! It was a bit of a rough go... First, they are scared to death. A few were just ready to go an have fun with the puppets, one was just unsure and silent, but kept a brave face, and the other two wailed so much that their grandmothers had to stay with them. It was rough, but they are so little and sweet and they melt my heart. I'll be teaching this class on Friday nights and Sunday mornings. Usually a local teacher will teach the students once and week and a foreign teacher will teach the other lesson. My boss said some politics were going on to when this class was being set up and I'm sure I'll learn about them as time goes by...

My other two big pieces of news is that residency visa has been extended so I am legal to stay in China until my last day of work. The second is that even though I am out of vacation days, our school will be remolded in April so our classes are being canceled for about a month. I'll still be working out of other schools, but Laura is going to arrange for me to be able to have my "weekend" on Miles and Ying's wedding weekend! I'm so excited!