Oregon is to Avatar as...

I had a busy teaching weekend. I only actually taught two of my own classes. Aminata is starting to take my classes so I was able to sub for other teachers that are out. I taught a very low level elementary class and it was such hard work. This particular class was even more exhausting than most of small stars classes! I'm glad I didn't teach that level all year long. Many of the students couldn't even ask to go to the bathroom in English.

Today after my morning classes, I had to take a taxi across the city to Beijing 1 to sub for an older elementary class. The class was absolutely lovely and we had a lot of fun. I asked the students what they are doing this summer and seven out of eight of them are going on International adventures. I love how the kids get excited when they learn I'm from the states, but once they find out that I am not from California, Texas, Washington D.C., New York or Hawaii they quickly lose interest! I feel that I could be pretty good at promoting Oregon tourism... "It's somewhere between Los Angelos and Seattle, Washington...No, not where President Obama lives, the other Washington... No, it's not near the Mississippi River... Yes, we speak English in Oregon, too... No, there are not any wild elephants... No, my hometown is not as big as Beijing... No, I've never met a movie star... We do drive cars there....I have my own car... It's a 1995 Geo Prism...You're right, it is old and weird sounding... There are lots of forests and mountains and everything is really green... No, it doesn't look like Avatar... Ok... so not so much for the tourism, but the the line of questioning is pretty funny.

There was only one boy in the class and he was so excited because I was the first person he had ever met that has gone camping before. He is going for the first time in Canada this summer with his family. He's been doing his wilderness survival reading and probably knows a lot more than I do on how to survive getting attacked by bears. He was actually much more freaked out by the idea of skunks! So fun!