Easter Celebrations!

Lily and I before the Easter Celebration. 

(Its getting SOO hot outside in Guzhen)

We had a rockin' Easter celebration this past Friday. The kitchen staff here at Happy ABC's was nice enough to boil us 60 eggs! We colored them with the kids and then Alice and I ran downstairs to hide them while the kids were still in class. I set up stations all around campus. Amongst the activities were a parachute egg toss, spoon races, easter egg hunt, sack races, and even a dancing station where the kids learned the "Bunny Hop." It was awesome! If you thought you were good at the bunny hop... try watching a group of 500 adorable chinese four year olds hopping around and you will find you were sourly mistaken. They rocked it!

For those of you who don't know. Our school is a kindergarten. We have kids from ages 2-6 years old. Our program, the International Language Program (ILP), teaches every morning 5 days a week. Later on in the day we go into other classrooms and guest teach. We call this "ELE."

Me, Mickey, Fanny, and some of my ELE kids

    Basically we just give the chinese teachers a little break from teaching and give the other students some time with a native speaker. I am the "Head Teacher" here so technically I am not supposed to teach. I am to assist the other teachers with their teaching, oversee the program, and coordinate with chinese staff.  I LOVE my job here.  It means I get to see the students performance in each class and really get to know them better. (And I get to goof off a bit) One of my teachers was assigned to teach an ELE class 5 days a week. (The other American teachers only teach 4) So I volunteered to teach her class for the whole term so that she could have a day off. It is a class of about 40 students from ages 3-4 and I teach it every Wednesday. I can't even describe to you how much I am in LOVE with these kids! Their Chinese teachers name is "Li Pei En." Her english name is "Mickey" and she is the raddest person on earth. We were MEANT to be best friends. She lives just down the hall from me and happens to be an excellent violin player. She always has the coolest clothes and I would love to just BE her. Anyways... I could go on and on about my class and how amazing they are but I promise there was a point to this story.

   See, the Head Master had noticed how much time I had been spending with my ELE class. (I always go eat my rice porridge with them in the morning) I always make sure to stop by and say hello at least a few times a day. She knows how much I love them so she personally invited them to our little easter celebration. I was SO happy! So the ILP kids and my ELE class all went around from station to station playing games and having an excellent time. It was supposed to be just a small celebration but the Head Master loved it so much that she had the WHOLE school come down and play with us. It was SO much fun! 

The BEST bananas on EARTH! 

(Seriously... they aren't even bananas, 

they are like liquid gold. Mmmm)

This is Ting Xu the Banana Man 

(He is normally MUCH happier than he is in this picture)

      Spring time is one of my favorite seasons. I love the smell, the sunlight, and all the delicious chinese fruit! But because Easter is a holiday we normally celebrate at home with our families... some of the girls have been a little home sick. But when I was looking around Friday at these beautiful little kids... I realized there wasn't anything in the world I wanted more than to be with these sweet little spirits. I dare you. Come to China... look into these little guys faces and try NOT to smile. Its impossible. They are the best Easter present in the world!