Monday

Today, thanks to Brian, I have a wireless router in my apartment which Katie, Dave, and I can all share the signal from! Yeah for wireless. Yeah for Brian being so quick to help us! Now I can move my computer off the coffee table and onto the desk where it belongs. One more thing to check of the list of things to get for the apartment.

My surprise class that I learned about at 10:00 last night went rather well. The kids were shocked to see me and clapped for me when I came in (nothing like a boisterous round of applause to boost your self esteem). I might have been the first foreigner that some of them had ever talked to and I was definitely the first foreign teacher for most of them. Their English level wasn't great since most of them come from smaller towns in Yunnan. But, they were eager to try and once they calmed down and got over their nerves, then we could communicate just fine. I . . . did . . . speak . . . very . . . slowly (and for those of you who know me, you know what a challenge that can be for me) and had to use some Chinese, but I came away from the class feeling like it will be a good group of students to teach.

This week is Shakespeare in British Literature--excerpts from Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day . . . ")--the analysis of which I will be reading up on and and dredging out of my memory from my sophomore year in college when I took Brit. Lit. Yeah for the internet! How would I prepare for this class without online research? Hark! Annon! Dost thou thinkest mine students canst hither understand such language? Oh how thou dost jest!

I think I bought all the Coke Light at the little drink shop outside the front gate of campus. The older couple who run that shop think I drink a lot of Coke. They should meet my dad. Please restock so I don't have to trek into town for Coke and then lug it all the way back home!

I still don't know my schedule for tomorrow or the rest of the week. I think I'm free tomorrow but it's only 8:00 p.m. so the school still has at least two, maybe three, more hours to call me tonight. I think I have a class Wednesday morning but that could change. My mantra this week . . . I can be flexible . . . I can be flexible . . . I can be flexible.

We have guests here from America. Mike, Mark, and Brett from a fellowship in Colorado that the Rices are associated with. We got to listen to Mike's teaching from the Word yesterday which was a special treat.

Oh . . . I added a new photo to my Olympic Experience post which reiterates how excited Chinese people were about the Olympics.