Each week there is so much to do that it is hard to consolidate a week’s worth of experiences in a singular blog post without writing a novella. We started the week of with the Dragon Boat Festival where many of the host families met together for the celebration. It was loud, eventful, and entertaining: everything that I’d expect from a festival. It was great being able to see the intricate costumes, hear the loud firecrackers and feel the everlasting heat. Even though events such as these often wear us down, I find that it is time better spent as opposed to wasting time just sitting idly at my host house. I also got interviewed by a local Chinese TV station which I thought was pretty cool (also a good chance to use my broken foreigner-Chinese that I have been learning).
As part of the Dragon Boat Festival, everyone eats a traditional dish called zongzi, which is a leaf-cooked rice dish I have become quite familiar with after eating it for several days in a row. I am open to trying new foods as it is part of the experience, but I had to draw the line after eating my 6th zongzi.
Look Ma I’m Famous
This week with classes I had to implement some new changes, especially with my K-pop dance class. While I try to keep the class lighthearted and fun, I found that it is important to be strict so that the students are aware of the purpose of the class and pay attention. I always struggled to keep full control of the class due to my inept Chinese speaking and realized that I usually commandeer attention simply by starting the music. Additionally, I think most of my students didn’t realize that there was a final performance for our class, and that this was something to do just for fun. What I ended up doing is a suggestion from another dance teacher, Phyllis, who told me to make it competitive by having my students compete for the front position or to even be able to dance in the final performance. After doing so, suddenly I had a ton of students asking me after class if they could try again or asking how to do a certain dance move.
Aside from that everything is going more or less the same. Students asking us to go get lunch and hang out on the weekends. We visited a preschool for kids of migrant workers and danced and made arts and crafts with them. I’ve been eating my loaves of bread to combat the oily nature of Chinese food here (although my host family did take me to a Korean restaurant which was a nice change of pace; eating kimchi was also a great reminder of home). Still getting bit by mosquitoes, but I’m learning to live with it. To end on a positive note, I can now say some simple compound sentences in Chinese which is a step-up and even my host dad mentions how my Chinese is improving a little bit each day which I think is pretty cool.