We’re approaching the final stretch to our departure because we leave on Wednesday. Yesterday we have a full day of socializing because we visited five classes at a school that specializes in providing extra tutoring in English, dance, and art. It was an unassuming school that was fascinating to visit because it was tucked away on the third floor of a random building.
The school visit was similar to a number of experiences we’ve had here: we were given a topic to “teach”, but weren’t given much time to prepare it or many guidelines as to how they wanted us to instruct the students. The students were excited to see us, but were too terrified to speak much with us. It’s sad because many of the students study English for years, but are unable to speak it smoothly. They are either too scared to make mistakes, or are too nervous to talk to a native speaker.
After the school visit, we ate dinner with some friends after we walked through a typical Chinese food street. The restaurant where they had originally planned to take us was closed, so we went to a different place. There wasn’t a menu and we had to go back to the kitchen to speak with the chef about what we wanted him to prepare. We ended up ordering a number of vegetables and I enjoyed the meal. At this point in our say, I have to admit that I'm getting a bit tired of Chinese food (I miss the bland tastes of western cuisine), so it’s good that we’re going to Scotland for a small break.
Today we visited with Amanda for a little while. She had some questions to ask us about her upcoming TOEFL test and we helped her to the best of our abilities. I also gave her the scarf that I’d knitted for her and she was pleased to receive it.
That’s about the most exciting news I’ve got at this point. I turned a sock heel today and am working on the gusset decreases. It’s quite exciting!
Adios!
