Coming back to school

Coming back to work after you have been on vacation is usually not something that one looks forward to; waking up early, making lesson plans, not as much free time, and actually having to work are not as fun as being on break and being able to do nothing all day. I can't say that I was really excited about going back to work, but I definitely wasn't dreading it. When I actually went back, however, and saw my children, I fell right in love with them again. I am ecstatic to be back now.

When my children first saw me come into the classroom, they were thrilled to see me. They ran up to me, hugged me, blew me kisses, kissed me on the cheeks, and chattered to me excitedly in Chinese. Many of them also repeated all of the English words they had learned last term, such as "Christmas tree". Now every time that I leave the classrooms, my students ask me, "你明天再来吗？" Are you coming again tomorrow? When I ask if they want me to come again tomorrow, they always say yes. It is very cute.

About every other day I go outside with some of my classes and I do the daily exercises with them (which I did not do last term). Going outside with them is one of my favorite parts of the day - I walk with the students outside and they all try to hold my hand. Because I only have two hands, though, one might hold my fingers, one gets my thumb, and then (because I have no more hand left), another might take my elbow. Then there are more children who take hold of my coat in the back. There are so many five-year old children hanging on to me that I can barely walk to the playground without tripping on somebody! When we finally get onto the playground, I feel like I am disturbing all of the other kindergarten/preschool classes who are also doing exercises there because all of the children stop whatever they are doing and start yelling to me. They yell, "Miss Abbie! Miss Abbie! Abbie 老师 ! Hello Miss Abbie！" When I leave, the same thing happens and I can hear them yelling my name the whole walk back to the school. It is wonderful - not because I love hearing my name so much - but because I am delighted that they like me so much. I must have done something right with them.

So although I was not thrilled to be finished with break, I am now completely over that hesitation. I am completely content to be with my students every day. I leave every class with them (7 classes each day) more cheerful than I started it just because of the time I was able to spend with my students.