Interestingly, after Maggie sat out the one class for failing to bring dance clothes, her mother called the school in an absolute FIT because I "only taught the new students and not Maggie," and apparently didn't believe Maggie when she sad it was because of the dance clothes issue?
Anyway, her mother demanded a refund and pulled Maggie out of my class, so that's the end of that. I would be sad to see Maggie go, except I know she didn't want to be taking dance in the first place. My only hope is that her mother doesn't force her into another class at some other school where she'll just continue to be miserable! (Rainbow didn't come to class this past week, so I had Nina alone and tried to talk to her about what she likes/doesn't like, and she was bemused by my halting Chinese but I think we made a little progress. She didn't cry, at any rate.)
I have another student Hannah who started out like Maggie. Hannah's a bit younger - I think she was five when she joined and is six years old now. Anyway, for the first two or so months of class, Hannah was the only one. This is at the Donghai campus on Tuesday afternoons, where (weirdly enough) I am the only teacher working that day. So it's kind of a strange and lonely atmosphere, especially since they stuck me in the classroom at the farthest end of the school.
My heart used to absolutely break for Hannah, since she would come with her aiyi (essentially a nanny, but the word covers other kinds of jobs too), and sometimes there would be no one to pick her up because her mother was late. Hannah's another very rambunctious, energetic kid with a good grasp of English, so for when it was just us, we played a lot of games involving the imagination. It took her a little while to adjust to having other students in class -- we got about four new ones signed up all at once -- but now I think she's very happy. She's definitely the little star of the show. She talks the most, dictates the games they play during break time and after class, and recently has started to show interest in being teacher's helper by translating instructions (that is, when she can be bothered to focus).
Overall, this little Tuesday class has the best class dynamic by far, and I'm glad I have them.
Mmmm, other things I've done include going out to see Resident Evil with a co-worker (action/horror hybrids like that are STRESSFUL, JEEZ) and investing in skin care products, which has been a trip as I learn words for cosmetics and figure out the differences in translations for words that honestly don't make much more sense in English.
OH, and I tried to go to Ash Wednesday service at the local Catholic church, but I got the time wrong haha. I know when their Good Friday service will be though, so I at least have that to look forward too. I'll have to....wake up at around 5:30am to get there on time.....but hey, isn't suffering the point of Good Friday?
Happy (?) Lent if you celebrate it, and peace to you no matter if you do or don't. 👍
