Wednesday 11/26

Wednesdays are always a day I look forward to now. Not only do I get to sleep in but I just don't have class and I get to catch up on laundry, studying, e-mails, current events and cleaning...I love it. Of course, I can't get up too late otherwise I wont get to catch up on anything considering I have to leave to work about an hour before I start. Unless, I take a taxi. The cab drive only takes about 15 minutes but costs 20 yuan opposed to the 30+ minute bus ride that costs .40 yuan.
I decided to take a cab today, the driver was quiet and fast. He cut people off, honked and almost got in the way of a bus. By now I've gotten quite accustomed to this, I didn't even flinch.
All three classes went great. As a matter of fact, class no.2 paid attention for the most part (excluding Bob & Fred). I did try something new so maybe that's why it went so well. Jamie suggested I not try to speak over all of the kids that talk when i'm talking so I did it. I'll do try it again tomorrow and see if it works two days in a row.
Anyway, I taught them about baseball, fingers, these are opposed to this is and we went over their vocabulary words and after all of the classes were over Jamie acknowledged it went well so I felt great. However, there is one thing that kind of bothers me, the little boys kept trying to touch/slap my behind, it was pretty annoying.
Well, after this I decided to check out this English cafe I was told about by a good friend. The cafe was near the Wudauku subway station, or so we though, so Janelle and I took the subway there directly after work. It was only two stops away so we were there in no time but then we didn't know where to go. We had part of the address so we resorted to asking random people on the street. Needless to say they did a good job of directing us toward the right direction but no one really knew where exactly this place was, or it didn't seem like it.
I decided to call Danie, the assistant manager and we met her infront of the Microsoft building only about 5 mins away from the Wudauku station. She was really nice to pick us up when it was so cold and windy and in all reality we weren't that close to the building. She was also really friendly and I really like the earrings she was wearing. Her English was also unexpectantly good. She led us to this hidden cafe and told us it was new. It has only been opened for 3 months as soon as I got in I felt at home. The declaration of Independence was hanging on the wall as well as Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech a long with other political and historical documents. The music was Irish and mellow, there were book cases with books we were free to live and the atmosphere was just chill. The chairs were black and comfortable, there were adjustable standing lights next to each squared table and it was a nice studying environment for me. So I did just that after the interview ( I guess that's what we can call it). Basically Janelle and I just sat at a table with Danie and Jane, the manager/owner and they asked us questions but mostly we asked them questions about what it would be like to teach there, details and what they expected from us. I actually loved her idea. She has a book of topics and form what I understood we would just be facilitating a debate on each of these topics and correcting the participants pronunciation.
We decided we would check out a class on Saturday and then stay for the after party and they agreed to give us a free coffee while we studied after our convo. It was great and I have a good feeling but we'll see how it goes.
After, Janelle and I decided to have dinner at a chinese restaurant right near the cafe...it was delicious but a bit spicy. The rice was extraordinarly soft and tasty and the waiter who served us our food insisted on speaking English everytime he came to the table.
The cab ride home was interesting, the cab driver was unusually talkitave considering my limited Chinese and his complete lack of English. I don't think he knew a word but we managed to communicate without him laughing at us...it's a great feeling.