"teecha teeecha i've gut to go we we"

Welcome to first grade! Today was filled with not only nervousness and anxiety but also an overwhelming excitement and sense of readiness! This past week since I've arrived in China (home sweet Shanghai!) I've been giddy with anticipation and wonderment of what this year will bring. I've gotten through the frustrations of having NO IDEA what was going on and wondering what the HECK I was thinking when I signed my contract only a few days ago to an overall feeling of calmness and final realization that "everything always works out in the end."

Today was the primary school's meet and greet for the teachers, parents, and students to get to know each other and the classroom. As each one of my precious students walked through the door of room 106 I greeted them with warm welcomes and hopefully the same sense of relief I felt only moments earlier. I showed each one to his/her seat, pointing out name tags and crayons to decorate and make "beeeuutifall." Once all the students arrived, the parents we're sent upstairs for a meeting while I was left to play games and "get to know you" ice breakers. We had tons of fun and I can already wholeheartedly say, I've officially fallen in love with my job and my 22 new first grade darlings! Wish me luck for tomorrow, as it's a day filled with classroom rules, policies, and plenty of play as well!

I made it!!

Hi Everyone!!!!

I'm so sorry I haven't been in touch since I've gotten here but from now on I promise I will be much better! Well I'm sure yall are wanting some updates so here it goes....

The plane ride over - not so great, I ended up getting sick three times in the last couple hours, it was miserable. But once I arrived everything was WONDERFUL! Someone from my school was waiting at the airport for me so he drove me to my school and helped me take my bags up to my apt. I'm on the 5th floor (no elevator) so Ill def be getting my exercise in everyday! My apartment is pretty nice - I have a small living room, kitchen straight ahead, bathroom to the right, and bedroom to the left. It's nice and cozy! I'm going to try to buy a couch and coffee table within the next couple days so I can have friends over to watch movies or whatever.

The school is so great! Apparently it's an extremely prestigious school in China that everyone knows about, and if you happen to mention you're a teacher here, it's a really big deal! In the Chinese culture, teaching is a VERY respectable and impressive job! If I remember correctly SHSID (Shanghai High School International Division) is ranked number 4 in the world for International Schools! Many families from Japan, Korea, and other Asian counties move to China just to send their children here! A lot of the 9-12 graders board on campus and they've been here since I've been here! Every morning the students wake up and clean their rooms (I always see them washing their windows on my way to meetings) Then twice a day they are outside doing military training (it's only required for 9 grade) but it's so cool to see them all in their matching blue pants and white shirts marching in perfect unison!

The school campus is absolutely AMAZING here are probably around 20 basketball courts, 2 pools (one indoor and one outside), tons of tennis courts, a huge gym, full track, 3 cafeterias, 3 libraries, and the list goes on and on - I'm not kidding, I've never seen a school quite like it and the landscaping is BEAUTIFUL also! This past week we've had orientation all day everyday it's been long and busy but it has all been really great information and I'm starting to feel a lot better about everything. I'm an official 1st grade homeroom teacher! I have a Chinese co-teacher who teaches Chinese and Math (and also helps me communicate with parents, and helps me with any kind of translations if need be) She seems really sweet and whenever I tell another teacher that she's my co-teacher everyone says how lucky I am because she's WONDERFUL so that's great news! Besides English, I also will be teaching, Science, Social Studies, Reading, Writing, Show and Exhibition, and BALLET!!!! - yes that's right I'm the ballet teacher as well! I have NO idea what I'm going to do, but I'm sure I'll figure it out and I think it will be a really fun class hahaha (oh and don't worry the main Performing Arts teacher asked me if I would make up a routine and perform for ALL the teachers on Teacher Appreciation Day on Sept 10 so I'm freaking out and trying to figure out how the heck I'm going to get out of it! I've been decorating my classroom and it's getting to be really cute! I knew it was going to be a lot of work but I don't think I realized how much time it actually took! Let's see what else.... there are 4 1st grade teachers at my campus and 2 at the other camps and between the six of us we all make lesson plans, and tests together (everything has to be the exact same between classes)

Anyway, A few days ago we had a banquet with the program I went through which was great news! Lauren- I met Wes! he seems very nice but I probably won't be seeing much of him since he's teaching really far away from me, unless we decide to travel together which we talked about maybe doing! After the banquet we went on a mini cruise and was able to see a lot of the city! Since I'm living in more of like the suburbs I hadn't really seen the city until that night! IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!! seriously puts any and ALL cities in the US to shame! I knew it was going to be big and grand but I had NO IDEA it was going to be like this - seriously it's New York times 20. The buildings are taller, the architecture is cooler, and there are more stores and businesses, and apartments buildings, and offices, than I would have ever dreamed of! We had the banquet inside a mall which was HUGE!! as in 10 stories, and it's not like it's a narrow mall either, it's honestly the same size as Regency or Crabtree but 10 floors high instead of just 2 or 3! There is every store and restaurant imaginable (our restaurant was on the 8th floor so we had a great view!!! The restaurant was really nice but I really didn't like much of the food... (apparently that's a theme I've noticed in China)

We had a banquet last night with all the foreign (from the US and UK) teachers from my school which was a lot of fun! I met the principle and assistant principle which was kinda cool because in Chinese culture principles are treated like royalty! When he walked in we all stood up and clapped for a few minutes then he gave a toast to get the meal started! We had all kinds of crazy and bizarre foods! Again, I didn't really care for much of it so unless I start finding things I like I'm going to loose a lot of weight! The school gave all the teachers $750 for completing orientation which was a REALLY nice surprise! (I'm loving this place!)

Well I've met a LOT of great people.... a VERY diverse group of teachers which makes for a great time! Definitely some people I wouldn't typically be friends with or hang out with back home, but all super great and super nice! There are also a lot of people like me so that's nice too! I think I'm really going to get along with everyone! There are 85 foreign (US UK) teachers at the school total) so I have a feeling most of us will end up being really close especially since we're all living together and working together! oh and don't worry, there are also some definite cuties too! (so don't be surprised if I come back married!)

Anyway, I'm so sorry this has been so long but I think (hope) y'all wanted the update!

I love y'all all SOOOOO MUCH and miss y'all like CRAZY but I'm having a wonderful time and am so excited to see what the year has to bring! (marriage maybe?)

Shanghai Sister,

Pamela