Wo shi laoshi!

So I survived my first week of teaching. Actually, more than survived -- it went shockingly well. I had no clue what to expect and was really nervous the first morning, but by the end of the week I felt like an old pro. Sucks for my Monday classes. Here's me being an old pro:


I'm surprised at how much teaching feels like performing. And how much better I'm getting at it with practice. In a lot of ways, I had thought of a year teaching in China as a year off from the rest of my life, a valuable pursuit and a great chance to see the world and experience another culture but not a professional stepping stone in any way. As it turns out, I'm learning a lot of skills that I'll probably use for the rest of my life. I'm becoming a better public speaker, a better communicator, a better stand-up comedian*, a better organizer and motivator -- and I've only taught 7 classes!

The best part of the first week of teaching was starting to get to know my students, who are pretty delightful and hilarious when you start talking to them. In order to let my students learn more about me without having me do all the talking, I had each of them write down 5 questions about me, then had them take turns pretending to be me and guessing my answers to 5 questions from a classmate. Some of my favorite questions:

• Do you have a boyfriend? How many boys are pursuing you? (student guesses: yes, 10)
• Do you think that George Bush is a fool? (student guess: no, I like my president. The whole class clapped for me when I said that was wrong.)
• Since you are so tall and beautiful, have you ever considered being a model?
• Do you play basketball?
• I get the impression that you are very outgoing and easy to talk to. Is this true?
• What do you think of China / Chinese people / Xi'an / NPU / Chinese food / Yao Ming / Chinese men / etc.? (All of these questions led to great praise of China and all things Chinese.)
  
• You are so tall and have such a slim figure. What can I do to be taller and slimmer? (You should have seen my class when I told them that my dad is almost 2 meters tall.)
• Please give me a short introduction to your hometown / college life / family / lifestyle / boyfriend. (Of course all of these questions led to ridiculous descriptions with no basis in reality. Amazing.)
  

I know there were plenty more such awesome questions, but you'll just have to imagine.

*At the end of the summer, one of my mom's friends was asking me what I plan to do. When I told her I planned to become an architect, she said I should really have a job that showcases how witty I am. I told her that I think humor is really valuable in any profession, even if only a few people get to see it. I still think this is true. Anyways, that's why comedy makes the professional skills list, in case anyone doubted its relevance.