"For your own safely, please do not rock on purpose"

Sorry it's been a while since my last update. Model School has me busier than normal, so I've neglected you, my faithful readers.

The heat has finally subsided. It got as high as 38 degress Celcius with an ungodly amount of humidity. But a storm came and the weather has been tolerable for the last three days. It's such a relief.

Here's a brief rundown of the exciting things about my week:

1) I had a stalker for one week. One of the students on this campus waited every morning by a path that leads from my family's apartment to the university. And when he saw me, he'd emerge from his place in the bushes and proceed to escort me to the foreign affairs office, asking me everyday how he could improve his oral English. Now normally this wouldn't bother me. But I just arrived and it's early in the morning and I'm overwhelmed. I'm in no mood to answer this question everyday. One day he even had a lookout girl summon him when I came by. I should probably clarify that he wasn't singling me out--though that'd make my story better. There are six of PCers that live in the same complex, and I'm usually the first one to walk by. And he's not creepy--he's actually very nice. It got to be pretty funny. And then one day he stopped.

2) Model School began this week. I'm teaching oral English, and with the help of Kari, I feel much more confident about it. I have a wonderfully energetic class with some fantastic names: Phoenix, Kid, Orange, Freeshine, Milk, Prince. I named one student Keiran. He liked it! They're all very good at English and are a lot of fun. Ella, the class leader, Keiran, Milk, and Freeshine took me out to dinner on Wednesday night. It was great. There's talk about having a potluck or a night at KTV (karaoke).

3) My host father and sister took me to Dujianyan, an irrigation facility outside of Chengdu which was built in the 3rd century B.C. It's really impressive. From there we went to dinner with a few of my host father's friends and I sang the only Chinese song I knew with a local restaurant/street performer. I drew a crowd. And though I was shy beginning, I was totally into it by the end. After dinner we headed to KTV, where I was asked to open the evening with Celine Dion's "MY Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. I'd been warned about the love of that song, so I sang gracioulsy, if badly. My host sister is an amazing singer, so she put me to shame. My host father is also very good. I had a great time. I spent most of the day exclusively with my 15 year-old host sister, and I had so much fun getting to know her better.

I'm sorry I haven't provided pictures. I'm not on my computer, so I haven't figured out how to do it yet. But I will post some eventually.

Thanks again for all the comment love!

Angie