I feel like I just wrote a blog, but my mother insisted it’s time to write again, so here I go. Music training went well, I really learned a lot. Over the weekend I tried on most of the class for Music, but didn’t teach them completely by myself. Christine wanted to give me a few more practice times with another teacher, which I was totally OK with. Tomorrow I will be teaching my first Music class on my own, and there won’t be anyone observing or anything ... which really means, no translator...so I’m a little nervous about that, but hopefully it goes well. I’ll be teaching Music 2 which is ages 16 to 28 months. The theme this week is Caribbean, so it’s some really fun music. Besides no translator, my voice hasn’t been so great this week. I’ve half lost it so I can’t speak very loud and my singing is only so-so. The parents in this class are really nice though and I’m sure it will be OK.
Last weekend I hung out with the interns in my Branch (Nate, Austin, and Chris) and it was super fun! We just met up in People’s Square and had dinner and talked, but it was so nice to socialize with Americans, Utahns even. We ate at Pizza Hut, which is actually like a really nice restaurant here in China, even though it’s kind of ghetto in America. We’re planning on hanging out again this week, and probably every week, which is great.
I got to go to all three meetings of church again on Sunday, which is always wonderful. I will no longer be sitting by Chris in sacrament meeting though. Not that he’s irreverent or anything, and I actually enjoy sitting next to him because our singing voices sound good together, but every time we sit together someone comes up and asks us if we’re married or dating. Nate came into sacrament meeting late and decided not to sit by us just because we looked like a “cute couple” and he thought it was funny. So yeah, I won’t be sitting by him anymore. I had to break the Sabbath and buy lunch before I headed into work, but so did Chris and Nate so we all went to McDonalds. I’m going to have to figure out how to prepare a lunch that doesn’t need to be refrigerated or heated up and that I can eat on the subway from church to work so I don’t have to buy lunch every Sunday. I think Christine is going to start letting me come in half day every Sunday so I can always go to all the meetings...I hope.
Actually with the schedule, it’s more convenient for her to just give me two half days and then one other day off instead of two whole days off. What a blessing. The new girls at my work are really great and progressing fast. With new instructors becoming assistants, that puts more pressure on me to become a Lead Instructor for Play. Hopefully Christine will give me time to get comfortable with Music first though. We are probably going to hire a guy next week, which is really exciting for the office because we only have girl instructors and they say we need more testosterone around. Christine wants to have 13 or 14 instructors by the end of the year, which will be great, except that our office is getting crowded with only the 9 that we have.
Today was prep day so there were no classes. We had another Show & Do meeting with the consultants, which is always fun. We were teaching them about the equipment in the play room and as I got inside the Rainbow Barrel they started rolling me around and tipping me upside-down! So, as you can tell, it’s very hard work that we take very seriously ;) We were supposed to have team building tonight but half of the instructors couldn’t come and I was feeling tired so I just went home after dinner, and the others went to an arcade place. Before I left, I got to meet Yo yo’s boyfriend. I was so surprised when I saw a white guy coming up the escalator! He’s Scottish I think, so he has a pretty cool accent. Oh, my co-workers are helping me find a Chinese name. They all have English and Chinese names, so I figured I should too. I don’t remember exactly, but I think we decided on Gah Liu Liu. Gah being my surname, and Liu Liu being my first name. My Chinese is coming along ok, I hope to be able to hold a simple conversation by the time I come home.
I’m so excited that my niece might be born this week! I look forward to meeting her via Skype soon and then in person come December. I appreciate the emails and comments that you guys send and the family newsletter too, it’s wonderful to hear that you are all doing well. I love you all and will write again next week.
Love,
Alyssa
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