It's Friday here and we've spent the morning helping to supervise the end of term exams (yes, it's the end of term already - it was a short one!). Supervising exams just involved us being in the room with a Chinese teacher while the kids did their maths and English exams. It was soooo hot in my room, I don't know how the kids could think - I had to keep going out to the corridor to get a breath of cooler air.

Some of the kids call me 'teacher' but some of them call me 'Ruth' and it sounds very cute when they say it! There are some really gorgeous kids here. A couple of them didn't have English names at the beginning of term, so I asked them if they wanted an English name and if they did, I suggested one. I named them after my brothers (a John and a Paul - I already had a Frank in one of my classes). And I named one of the girls Sandy - I drew a little picture of the beach and told her about the ocean, the sun and the sand - so she liked her new name. There are some funny names that the kids have too - I have a Harry Potter , a Lion, a Panda, a Monkey and some other strange names like Arek (which I think is meant to be Eric), and an Eadd - I asked this boy what his name is and he said Eddie.

Man these Chinese kids work hard.....all Aussie kids should absolutely count their blessings about school hours!!! Chinese kids go to school every day until about 5.30pm, and on top of that they have homework. (And this is primary school!!!) Some parents pay for extra classes for their kids, so some kids do evening classes as well. Sometimes we go past the school in the evening and there are kids out doing marching practise on the oval. They don't seem to have much free time at all. The teachers put in phenomenal hours at school.....we had been out to dinner one night and were walking back past the school at 9pm. Martin, one of the English teachers was just leaving and just about to go and have dinner!

Next week we all have a week off for China National Day on Monday...but to make up for the holiday, the kids (and teachers) have to work this weekend. That includes us, so I am really looking forward to Sunday night when it's all over!!

Our plan is to head back to HK for a couple of nights and we hope to see Sonja, Neil and Abi on Monday on their way back to Australia! Yay!

I'm not sure what I'll be doing for my birthday tonight as I have 2 lessons to get ready for tomorrow....so I'll just wait till next week and have a nice time in HK I think.

Bye for now, hope you are all well!!! Ruth

written by  arterra on September 27, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure
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Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!
I forgot your birthday. That cannot be possible! We went to Starbucks the night before together and talked about it.
I'm sorry! :-(
That is me... I forget everything that is important. )(Did you know I nearly forgot to take my passport to HK? Tamzin had to teach my class while I was running home to get it.)
I'm really sorry!!!

Have nice days in HK! You can forget my bithday on purpose, if you like ;-)

Bye, Katharina

P.S. I like this blog page!!!

written by  Katharina Tellermann on October 1, 2007

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Happy Birthday! I know how you love your birthday - hope you had a great time in HK again
Catherine

written by  Catherine Stein on October 3, 2007

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Hey Ruth

Happy (belated) b'day to you
Happy (belated) b'day to you
Happy (belated) b'day dear Ru-uuuuuth
Happy (belated) b'day to youuuuuu!

Sorry this is so late. Hope you had a fantabulous day!
Love lots Loueze (and Dan and Cedar)

written by  Loueze Harper on October 4, 2007

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