We begin by setting the alarm for 5:00 to go for a hike, run, walk, but often snooze until 6:00 and radically shorten the exercise. In the early am, tons of people are out exercising-- very small ladies doing tai chi in the park, women and men hiking, people hitting their muscles (ala a pedicure at Magic Nails), poeple walking their dogs in the gardens in our complex.
6:30 We rouse R and L and we all eat a quick breakfast. Vic and I give the kids 50 RMB or so (about 4$) for lunch and have the "Do you know where the house keys, cell phone are? Did you put your homework in your bag? Do you have swimming for PE or soccer after school" conversations. Vic and I leave around 7:00, go down the elevator 5 floors to the basement to unlock our bikes and pedal off to work. Kids board the bus at 7:30 and head to school later.
I pass through our gate, greet the guards with an obligatory, "Ni Hao" and I am off. On my 5 minute bike ride, I try to pass as many small Chinese men also on bikes carrying massive loads of plants, water bottles, ice, metal, a whole family, co - workers as I can. Whatever internal whining I am doing about going to work quickly turns to shame as I ride by folks already at work, hauling rocks, building skyscrapers, working in garment factories,.. In my 3 weeks here, I have an profound respect for the work ethic here; it puts Americans to shame, really. I also pass busses, Mercedes, taxis, walkers, rickshaws, piles of rubbish, little babies in strollers; a true feast for the senses.
I arrive at the school ( have to be there by 7:30), pass the guards at the gate. They all wear palm tree printed white shirts and khaki slacks; all men also. I pedal pass the topiaries that look like dinosaurs, and the bamboo decorations, avoid the massive figs having fallen from the trees before, lock up my bag and walk into my 2nd floor classroom.
First things first-- turn on the AC, great my full time TA named Heather Hou, check in about clerical stuff that she does for me ( I know, really??), do last minute prep and kids enter around 7:50. Picture 14 of the cutest, smartest, funniest Asian kids you know, now make them 6 and that is pretty much my class. I do have 10 countries represented in my class including Conglese-Italian, Australian-Korean, Chinese-Canadian, German, and Israeli. They read in the reading corner and then meet me at circle around 8:05. Then from 8:00-11:45, it is academic time-- reading, writing, and math. There is an obligatory snack recess from 9:45-10:15 which Ms. Hou brings the kids to. The kids get to choose lunch rooms-- Gecko Grille or the Whale Garden and then they have a second recess; Mrs. Hou brings them to this as well. THEN, the afternoon from 12;40-3:00, Mrs. Hou guides the kids between Chinese class, PE, Music, Technology, Library, Guidance, Art. Most of the specials are offered 2-3X in a 6 day schedule. So, I know all of you teachers are thinking 3 hours of prep? You have got to be kidding... Honestly, SIS requires MANY meetings so the afternoons are usually meetings so the planning happens after dismissal.
3:00 Kids walk home, meet their mom or ayi ( Chinglish for maid) or take a bus home.
3:00-5:30 Planning and prep. L and R board a bus from their school to mine -- unless they have sports-- and R does her homework in my room while L looks for a cadre of kids to play soccer with on the beautiful fields or he swims in the pool on my campus. Then R and I pick up L and we all walk home. Vic usually calls by then and is also on his way home, triumphant that he again did not get hit by either a car or bus on his way home. (""Way to go, Dad" Luca exclaims)
We get to the apartment and our own ayi , Guo Li Mai, has prepared a symmetrically presented Chinese meal for us, as well as washed our floors, dusted, changed the beds, and does tons of laundry (Ancient Chinese secret, right? remember that one???)She hangs our laundry on our deck on a cool movable contraption. When it dries, she always puts it in the wrong drawers. She folds my unmentionables in little squares. Never have my bras had it so good. We rarely see her, so as Vic says, it is like having a secret elf in our home. She speaks less English than I do Chinese-- so none --and we draw horrendous characters of what we want her to buy on her shopping days. We try to tell her that our water bubbler is empty via photos and Chinese characters. Every day is a crap shoot with the ayi thing. But our house is clean and the food is delicious.
After dinner, L and I often go for a swim in our complex's pool. V, R, L and I all do homework and watch either Discovery Channel or Star TV-- a mix of American TV re-runs. Again, it's a crap shoot, but sometimes it's great. We get CNN also, but no one, but V, wants to watch that.
Then, exhausted, we fall down on our hard Chinese mattresses, adjust the AC, lock up the doors, turn out the lights, gaze at the city lights and sleep.
