Born in the USA

So I really haven't posted much about school, because there really hasn't been a ton to post about. It's been busy, but right now we're doing grammar and writing work in English and Socials is an introduction to Canadian culture before we get into the swing of things. The two weeks have flown by, and I went out to one practice with the basketball team so far. They need a lot of work before they are game ready. We might be losing a few students from our school as there are a few that I really question how they qualified for an English immersion school when they can't read, speak, write or hear the language. Hopefully that will be sorted out shortly.

In extremely exciting news though: WE MET ENGLISH SPEAKING FOREIGNERS TODAY!!!! We were sitting in bank while Denise and Keinan were making transactions, Denise had finished, Keinan had not, when I heard someone speaking English. I tapped Denise and we looked over and we saw a white person!!!!! You have no idea what it means to see this until you have been in a city for two weeks and not seen another white person except the two you work with. This was a "Holy Shit" moment for us. So I make eye contact with her and then she and the man she, as well as their Chinese guide come over and say hi. Turns out they are teaching at the Liuzhou High School in an immersion program there organized from the States. Anthony, is from San Diego, originally from Texas, teaches history and is part Mexican, part native american (I only mention this because I only mentioned that she was white, and not him), and Misty is from New York and teaches English literature. The Chinese woman with them is Martina, and she is their "handler" as we have taken to calling our great staff. Funniest thing is, as we're talking she asks: "Do you know Seven?" We get all excited and she tells us that her and Seven worked together the previous year. Even in a city of 2 million people it's a small world. We talk for about half an hour and then they invite us to join them for KTV.

KTV is their version of Karaoke. They take you into a room where you are with just the people you came with. Then you load up the songs and they play on the screen in your room for only your group. It's a neat way of doing things and these things are incredibly popular. There are four of them within a ten minute walk of our apartment. Oh, and adding to the list of stereotypes, I have yet to hear a Chinese person who can't sing. So yes, we went with them and did KTV for five hours before going for dinner. Martina is an incredible singer. One of the options on KTV is to choose whether the person sings along with you, and I swore the first two songs Martina did, she had the person singing along with her but nope, she didn't. Oh and the first two songs she did were Celine Dion and Whitney Houston. We just sat back in awe every time she sang. Incredibly powerful voice.

We went for dinner and then walked along the waterfront and got a tour of our area from Martina and Anthony (Misty had a dinner date with an American girl she met on WeChat). We also found out the Liuzhou high school is only fifteen or twenty minutes from our apartments and Misty and Anthony live on campus, so we're already making plans to see them again. So that was wickedly exciting.

Until next time,

Easy