I have to admit, I did have a little breakdown on Friday. I am not exactly sure what spurred the longing of our old life back in Vancouver but anyhow, inevitable I suppose. I am feeling much better today after a morning run and an afternoon bike ride in the countryside.
Teaching has been a good experience thus far. I feel like I have connected with students at various levels. I feel like I am motivating the unmotivated in PE to at least move and sweat with a smile on their faces. I am also making an effort to acknowledge every student. It is pretty easy to get caught up in the hurry, must accomplish this and that of education and neglect the most important part of being a teacher: reaching out and helping kids and noticing things that parents, friends, coaches fail to catch. Taking the time before and after class to sit and chat with a student is a worthwhile venture. You can learn a lot by just listening and watching…
I’ve decided we need some mini projects. I want to build (with Andrew) a ping pong table and a chess set…. I’m curious to find out if these projects will come to fruition or simply remain as fun ideas….only time will tell!
I think Andrew, myself, and a co-worker have decided to enter the Beijing Great Wall Marathon. It is in May so no real rush…. It’ll be nice to have something to run for. I feel like I want to get excited about a new event. I do love racing, the social aspect of it, the travel, the feeling of success, accomplishment, and the hard work! I did find another race in Hong Kong that might be a perfect precursor to the marathon and it’s a trail running race….even better! (I miss my trails…. A lot)
Yesterday, Andree and I ventured to the local countryside. We have a GPS (thank you MEC) but we can’t read the signs. Things here in Yongchuan, change very quickly. Our strategy thus far has been to look up roads etc on google earth, draw a hand map and then put the GPS on and see where we went when we got home and look it up on the computer and GPS. Yesterday we were looking for a dirt road to villages on a ridge, we were convinced and then not convinced and then re convinced that we were on the old dirt road that is now paved! We made it to Cucumber Hill and Pear blossom garden (although we did not realize this at the time) and then found another newly paved switchback road down through villages to a big lake on which there is the Chongqing Arts and Science Campus 2. We are finding success on a more frequent bases at ordering the food we want!
Today, we will explore this dirt road(which is still a dirt road as far as we can tell) through running-the beginning of our “training”. We are not exactly sure where it will take us but we are looking forward to finding out as the surrounding area is quite pretty!
Live, love, laugh,…DREAM!
lina
lina
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