We had an epic day of cooking before our epic Christmas party for the kids:
We had a breakfast of pancakes and homemade sausage
Elaine might look super hyped, but knowing her sense of sarcasm...
Eatin' that Breakfast
Mixin' that batter
Makin' those cookies
We probably made 200+ cookies or so, we wanted to make sure everyone got their fair share and Kurtis got a few pounds of chocolate chips sent over so we made sure to use 'em up!
All of these cookies were a special surprise for our students, we had told them all to invite a friend and join us for a big Christmas party and it was a blast.
Santa (Kurtis) giving out the cookies (I'm posing for photos bottom right)
NOM NOM NOM NOM
There are a TON of better pictures and I just haven't had a chance to get them from the assistants yet but when I do perhaps I'll post a few. The party was a success overall, minus a few bumps here and there. Even the local T.V. station sent a camerawoman and I've heard rumors there will be an article in the newspaper too. I'll try to track that down.
The Christmas Choir is over for now and while it was a blast I don't know if I want to hear "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" again for a few months...our 4 songs were: Rudolph, Jingle Bells, It's a Small World, and The Hokey Pokey (why not?). Here's the crew getting down with part of the Hokey Pokey!
And for Christmas day I watched Die Hard with Liam and Leo (British), then we went over to the Orange Bar where Leo (Chinese) had a big old turkey for us!
I had a blast skyping with the fam for presents and with the Staebells on Christmas day, and I want to thank all of you for just saying hi cause I know it was a bit hectic.And for New Years Eve I went to Kingsley's place, it was his birthday and everyone was having a great time.
Especially these dudes
And I hate to say it, but unfortunately my first kiss of the new year came from a highly inebriated Matt (a new arrival, and one of the homies).
Sorry Meaghan!
But to tell you the truth, even if Matt had not dove lips-first onto my cheek that evening, my first kiss of 2012 would still probably be from a dude, one of my students Tom.
Tom is a chill little bro, despite having a rat-tail (15in or so?), and he does this thing where he runs up and grabs my hand and he always wants to kiss it. SUPER WEIRD I know but what are you gonna do, the kid thinks you're the coolest right? Plus it's just on the hand, no harm done.
Buuuuuuuut, one day I was unsuspecting and he motioned like he wanted to whisper something to me so I leaned down and next thing you know he smacked one right on my cheek! Owned.
Another moment of absolute cuteness was just last week in my Shen Tong 1 class (5 year olds). I usually play a game where the children chant the new word and pass a magnet down the line while I'm not looking and then I guess "who has the magnet?" But I almost always purposely lose, the risk of upsetting the children is too great! And when they're happy they are much easier to teach! But last week Emily came running up and began making a scene while I was about to take one of my "lives" away. beleaguered by the frantic Chinese coming out of her little voicebox I looked over at Elaine and said "what?????" Apparently Emily said "Jake you always lose! I just want you to win for once too!"
Today in a different Shen Tong 1 class, I had a new student and he was sitting at the end of the row next to Melissa and Glynn. Melissa is super cute and one of my brightest happiest students, Glynn tends to goof around but when it comes to speaking English he's right up there with the best. Anyways, after class Kelly stopped me and said "did you notice Glynn was 'fighting' with the new boy?" I had noticed something, it wasn't really fighting but something was definitely amiss. "Well Glynn was fighting with the new boy over Melissa!" and sure enough they were both sitting right next to her showing off the whole class!
Finally, I'll leave you with perhaps the funniest moment of the past month. I walked into my Shen Tong 2 class and before I could even look up I heard Leo.
The first words of the first class of the week: Jake is a Poo Poo Monster!!!!!
I knew it was gonna be a good week.
Man, only a few months in and they've ALREADY discovered your'e a poo poo monster? All down-hill from her, broheim.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a ton of fun :) It was great seeing you on X-mas, even if it was a hurried Skype meeting! Get stoked for Chinese New Years, man, word is that's when things REALLY get nuts.