Day 20: Painting

Today was a good day, as always. It started pretty typically: teaching my classes, wrestling children, having lunch in the cafeteria, etc. and then it was switched it up from the norm. Our school provided us with another class to take, which happened to be painting!

We rode a few buses to get to this class, it was held at the Bond kindergarten, where the Shiqi group teaches. We learned quite a bit in this class. One, that Chinese people typically paint with pure ink, not paint, just ink. We diluted different amounts of ink to make different shades, and I really liked the style; they paint so perfectly, with such distinct lines and markings.

Two, our group cannot write Chinese characters to save our lives. The teacher had to write the titles of the paintings in Chinese characters step by step, adding one line at a time, for us to get anywhere near what she wrote. Even with the step-by-step instructions, our writing still resembled that of a kindergartener, I'm sure.

Lastly, ink stains. I spilled some of the pure ink on my little tennis shoes I teach in. I decided maybe they would look cooler if I splattered them with more ink, but it just diluted out and made a mess of my shoe. Thus, I am now on a hunt for a new pair of size 9 shoes in China, where the average size is a 5. It should be an adventure!

Overall, painting was great and super relaxing. We painted two paintings, a bundle of flowers and a panda. We have painting every week on Wednesdays, so I am really looking forward to what will come next.

Other than that, it was a pretty average day, minus the fact that I'm getting sicker. My voice is really raspy, I have a clogged nose hole, my smoker's cough is still loud and proud, and I'm just over exhausted. I spent most of my evening in my bed, taking a nap. Hopefully this clears quickly, Amanda wants me to go to the Chinese doctor, which could be an experience in itself. Cross your fingers!

Pictures:
1: Gym time anyone?
2: From left to right (top) Candy, Coco, Subie, Dora, and Dolphin (up close and personal) little Collin babe
3: I am obsessed with Coco, I just want to squeeze her everyday.
4: Chinese translations, yikes. Such a cute little number haha