Day 98: Children's Day

There were many things to celebrate on this fine day, one being Luke's twentieth birthday, and the other being children's day. I was up during the late hours of the night preparing for both events and nearly had a panic attack because I almost didn't finish. It's hard work being the birthday committee and in charge of the kindergarten's photo booth, especially when the two events land on the same day. However, thanks to a few members in my group and the non-procrastinated hours of preparation, I managed to complete all I needed to and everything turned out quite nicely.

With the holiday being 'children's day', I couldn't think of any other way I'd rather spend my day than with my kids. Marine told us earlier this week that we were to put together an activity that we could invite our kids and their parents to and celebrate children's day with us. Our group of older kindy teachers decided to have three different stations, including: a game station, a signing and dancing station, and a photo booth station. As we discussed different options for the booths, I just kept thinking about the many possibilities there were for a photo booth, so I quickly volunteered to be in charge there. No one was opposed to the idea, so I was ecstatic.

I have seen funny photo booth ideas back at home, with people holding little paper props attached to popsicle sticks, or having a themed photo booth. I thought morphing the two ideas would be clever and so much fun for the kids and their parents to dress up together. In order to make my "vision" a reality, I spent the majority of my day yesterday cutting, gluing, glittering, painting, etc. different props for them to use. Although it was quite time consuming, it was well worth it. Both the parents and the kids had a wonderful time today picking their props and having their photo taken. Preston helped me capture some really sweet moments on camera; I could just tell how much love these parents have for their kids. They are so gentle and sweet to them and it seeing it in person just warmed my heart. Also, by interacting with both the parents and the children made me feel more like a part of their family; I could talk to them about anything, and since I knew their child, I felt as if I already knew them personally. And seeing as how I love them as much as I do, I can't even imagine the love each parent has for their little ones. All I can say is that the love I have for the people I've met and gotten to know here is I describable; I don't know how I will ever be able to leave them behind.

The older kindy's children's day went smoothly and was a blast, for the Chinese teachers, the English teachers, the kids, their parents, and really whoever else joined us. However, the younger kindy did not quite have the same experience. The day's activities went smoothly, for the most part, but all when it was time for the parents to leave, a riot broke out. Seeing as how some of the kids are only three or four, they have a stronger attachment to mommy and daddy than our older kids do. That being said, a chorus of cries and screams arose after several of the parents had left and didn't bring their child along with them. The funniest part of this situation was seeing each teacher, both English and Chinese, carrying out a different crying child to lunch, about ten minutes after the others had already made their way down. There were about six of the littles who couldn't quite keep it together, so they were coddled and held until the tears stopped flowing.

Our group later moved onto celebrating Mr. Luke Tuttle's birthday, which included the typical door decorations, a dinner date, and a cake from Bond. Luke spoke with the owner of a cute little cafe near us, called Jam, yesterday and she offered our group a slammin deal to eat dinner there for his birthday. Basically, we would all get a sandwich, a salad, and some bread pudding for only 25 quai, which equals out to be about four whole dollars. Let alone, the food is made by the sweetest Russian ladies, and it is incredible, so the deal was too good to pass up.

We invited Victoria to tag along, and a lot of the Shiqui girls, and our coordinators came as well. We spent the evening listening to good music, eating delicious food, and just enjoying our time together. I could think of no better way to end this day, it's been yet another perfect one.