Where has the time gone?

We're nearing the end of our third week of TEFL. It's amazing how fast it's all flown by! Teaching is going a lot better. All of us are getting used to the flow and structure of the lessons, and planning seems to take up less time. I'm teaching advanced students this week. We have one student, Peter, who has acquired the nickname "Peter the Teacher Eater" from past TEFL students and staff. He probably knows grammar better than any of us and has been attending lessons for years. While this is slightly intimidating, he is actually a lot of fun. It's nice to be able to see the students' personalities come out in the higher levels.

We still have a lot to work on, though. We're assigned grammar topics that most of us hardly know, or have never heard of before. It's tough to answer questions about something you don't even know yourself. I've definitely had a couple of "deer-in-the-headlight" moments. We have a big grammar test next week, so we all need to start studying for that. I am extremely thankful that I will not be teaching grammar in China. English really doesn't make any sense.

Last weekend a few of us went out to this huge bar/beach area located on the river. It had tennis courts, volleyball nets, and several bars dispersed throughout the area. The "beach" wasn't actually located on the river, but instead was a mock-beach set-up near the bar area. It had white sand, small fire pits for fires, and even some little bamboo huts.

the river

the beach

Kate and Dan

Kate from Canada...love this girl!

Dan was the only one that agreed to getting buried in the sand

I think he may be regretting that decision at this point...

One of my students invited a few of us out to her cottage over the weekend. She says that in Prague, they go to 'nature' to pick mushrooms and relax on the weekends. Her son is in a different level and knows a few of the guys in my program. They are some of the nicest people we have met. The cottage is located about 60km outside of the city, so we are all going to take a bus to get there. We are all looking forward to getting a 'real' cultural experience.

It's crazy to think that we have just a little over a week left in this wonderful place! China has hardly crossed our minds since we've been here, but I think Kate and I are beginning to get very excited. Both of us are getting excited about teaching and finally having our own classes. But it's bittersweet. We've made some great friends in this short time, and we're going to miss them all!