Day 372 Back to School Sh*t Show

This is an accumulation of back to school pics since I have returned to Beijing.  We are temporarily housed in the former five story library on our campus, while the seven story International Department of Beijing National Day School undergoes a complete gut and renovation.  The construction plans look simply amazing; it will be a state of the art, future focused building- if and when we ever get to move in there. They are sparing no expense in all the latest technology and equipment.  There are incredible lounging areas planned, a greenhouse on the top floor of the building, flat screens outside of every classroom to post announcements to our students- the works! Principal Li must have also taken a lesson from Google, as the new plans even show a huge curly slide that can be taken from the top floor down- or you can still take the stairs or one of many elevators.

You know where I'll be :)

The bad news is that all construction projects in the 'jing were halted at the start of the summer, to crack down on 'noise pollution' and to 'clean up the air' for the military parade (i.e., "world political event" and "Chinese spectacle").  A two hour parade on September 3rd halted all construction back in mid-July.  Go figure. It looks like all they have managed to do since we left in July was to break out the windows.  The original plan called for us to be in our temporary location through the first semester only.  Once they showered us all with six plants and trees each to 'decorate our new rooms', I have no doubt we will be temporarily dislocated at LEAST through all of the 2015-16 school year. Flowering house plants speak volumes, y'all.

On my first day back to school, and Ellen's first day back at
reporting after our Hawaii vacation, (unbeknownst to each other)
we each wore the other's dress to work. We girls like to trade clothes :)
Ellie posted this pic on Instagram which made me smile.

As part of our first day of orientation, Cameron made a game
of Jeopardy in which three of the new faculty were contestants.
They answered questions on Chinese culture, transportation,
famous places in Beijing, history of BNDS, etc. It was hysterical!
What a fun way to get oriented! Way to go, Cameron :)

Given the extra week before classes actually began (you know,
the military parade thing, again) there was PLENTY of time
to get acquainted with the new faculty, catch up with old friends,
trade summer travel stories, and organizing and setting up our rooms,
and lots of moving furniture and decorating.  I hit up the Dollar
Tree back at home this summer, and my borders, cut out letters,
and other displays were a welcomed gift to my teacher friends.
Teachers can get pretty excited over new room decorations :)

The balloon decoration on the wall is a tribute to my daughter Emily, and a conversation we had this summer.  She just completed her Master's degree in Mental Health Counseling, and will begin working as an outpatient counselor this month. The first balloon says, "Depression is pull from the past."  (loss, sadness, regrets, or remorse over things that we have done or has happened in our past) The second one says, "Anxiety is pull from the future." (worry and stress over what might happen, what needs to get done, how things will turn out, will I get that job? will my kids turn out ok? will I pass this test? will this relationship last?)  I added two more thoughts to this theme. The third balloon says "LET IT GO!" and the fourth balloon says, "Happiness is learning to live in the present".

I love it.

It will be their first lesson in psychology the first day of class :)

The challenge was trying to make 21 desks, two teacher's
desks, a bookcase, filing cabinet, and a 60" smart screen fit in
a room that is about the size of my master bedroom. No joke.
My classroom has two doors, and I have to go OUT the door
at the front of my room to go IN the other door to get to my
desk at the back of the room. I can't even walk around the
student's desks. Most teachers had to block a doorway to make
 room for more desks. Can you say FIRE HAZARD?!
Nope- we never even had a fire drill last year.

We also lost our office/work space this year, as our desks are
in the classrooms themselves.  That's fine with me, it's more like
a traditional classroom.  But now we share our room with a
Chinese teacher, so while I teach, she sits. While she is teaching,
I am to sit at my desk and prep, plan, grade, WORK.  You can
bet I will be wearing my headphones and listening to Pandora
(IF the internet is working and I can get my VPN to connect)
The great news is I have a wall of windows and the
ledges are lined with beautiful, flowering houseplants :)

We were required to dress professionally to report
to our first day of work- on Sunday, Sept. 6th.
Our day began with "Opening Ceremonies" on the
soccer field. Are these things our school mascots?

The field was full of students- we're THAT big, y'all.

So there we stood, sweltering in the sun, listening to a
program all in Mandarin.  I understood all of five words, at best.

Student acrobats performed.  Unicyclers came
pedaling in, there was song, and dance, and
flag raising ceremonies...

...and cheerleaders....

...who gave quite a snappy demonstration of

a step aerobics routine. I can't say I've ever 

seen a group of cheerleaders doing step aerobics!

As for me, I was just happy to have made it to school
 on my bicycle.  It was my first ride through crazy
rush hour traffic.  I can juke and jive pretty
quickly on my feet dodging buses, trucks, cars,
scooters, strollers, dogs, people and such- but
to do it on two wheels, with a heavy backpack
on, and a dress and high heels?!  Needless to
say my heart was racing, and it wasn't just
the Cuban coffee to blame!  WHEW!!

I am captivated by new things I have never seen
before, and this was a new one on me.  As I pedaled
in to school, the security guards at the gate were
holding what looked like giant. shuffleboard. sticks.
Because why? For what purpose? With helmets, no less?
China is a tough one to figure out sometimes, but it
sure keeps me smiling.  On the first day of school,
I was going to need all the smiles I could muster up.

Monday, September 7th, was our first day of classes.  One thing I can tell you for certain, in all my years working in the field of psychology, is that human beings are creatures of habit- we do not do change well. The first day of school is filled with changes, and it is always chaotic and stressful for everyone involved.  As any teacher will tell you, the first day of the school year is the typical Back to School Sh*t Show.  There are so many changes to deal with that first day of school. We all slap on our happy faces, take deep cleansing breaths, and cope as best as we can.  I only saw one faculty member (not me!) and two students in tears yesterday. Would you like some of yesterday's highlights?

Key card would not unlock my classroom door, though it has worked for days.

Kids were lost; lockers wouldn't open.

Books haven't arrived, if they have, SOMEBODY didn't order enough of them.

Coffee machine isn't working (a total failure on admin's part)

The only Western toilet on the floor is cracked and leaking and NOBODY mops up the mess, and there are no 'caution' cones.  If you slip and throw your back out, it's your own dang fault for not watching where you were going.

The internet crashes.

The copy machine crashes. 

By afternoon the copy machine is up and running and out of paper.  Nobody knows where to get paper. Supposedly we will be issued two reams of paper each- like that will last through 60 students and a 21 week semester.

Not enough chairs. Or desks. Or room to put them if we had them.

The lunch lines are so long you barely have time for lunch. If you got your lunch, there were no seats available.  Kids were standing and holding their food; faculty were sitting on the staircases with their plates in their laps.

We still had no class rosters for one grade level, and when we finally got them (Did you check your email? Umm, no, the internet is down), the list was ALL of the grade level student's names, not separated by subject or teacher, and it was all in Mandarin.  A list of all 10th grader's names only, in Chinese characters, is completely useless to me.

At one point, kids were POURING into my classroom.  I had 39 kids and 21 desks.  In their "hand scheduling" (You read that right- they hand scheduled 600 students in three different diploma programs) they managed to double book me.  No bueno.

Oh, and our AP Principal resigned just two days before the start of school.

I would like to say, "It's the Chinese Way", but no, it's just the typical Back to School Sh*t Show :)

As for me, I am LETTING IT GO and enjoying my lovely houseplants.

I am still the happiest girl in China :)

G'nite, y'all!