On Monday I was preparing for class when Kimi told us that it would be our last day of teaching.
What?!
We were supposed to teach until the 22nd and have a party on the 23rd! But no! Kimi said that Monday would be the last day, because the kids have too many tests to prepare for and take. He also said that we could not have a party with our kids. Instead, we would have to help them study for their tests that day.
Kimi thought we would be excited. And, half of our group definitely was. Shey said that she heard cheering throughout the apartment halls when the message was relayed! But the other half of us were not so happy. First of all, what we were supposed to do for two more weeks without teaching?! We have all seen everything we wanted to in China and are all broke by this point anyway. Second of all, we all wanted to have a proper goodbye with our kids, not a surprise "hey today is the last day, lets study and say goodbye!"
None of the kids were told that it was our last day. We were able to explain it to our second graders, who were only a little bit upset, but the first graders really did not understand. In fact, I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to Eno that day because she was so mad that I didn't give out tickets! I told her that there are no more tickets because no more ILP and she was so mad she just ran off! I cried after my first graders left, but was determined to officially say goodbye to them by finding their Chinese classroom!
Then the ILP headquarters found out about our cancelled classes and were PISSED. So Kimi got in lots of trouble, our head teachers got in lots of trouble, the school got in lots of trouble and it was all just one big, dramatic mess. We had a meeting Wednesday morning where Mitch and Katey told us that plans had changed, and that we would teach yesterday and have a party today.
There were mixed feelings about this solution, because some grades had really understood the whole goodbye thing. Bailey had taken his 4th graders ice cream, and Shey and her 5th graders had a really sad goodbye on Monday. Some people had really felt like they had solid goodbyes, so it was weird for them to teach again! Even with my second graders, I thought that they must think I'm a complete idiot for showing up to pick them up after saying goodbye! Yesterday's classes were a little bit crazy, because the kids knew they could get away with a lot (especially with their "ILP" test already being over), but I was happy to have an official goodbye party today!
It was fun and very easy. In both 1st and 2nd grade we just set up a laptop with a movie and supplied our kids with treats.
I can't remember the last time we had cups or bowls in the supply room! Each first grader got a handful of popcorn today.
During the party we hung out with whatever students wanted to hang out, and snapped some pictures with them!
I was a sad teacha! I held it together pretty well during the first grade party, but lost it when I started walking my kids downstairs. All of my kids were also in tears (except for James who rarely knows what's going on, haha) and that just made it harder. I can't believe that they have to go through that every semester! It was so sad!
The second graders are less emotional, so it wasn't as hard with them. I will miss these crazy kids though! They are so smart and so fun!
And, just like that, we are done with our teaching job. Now we just hang around for a week! Luckily Bailey and I have an earlier flight (on the 22nd, everyone else leaves on the 26th), but we still don't know what we will do with an entire empty week!
Let's end this post with an adorable card from Bailey's fourth grader Birdie!
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