In regards to my teaching job here in Shanghai, for the last week or so I've been totally alone; all the students and other teachers have left. The teachers finished their terms (I'm the only one staying on until Christmas) and the kids are either heading off to Canada or are heading back to their Chinese schools for the fall term. It's definitely been a wild ride this past four months. I've been working on another blog post describing all the ups and downs of teaching this past little while, and that'll probably be finished at sooooome point (idk)
So yeah, since then, all last week I've had a classroom of six new day students, all requiring preparation for interviews with Canadian schools, to teach all by myself. Though it's been sad to see my fellow teachers leave and having to now face the fears of a foreign country solo, I've honestly kind of reveled in the new independence of having the whole classroom to myself. I suddenly have the whole day to execute ideas and am able to schedule things as I see fit, which I've honestly been so comfortable with. It's also been so cool to get to know these six newer kids and notice the differences in the classroom dynamics with six new voices. They're all great kids and I'm gonna miss em.
Moving forward, work wise things are gonna be different, and apparently less demanding. I'm gonna have pretty early and late teaching hours, having appointments of online teaching in Canada with Chinese kids over there, having to account for the 12 hour difference (it's kind of funny that my dad gets up early in Canada to online-teach Chinese kids in China and I have to get up early in China to online-teach Chinese kids in Canada. Seems like we could of coordinated better). But that also means that my 'weekends' kind of consist of the middle of the day on most weekdays (when I'm not doing busywork getting things ready for next years interview-prep leaders), as my actual weekends will be full of kids coming for more part-time interview training.
I've found out about lots of really cool places to go in Shanghai, and have run into some pretty cool people along the way. Turns out that even when you're on your own, if you go out exploring you'll find some pretty great places and people, including amazing-and-creepy large abandoned cathedrals, bars disguised as book shops with a group of fun American's and conversing with random foreigners who spend 500$ on a plane ticket to Shanghai for the sake of a roof-top pool party, which ends up getting them a business deal with a tech-company (I may not get as ingrained in the spontaneous travel life as that guy, but I'm definitely discovering the joys of living life on the go).
Though I've absolutely appreciated more down-time with the kids gone to read (now on the Diary of Anne Frank), play games and bike around, I can't wait for this crazy trip ahead of me. My bus to the airport leaves in a few hours, so wish me luck in Beijing ✌️