The kids are alright

Today, I woke up with my eyes practically welded shut, and when I finally went to the bathroom and managed to wash away the sticky yellow substance (gross, I know) sealing them, I found that my left eye was bright red, and my right eye was not only lined with scarlet, but it was also swollen like someone had given me a stiff jab to the face.

For the last few days I've had pink eye, but it was never this bad; I never looked like a mutant. Not only that, but I couldn't stop sniffling either. To top it off, today was the day that I was going to be observed by Helen (who is in charge of us foreign teachers), Greg (a senior teacher), and Mr. Chen (the director of the entire junior high). Oh poop.

I showered and tried my best to be a well-dressed mutant. I was to be observed in my third period (my rowdy, noisy kids), but I had to teach for both first and second, so that didn't give me any extra time to prepare. I somehow stumbled through the first two hours of the day, with tissues in hand.

"I'm not crying kids," I told them as I dabbed at the corners of my eyes. "My eyes just won't stop tearing."

Finally I got to my third period. I gathered all my students and shushed them. Quietly, before Helen and the others arrived, I whispered to them, "Please be good for me today."
One of my kids, Kipper (who's usually loud), noticed how swollen my eyes looked. "Your eyes are so tired today teacher. You can rest."

"I can't Kipper, I have to teach." But I was surprised at how considerate he was and I thanked him.

I then told the class that we were going to have visitors today, and even though I let them talk usually, I wanted them to be extra good. "Unless you want another English teacher. If you really don't like me and want a new teacher, then you can talk, but if you want me around, then try to be good."

I turned to my two worst kids, who are always fooling around. "Michael, Jeffrey...please behave."

They all told me not to worry, and then the other teachers came: Helen, Greg, and Mr. Chen.
For the first time since the first day of school, all my kids sat quietly, backs straight, and listened. I taught my lesson (new vocabulary, and a few phrases) and they participated, payed attention, and were all round angels.

The lesson went well, and afterwards, all the feedback I received was positive.

The best part was on the way out of class, Michael and Jeffrey gave me the thumbs up, and some of the kids bowed to me and smiled. Ah, those little crappers are such good kids, even when they're not.

My eyes are still a bit off, but tomorrow I'm rewarding my kids with chocolate pocky. Maybe we'll go outside and read.

And, to make the day even better, Nicole and I went to the fabric market after school, and we both had coats made. I found the best coat ever (made of cashmere), and I'm having one custom tailored for me for about $90. Nicole is having a wool trench and a skirt made. She even bargained got the "friend price." When we we done with the fabric market, we found a few stalls of street food and ordered two bowls of chow fun that were stir-fried right in front of us. About $1.50 for both bowls.

We sat on the handrails along the sidewalk and ate our noodles. An eldery couple sat next to us, and the lady smiled at cole (she was the only foreigner eating there, and was probably a strange sight, especially with me around too).

"Ni hao," Cole said.
"Ni hao," the lady said with a grin. And with that she turned to the street.
The air was cool for once, and the pollution somewhat more settled. The four of us sat there, all watching the people pass by. The sounds of hawkers rang out every now and then. A bit further out a mom was feeded her toddler grilled sweet potato.

a pretty good day.