Zhe Daxue Affiliated Kindergarten

I visited Hangzhou for a week while working in Jiangshan, so I was able to say goodbye to my kindergarteners. They were my first (and by far my youngest) students in China, and I really grew quite an attachment to them. The first picture is my favorite - me being consumed in a wave of children.

Jiangshan Middle Schoolers

During my first week in Jiangshan, Jenny (a fellow teacher, her genius kid prodigy is the one climbing the bars) took a trip up to the West Hill (see Scenic: Jiangshan) with several of her students who are also in my oral English class. Luckily I was able to fake it and hold my own in the conversation with the boys - all they wanted to talk about was the NBA, which is outrageously popular here.

Zoo Trip

These are kids from the weekend classes. Instead our usual lessons, we all went to the zoo for an English sightseeing trip. The Hangzhou Zoo is forested, serene, and nice - but only for the humans. The cages and fenced areas were pretty bare and a little depressing. I saw my first panda, but it was sort of a downer moment when I saw its living conditions.

Tengtou Field Trip

This field trip was a month or so ago, but still some fond memories. Especially in the rice paddy - the other Babel personnel always made me be the first to try anything (which is kind of messed up, since I'm the most clueless as to what is going on or being talked about). Anyway, I asked what we were digging around in the mud for, and they said (or atleast what I heard) was "roaches." (It turns out it was "loaches" - not sure on the spelling - a small fish thing thats popular to eat here.)