Opening Ceremony: Shaojie

Ah, my first day as an educator. I woke up at 6, got excited for the day, watched Hulu, surfed on Facebook and read a boatload of NYT, all to emotionally prepare myself for teaching some 5th graders English in 8:50am. I'm up and ready to go - I've covered the board with notes and then I'm told that there's an opening ceremony, that everyone needs to grab their chair and go out unto the courtyard. NO CLASS.

A thousand kids arranged their seats according to age and the liaison for the teachers announced something that I didn't understand.

"Cover your ears," a girl said. Little did I know that the courtyard would be flooded with smoke and they were going to set off fireworks.



Take a look at what I'm talking about. Explosive little poppers, right up against the 50 year wooden building that should probably be condemned for living. Feel free to laugh at Phoebe's commentary.

Yay. Then, the National Anthem plays where everyone's hand is slightly raised above their heads...

This is a comfortable and not awkward position. I didn't know what to do, so I just took pics.
Two hours later...

I have no idea what people are saying, so I take a picture of my student's shoes. It kind of looks like it should say CONVENIENCE or INCONVENIENCE? ... but I now realize it just says NICE NICE NICE NICE over and over again.

The school calls up the smartest and cutest little babies for awards as the Principal and VP watches on. I take more pictures.

At 11:20, the kids are dismissed. First day of teaching, OVER.