Day 18

It's the middle of week two!
Today I did not get to teach very much but rather assist in the class as a para pro when I'm needed. However, since Thursday is International Women's Day, my school gave out scarves to the women and the PTA brought pastries from Bravo Cakes! to all the women staff (although the men did have some too). I had a slice of blueberry cheesecake and it was delicious!
After school one of the other male student teachers went with me and three other staff members to the middle school in Macau for a celebration of a teacher program. The celebration sounded like a sort of inauguration for new members of a teacher association. It was a ton of fun! When we got to the school, there were plenty of outside games to play and earn a stamp. When you had 6 stamps you could go redeem your card for a prize (a bath towel). In order to win my towel I did 10 sit ups, 3 push ups, jumped rope for 1 minute, lifted weights 10 times, and made 3 free throws (took me SO long!) It was a lot of fun! After the festivities died down, everyone moved inside for the celebration. As we were moving venues, I asked one of the teacher whom we came with if she could teach me how to write my name in Chinese. She replied by asking me what my Chinese name is. I guess I didn't realize I needed a Chinese name in order for it to be written in Chinese. She said she would think of the perfect name for me.
Once we found our seats, the other student teacher and I were talking to the teacher in front of us who had a Chinese name, but no English name. Later on he found her English name: Rhea which mean goddess of the ocean. He chose this for her because her Chinese name means ocean.
As the evening progressed, I asked one of the teachers where the restroom was and she went with me to she me where it was. This was a very interesting experience.. the toilet was a porcelain hole in the ground. Very strange. It didn't (and still doesn't) make sense to me why the schools would give the students a hole in the ground for a toilet but give staff members a sit down toilet. This is extremely bizarre to me. Must just be a cultural difference.
When the ceremony was over, the other student teacher and I took the city bus home with two other teachers who live in our building as well. It was really fun taking the bus! When we reached our stop, one of the teachers, Bella, showed me where a coffee shop is because she knows I love coffee haha. This place is called Cuppa Coffee and is about a 5-10 minute walk from my apartment, very reasonable! Once we got home, we proceeded to go wandering around old taipa with the other student teachers.

I had such a blast out with the teachers on the middle school campus and now I know where I can get coffee other than at McDonalds.
Tonight was a success!