The first day of teaching ... finally

The day finally arrived....our first day of teaching in China!  The schedule today was SUPPOSED to be:
9:00 - Opening Ceremony (where all the officials give speeches and tell the students to work hard)
2:00 - 4:30 - Our first class with our students

What REALLY happened was:
8:00 - Discover that following the Opening Ceremony we would need to teach our students from 10:00 - 11:30, have lunch with them and then teach again from 2:00 - 4:30.  We had enough materials planned for the 2:00 - 4:30 time slot but the first time slot was going to be a stretch.....a 90 minute stretch to be exact.  Fortunately both Rollin and I have a long teaching career where we have had to "punt" so that's exactly what we did.  We had a wonderful time meeting our students and getting to know more about them.  It also reminded us that schedules in China are always tentative.

Each day we spend an hour in one-to-one conversations with four students (fifteen minutes each).  During that time they have an opportunity to pick our brains and ask questions in a very private conversation with us.  During those one-to-ones today we discovered they wanted advice about raising their children, how to have a happy marriage and discovering the real meaning of life.  Not at all heavy subjects!!!!  I didn't know I would be serving as a marriage counselor to them but I guess I will be!  They are so pleased that both Rollin and I are here together and enjoy watching us to see how an American marriage works.  I hope we don't disappoint them!