Monday, August 02, 2004
another day, another blog
had a loooong day today.
went to church...today I was a helper in the preschool room...first dayhahahhaha I just realized I kept asking kids whether they were in jk or sk today...I'm glad the kids weren't smart enough to pick up on that...one of the reasons I love kids...I'll get to that in a bit...but yeah, this is the first day of my shift..I'm doing it for the month of august, except for the weekend that I'm away at summer retreat, 13-15th.
one of the best feelings I get from doing daycamp or helping out in the preschool room or interacting with kids in general is when a shy kid opens up to you....it makes you feel sooo special. it feels like you just brightened up a kid's life. and it's so much easier just to talk to kids cuz you don't have to worry about them judging you or catching on to your stupidity..hahaha...but there's such a level of comfort when talking to kids that you can't get when talking to adolescents or older. today there was this girl that was sitting apart from everyone else...I only noticed her towards the end...not sure if she was sitting there the whole time (except for story time, snack and crafts when everyone had to sit together), but I started talking to her in english (that's another thing...there is no such thing as awkward small talk with kids...the term 'small talk' has no significance in that context...talking with a kid is talking with a kid)...I asked her why she's just sitting there...and after she was silent and I repeated myself a few times...she finally replied in cantonese "because I have to wait for my mom to pick me up." (she was actually sitting near the door)...so I was like "ohh..." (or something) and then started to talk to her in cantonese..forgot what I said cuz I was interrupted by some other kid...actually it was this really young kid (3 yrs old?) that was looking dazed and confused but quiet and gentle the whole day and shook a big teddy bear in front of his face and he started smiling! awwwwww so cute. so I gave him the teddy bear and turned back to the girl, Crystal. by then she had stopped talking cuz she saw my attention diverted..but when I turned back she said something to me in cantonese again...and that just felt so good cuz a moment ago she wasn't talking to anyone and not doing anything and now she's voluntarily telling me something....she said "last night my mom wanted korean bbq (??...I forgot...some other food place/thing) but I told my mom I wanted mcdonalds" so I asked her back in cantonese "so where did you guys end up going for dinner?" she paused so I added "did you end up going to mcdonalds?" and she nodded (?..or said yes...just something affirmative). anyway, I think that sealed her position as number 1 fav kid in the class, after week 1 anyway...hahaha. sigh...I really wish I was better at cantonese...such a cool language. and that way I could also talk to kids! I'm okay now, because these are just kids...but even then, I often can't find the words to say what I want or fulfill the intended purpose...and the weird thing is this time around, the teacher is much more hardcore...as in, she actually gave me a briefing before she started the program (during recess, when I came in for my shift) and told me exactly what I would need to do...and when she started talking to the kids...well, she was teaching mostly in cantonese and she told me to translate...okay, even though I'm not so happy that my cantonese isn't so good, I'd still love a chance to try it out given the right opportunity, and I hate to disappoint people or not be able to do what they ask for, so I gave it a shot...and fortunately it wasn't too hard, so I was able to translate more or less what she said throughout the lesson. not everything, but the main stuff. especially like the bible story. good thing her story was already written out in english..she just taught it in cantonese. well the class is all cantonese..just that a small number of the children may not understand...one of them is mixed. aaanyway, I'm still baffled as to why she didn't get the other helper to do anything specific...she got no briefing (that I saw...but I did come in a bit late), she didn't end up doing much (I had to carry out all those briefing instructions plus translate) and all she did was help hand stuff out during crafts..weird. oh so there is one teacher and three helpers, one of which is an adult..well..."adult"...parent? yeah, that's probably a good way of describing...and the others are teens...well, "teens"...youth? yeah, youth is a better way of describing it...hahaha...it's annoying how out of nowhere you're now in your 20s...what is going on, seriously. the least of the problems with that is now all of those "adults" and "teens" generalizations get messed up >.<
aaanyway...(how long are blogs supposed to be?)...after church I had softball practice...pretty good turnout...10 people came..though one of them just dropped by to say hi cuz she had three teeth taken out yesterday...(ow!!)..her face was still swollen...I was only expecting around 5 to show. practice was okay...but man, my throwing was so off!! kept missing people...arg.
after practice, went to the Lights game...(how long are blogs supposed to take?.....)...they are playing a lot better now...and dennis is back from vacation...being pro at short...and eeds stepped it up on the day before her bday...everyone was hitting well...it was a good game to see..good job lights!! but I heard they prolly won't make playoffs...even if they win their next and last game, a 5-5 record is prolly not good enough to be top 8 in their 19-team division...too bad! they just needed a few more games under their belt...
afterwards went to eeds' bday dinner...at mongolian grill....cool stuff! it's like teppenyaki (sp?) but with mongolian food...you pick what you want and they cook it right there for you! mmmm wok hay is so heung...haha. I'm still kinda full from it...5.5 hrs later...
afterwards we went to...play softball. no joke. these people are just softball fanatics. we found a park and played...juniors vs. seniors...but we weren't keeping score. I was soooo full. felt even fatter than usual..
okay, after that it was home time. I've been home for 3 hrs...no idea where the time went. this blog "only" took 40mins...I guess I'm just so tired everything is done slooooowly. had all these emails to sort out and just other miscellaneous stuff. anyway, if you've made it this far, congratulations.
