Caterpillar Crawl

• Today, my co-teacher has informed me that the parents of the kids on my class don’t trust me very much because I don’t smile enough or show enough affection towards their kids (in the short time they see me at drop-off and pick-up). Because of this and because their kids report that they aren’t learning English, the parents are starting to question what I’m doing. Oh goody! Another thing to try to manage. I know that pleasing and working with families is a huge part of early childhood education but I wish these parents would realize how much work I’m doing and also that I just arrived in this country! I’m sorry if I can’t put on a genuine smile all the time. Needless to say, I did not achieve my goal of not crying about work this week…
• Also, I found something fun on my lunch plate today…

Yes, that is a cooked caterpillar. Ahhhhhhhh!!! Soooo gross. I gave it right back to the lunchroom workers (after confirming with others that it was not supposed to be in there) and they were disgusted and confused. I got more of the same dish but just could not stomach it! Later, the head of the cafeteria came to my classroom to personally apologize. It was very sweet and heartfelt. I could tell that this was a random mistake, not a regular thing, and he assured me that it had never happened in any of the settings he has managed. Plus, as Quinny pointed out, it’s more a testament to how fresh the produce is than the lack of cleanliness in the kitchen (like a maggot or something would have been worse). It’s still gross but I agree with her. And the cafeteria manager gave me 10 free lunches and said I could choose to pay for the rest of my lunches if I wanted to! I will probably end up paying, because it’s cheap (200 RMB for 20 lunches, which is about $30 USD) and the food is generally good and usually bug-free :D But it’s nice to get a little reward for my troubles!

• Tonight, the air was clear enough that we could see the stars! AND we could see the Big Dipper! I didn’t think that we’d be able to see the same constellations here but I guess it makes sense because we’re in the same hemisphere. It was so lovely and made the world seem a little smaller :)