...the EVALUATION...

Dear Family,

Life is becoming so much easier now that the evaluation has passed. We all got up together at six, for once, and waited for Jared to come and inspect. He was supposed to get here at seven am, to have a meeting with us about issues raised in Laura’s personal evaluations, then after an hour or so begin private interviews with us to discuss our concerns, hopes, and things we need to improve on as teachers. Then, Jared was to go through our rooms, our facilities, and have a private meeting with Laura about them. After lunch, we were to teach the special lessons we prepared specifically for him to see, wait for his remarks, teach first grade, then get his feedback on our overall performance (and discover if it was good enough to pass muster, or bad enough to get us deported-or worse, re-trained). As it turned out, he missed his train. We spent hours sitting tensely in our rooms, tensely in the computer lab, tensely in the cafeteria, tensely in the supply room as the day ticked tensely on. We ended up crowded into the supply room for an hour before classes started, with at least six people scrunched against the windows playing lookout while the rest of us chatted nervously, playing silly hand-clapping games and freaking each other out with random exclamations of “It’s Jared!”, or, “They’re here, look busy!” Eventually, with Laura still gone and Jared still absent, we were forced to abandon our hopeful, nervous vigil and get the children gathered for Opening. We had just begun the obligatory weather questions when a lanky, Caucasian, tall guy with dark hair, followed by Laura, ducked in and began watching us.

Of course, our kids went nuts. x_x
The minute this familiar (2nd graders = Jared had been here before) guy popped in, the kids started slapping each other, scooting out of line, yelling, and rolling around on the floor. We the evaluated were of course shocked and intimidated, and so Opening devolved into a mess of sporadic songs and frantic pleas for quiet. Thankfully, it only lasted for ten minutes, so we gratefully gathered our classes and scrambled off, aware of the scrutiny aimed at our retreating backs. I was supposed to be evaluated during an Arts and Crafts class, and so I had everything ready and polished for Jared- unfortunately, he declined to come in and we were suddenly subjected to a left-field schedule change after only two classes! I had just finished helping my second class with their finger puppets when a harried-looking Laura craned her head in, announced that the 2nd graders were leaving and that the 1st graders were coming in eight minutes, and that the supply room was closed due to meetings.
I stared at the door in shock (I only have eight minutes to get ready?!), grabbed my things (I left the 1st grade stuff in the supply room!), and rushed down to the third floor with a stampede of gleeful eight year olds (I need help!) I managed to grab Laura as she passed me on the stairs and asked, “How can we get our lesson stuff if it’s in the supply room?” She growled that we can go into the supply room and fled, leaving me flummoxed and flustered, and five minutes shy of a first grade class. I pelted into the supply room, passing Jared on his way out (d’oh!), and snatched up my supplies. I dumped the rest on the shelves, and barely made it to the gym area on 4th floor to help control Opening. The kids cooperated for the most part, and we did the best we could despite the MESSED UP schedule our neat-and-tidy planning had brokered. I myself was trying to convey the concept of Impending Occurrences (“The cat is going to eat the mouse! What is it going to do? It’s going to eat the mouse!”) when Jared appeared and loomed at the back of the class. I sweated it out with many an exaggerated chomp-chomp-chomp to illustrate ‘eat’, and then he was gone. I wiped the perspiration from my brow, relaxed, and finished teaching the two classes.

Once the children were gone, two hours early, we sat together outside of the supply room and wondered how badly we were going to receive the smack-down for not being organized. Some theorized that we would need re-training, a fate worse than death, others said that the schedule had been demolished and anything bad that had happened was not our fault. I personally figured that we were going to be told in very disappointed tones that our jobs were poorly done, etc, etc, this is ruining their lives, etc, etc. Imagine our surprise when Jared invited us to sit in a circle, settled into a ridiculously tiny purple chair at the head of it, and beamed at us with a declaration that he was impressed with us. Impressed?! Was he even watching those disorganized classes? He must have noticed our collective shock, because he smoothly interjected that most schools had children running down the halls screaming (okay…we do control the kids better than that), that rotations between classes take over ten minutes (well, ours were only two today! WOO!), that the students even defecate on one another to express their displeasure (yeah, no children do that here). He was happy because we demonstrated that we could discipline the children (we give ‘strikes’, like baseball, three strikes you’re out!), that the children listened when we said ‘English Only!’, and that we could get them to calm down and listen. He was pleased by our enthusiastic teaching, and overall was tickled pink by our control of the situation. He mentioned that we were in the best shape out of all the schools he had seen so far in his inspection. I sat there in a daze, and was fuzzily glad that he had not asked for us to comment yet, as I was sure I’d start babbling or some other embarrassing act. While he praised us I thought of all the calmer, more organized days we have, and I think that we are definitely in great shape if our worst day was good enough to pass. YEAH!
There wasn’t enough time to do individual interviews, as he had to catch a train in an hour, but he was able to get in two group sessions wherein we begged for more water, and he promised to do something about it. He did! We now get eight drums of purified water a week for the thirteen of us instead of three, and life is already looking much less administrative (no more training meetings!). I can hardly believe it was so simple and easy to get a good grade- ah, no more stress.
As for today, we get to watch General Conference! We got the DVD from some church members in Nanjing.
Fun stuff I’ve learned about Changzhou!
The night market at V-Mart has dumplings, turtles, pearls, beans on a stick, pineapple on a stick, and roasted meats of every kind for under a yuan.
There are a zillion pirated DVDs floating around, and a zillion legitimate DVDs. It’s really, really hard to tell them apart!
The babies here are so cute, and their Moms think it’s the coolest thing when we coo and wave at them, making silly faces and laughing when the toddlers only gape in confusion.
I have eaten pig’s feet, chicken blood soup, chicken feet, raw dough dumplings, hot rice goo, bamboo, and red bean bread. I’ve developed a great liking for all of the above, besides the raw dough dumplings and the chicken feet.
And lastly, I’m leaving for Beijing soon- so guys! What would you like from China? Stuff here is inexpensive to the extreme, so if you want it and I can find it, I’ll get it for you (even sketchy DVDs, lol). I’ve seen some interesting stuff, so if you can’t think of anything, I’ll have to get creative. <3 *coughchickenfeet/pigintestines/mummytoescough*
I love you all! Calissa

PS- Could you write down the story of that kingdom with an evil wizard who tries to get the people to wear red and eat chocolate cake, and any other cool stories like that and sent them? The children and teachers like them a lot, and I’d love to make a few little books for them. I would also love more pictures of the family doing stuff together, like baseball, lacrosse, eating dinner, playing games, reading, doing homework, singing, making paper airplanes, folding clothes, cooking…the kids love seeing pictures of my family, and I love sharing! Also- Mom, if you need your pearls re-strung, I need them before we leave for Beijing on May 6th! ;)