the cutest kids ever

by mikka





Camp is over! Yesterday we said goodbye to the few remaining teachers, plus Mr. Li and Jackie, then jumped two trains to get ourselves to Beijing overnight. These last two weeks of camp have been great, and I was really sad to leave all the students, who were wonderful. On our last day, the kids all put on some short plays (mine did a play about a turnip!), and then - after plying us with the most random assortment of gifts ever and making us each write our e-mail address* down about 500 times - walked us out of the school, giving us hugs and trying - almost successfully in my case - to drag us back into class. (Who knew a bunch of tiny eleven year olds could be so strong?)


So many Kids!

Being asked for my autograph makes me feel like a jerk, but the kids were having us sign everything from their photos to their t-shirts, which I'm sure their parents loved. That awesome necklace with the claw on it was a student gift. I know you're jealous.

I'm too tired to post any more photos, so for now, this is just a quick slideshow I made to show my class on the last day. I don't really know how to make videos on my computer yet, so, sorry about the Ken Burns effect in crazy overdrive; also, in effort to include every single kid at least once, some of the photos are not awesome. It's silly, but I get all teary when I watch this video now; I taught them "You are my sunshine" last week, and when they saw the slideshow, they all started singing along and cheering for whatever student was in each photo, and it was all I could do not to loose it in front of them. Bye, guys! I'll miss you!

* I wondered at the time if any of our lower level kids would even be able to write to us, since they can't spell all that well, but I just checked my e-mail to find a note from one of Iain's kids, Han (yes, that would be after Han Solo) that said simply "Go Go Go!" Thanks, Han!