Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Holding Our Collective Breath for 48 Hours...
Since Sarah left for China early Sunday morning, we have all been worrying about what happened to her. I knew that we wouldn't hear from her until at least sometime on Monday, and around noon, she did leave a quick message on our machine. It was heart-breaking to hear, as she sounded like she was crying, but she basically said, "I'm in China mom. I'll call back later."
So we waited and worried some more. Her dad called me several times on Sunday and Monday wondering if we had any news. I promised that I would let him know if I heard anything.
This morning I received an email from her, which basically said that everything was ok.. and that she had been very tired and anxious when she called on Monday. She was visiting a school south east of Shanghai where she might work at.
Tonight, she was online on MSN and so I got to talk to her for a few minutes. She said that the school is located in Ningpo, which is located in south east China, on the South China Sea. It is huge like a university campus and is for students aged 17 and 18 years old. She said most of the teachers are 23-25 years old. (Remember, Sarah is 19... almost 20) She said she might sign a six month contract to try it out. I asked her if she was worried about working with young adults... she said she didn't know how to handle discipline - my suggestion was the only way to "discipline" was with the use of marks. (ie. give marks for effort, participation and attitude). She also said she was embarassed about crying in front of some of the other staff as they seemed to be laughing at her. (I would bet they were laughing more in sympathy than out of meanness). She is very sensitive.
Anyway, she is happy with the residence for teachers and has made one possible friend. She said the tv is boring cause it's all in Chinese! Duh! What did she expect?
Overall we are less worried and hope it goes well for her.
So we waited and worried some more. Her dad called me several times on Sunday and Monday wondering if we had any news. I promised that I would let him know if I heard anything.
This morning I received an email from her, which basically said that everything was ok.. and that she had been very tired and anxious when she called on Monday. She was visiting a school south east of Shanghai where she might work at.
Tonight, she was online on MSN and so I got to talk to her for a few minutes. She said that the school is located in Ningpo, which is located in south east China, on the South China Sea. It is huge like a university campus and is for students aged 17 and 18 years old. She said most of the teachers are 23-25 years old. (Remember, Sarah is 19... almost 20) She said she might sign a six month contract to try it out. I asked her if she was worried about working with young adults... she said she didn't know how to handle discipline - my suggestion was the only way to "discipline" was with the use of marks. (ie. give marks for effort, participation and attitude). She also said she was embarassed about crying in front of some of the other staff as they seemed to be laughing at her. (I would bet they were laughing more in sympathy than out of meanness). She is very sensitive.
Anyway, she is happy with the residence for teachers and has made one possible friend. She said the tv is boring cause it's all in Chinese! Duh! What did she expect?
Overall we are less worried and hope it goes well for her.
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