TeamWaWa and their crazy adventures

Good day friends and family. Monday, January 14th was Shane English School’s annual banquet celebrating year 2018. I can’t believe this was our third banquet. Time flies. These banquets aren’t like the company parties in the US. The Chinese staff rent ball gowns and we are all required to do performances. The foreign teachers were split into two groups. One set performanced to “Another Brick in the Wall” and the other set “Evolution of Dance”.  I’ve posted the video of “Evolution of Dance” on the Shane English School FB page. It’s 8 minutes. Go check it out. These events definitely aren’t our scene. Required to attend. Required to perform. But, you do what you have to do.  It does provide a nice conclusion to 2018. Those 365 days are part of the past. The good, the bad, the remarkable memories made here in China are now part of a photo album. Wow! We are quickly working to build up our 2019 library. I hope you all stay tuned to what’s up and coming with us. Kota Kinabal...

ESL teaching is not the career or job path we envisioned after college. We never wanted to be teachers. Teachers in America are devalued. American kids, especially teens, can be disrespectful.  Why would I want to subject myself to that? And, not that money is everything, but the pay isn't worth it either. Matt and Kristin had really good jobs in America. They owned a house, two cars were paid off, they had 2 adorable cats, and healthcare. So, why think about moving? It was time for a change. The world presented an opportunity, and they seized the moment. Heading into the unknown world of ESL teaching in China. Blinded by the excitement and chaos, they flew 28 hours to the other side of the map and have been there for 2 years. Yes, 24 months to be exact. Teaching is easy in China. On some days, you really do feel like a dancing monkey. On other days, you feel like a bad ass superhero. The kids are cute. They adore their teachers. They try so hard to talk with you. Mostly i...

Hello! Can you believe it's the end of 2018. 11 months have come and gone. 2019 is on the horizon. I love this time of year. There is Christmas and New Year's and all the hopes for a wonderful 12 more months. Christmas for us has changed from big family celebrations with white elephant gift exchange to teaching and playing with kids. The Shane Christmas show this year is slightly different. We had to come up with themes and plays or dances for the kids to perform. I'm sure they will be awesome. It makes for the month to go quick. Boredom is setting in. The weather has been rainy and chilly in Changzhou. So less outside time for us. We teach long weekend hours. In fact, we are the Senior Teachers with the most classes. Go figure, right? The trend of pile work on followed us from America. The biggest excitement is our January trip to Kota Kinabalu Malaysia. Everyone knows by now; we love our island vacations! The flights and resort are booked. Just waiting on the tra...

Wow, it’s the middle of October. Time does fly.  Soon it will be Kristin’s birthday. I wonder what the kids will do this year for her 🤗 At Shane English School Changzhou, we are focusing on two holidays; Halloween and Christmas. Kristin planned, sourced, and purchased the activities for our school’s event. Hopefully, it turns out to be a blast. For the Shane Christmas show, the school placed us into teams to create mini skits and themes for the students to perform. Matt’s team has Thailand. He wrote out a very fun skit based off tourism. Kristin’s team planned a superheroes theme. Her country, USA. So easy. Hello, we are American!  Other teams include Mexico, Canada, South Africa. I think this years Christmas show will be one of the best. Our school is going through a lot of course changes at the moment. We’ve been tasked with putting together new English club themes, powerpoints, course guides, progress tests, new demo structures..... So, lots of late nights. We don’t m...

Hello everyone! October 1st is National Day in China. I would relate it to America’s Independence Day. The Chinese people usually get 4-5 days off. So, it’s better! Haha! Since, it’s a huge holiday, we decided to stay around Changzhou. Ticket prices were increased by 100-200 RMB. The bigger cities were crowded. Changzhou was quite peaceful. Ok, rephrase, as peaceful as it can be. We worked on some PPTs for work, went to the gym, visited s couple parks, and went bowling. Relaxing. That’s one word to sum up our 5 days.

Hello, hello, hi, nihao! It’s Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival time in China. The biggest thing I notice is temperatures in Changzhou are finally early fall like. That makes us happy! Morning and evening walks will resume. But, what traditional meaning does this time hold for the Chinese? First, it’s held on a specific day each year which is determined by the lunar calendar. It’s when the moon is at its fullest. Moon worship has deep Chinese roots. There are a number of myths surrounding this festival. One myth that makes the most sense is the Zhou dynasty workshipped the moon for a good harvest the following year. Festivities include mooncake making and eating, lighting paper lanterns, and spending time with families. #changzhou #livinthedream #teamwawa #moonfestival Look at the awesome moon pictures. So bright and beautiful!