There was an old lady who swallowed a fly...

Hannah ate a fly today. It was gross. I don't know she swallowed the fly. OK, I do, but I would never do it. :p

We went to a hair salon to get a shampoo and head massage. 5 yuan, right? Sounds good. :)

/after massage
Hair stylist: Blahblahblahblah
Me: Keyi (OK)
Hair stylist: Blahblahblahblah
Me: Keyi (OK) (yes, I didn't know what she was saying)
Hair stylist: Blahblahblahblah
Me thinking: Um, maybe I better get a translation first.
Me: David! Ni fang yi xia keyi ma? (David, can you translate for me for a second?)
Other hair stylists: /laughing
Me: Duibuqi! Wo shi hanguoren. /big smile :) (Sorry, I'm Korean)
Hair stylist: Blahblahblahblah
David: Ah, she wants to know if you want gel. Gel, ok?
Me: Hao, keyi. (OK, good).
Hair stylist: /starts cutting my hair
Me thinking: Uh, what is she doing?
Ruth: Bobby... ni xiang jien toufa ma? (Bobby... you intended to get your hair cut?)
Me: /nodding
Ruth: /puzzled

During post-analysis, David and I determined that when the hair stylist heard David say gel, she thought he said jien. She then repeated jien to me, and I gave the OK signal to go ahead. @@

It's not a horrible cut, you know.

Our last day of classes are tomorrow. Then we have closing ceremonies on Saturday. So tired... but ok. :) Many of our team members are healthy again, so looking good. Big daddy gave us lots of help for many things.

Our kids have to make up a presentation for the closing ceremonies, just like the other classes. So far we have... Hot Cross Buns? We'll see what happens. :)

I got really angry today. These kids that we've been trying to teach about good values made one of their classmates feel so horrible that she didn't want to come to class anymore. That student's younger sister is in my class. Normally, she's very happy (today, we gave her an award for having "The Biggest Smile"). Today, she was crying, and wouldn't explain what was going on. Found out that these kids that we've been working so hard on were the cause of it all. I was very upset. It was hard to control my anger for a while. But big daddy didn't come here to help those who needed no help, right? He came here to help those who had problems. These five kids have major behaviour problems. And others too. Four of these are the ones we caught smoking. I get to see these guys when it's their class's turn to come to Game Period (Bryan, Tim, and I manage Game Period).

We had several rounds of talks with them. In my round with them, I told them many things. I told them how angry I was. I showed it. I went through everything. Why did they want to attend these classes. Why is respect important. How is responsibility distributed among culprits. What is chivalry supposed to be. How could they have such a lack of self-respect. Why did they insist on acting like trash. What kind of trash did they have in their lives that influenced them to become this way.

I think I did some things that I shouldn't have done. Like explicitly state what I felt like doing to them. Maybe calling them trash. I'm not sure. I was very angry, but I'm sure that is no excuse. Big daddy's anger is carefully chosen and revealed only when it is necessary. Was it necessary for me? I don't know. The only thing I had going for me was that they sometimes respected what I said and therefore valued whether or not I respected them. But I had lost all respect for them today. After so many sessions of talking with them, they finally got around to hurting one of my own students.

They decided that they would make a public apology in front of the whole school. They said they wanted to do this because they felt regret and wanted to be people of value, not trash. It's very nice to hear, but who knows if they can keep it up? I know with many of my own personal problems, it's not easy. That's why grace is so important. The short-term outcome of this whole thing was perhaps good, but this incident has only made it clear to me as to how unconfident I am in my abilities to say and do the right things in resolving conflicts and applying discipline. It scares me. Big daddy is smart. I hope he teaches me. Please keep these troublesome kids in mind. I don't know how many chances they will get to have some sort of good foundation in place for good values. If this little thing can spark a yearning in them to search for how to become good people, and realize that it is not possible, and that is why big daddy does what he does, then I will be thankful. We can only plant seeds here and think hard about them.

Remember that second name of mine? It's Bobbydoe. I couldn't figure out for the longest time what the kids were saying until finally I realized that they were saying Bobby Wawa in English.

Still a wawa.....

Bobby Wawa