A Night Out

Boy do I ever feel like a horse's pa-toot.

For the past 10 weeks, I have been dreading my business English class. I did not enjoy teaching this class, and did not really take to any of the students - who are all seniors. All seniors in our university finish their courses early, so they can find a place to intern for their final semester. So, I gave final exams this week. I was so excited to not have to see these students anymore.

In order to help motivate the students to participate in class, I had an on-going competition for them. All the students were in teams. At the end of the semester, whichever team had the most points, got a free night out to Papa Johns. So last night, Michael and I met 10 of my students to take them out to Papa Johns (this is a lot nicer than it would be in the States, I promise). As I have said, I didn't really connect with any of these students, so I wasn't exactly excited about our night out.

I had the best time.

Turns out, these students are wonderful! We laughed and all had a really good time. During the course of the meal, they found out that I have been trying to find some shoes to wear in the winter, but haven't been able to find where to get them. So after dinner, they all (even the boys) took us shopping. They helped me find the perfect pair of boots. And not only that, they worked some magic as well. The man wanted to sell me the boots for 600 yuan (somewhere between $85 to $100). Those students (all 10 of them) argued and bargained with the man until he finally said he would sell them to me for 70 yuan (about $10). As an American, I would have never been able to get such a good price without their help!

At the end of the night, they hugged me and told me they would miss me. And I felt the same about them. We exchanged some information so that hopefully we can keep in touch. And at the end of the night I realized for the first time that I am happy to be in China.