Let Everyone Sing!

Friday, November 14. Still feeling like crap but manage to pump up enough adrenalin to teach my two morning classes. Then go to the supermarket at lunchtime. We've discovered that this is the best time to go to the supermarket - everyone else is taking their afternoon nap so it isn't crowded. And I desperately need more orange juice. Of course, when I get there, they have no orange juice so I'm trying to figure out why I've schlepped all the way here.

Go back home to rest before Friday English Corner (for Senior 1s) and have bi-monthly phone call with Diana - one of the two WT Field Directors in China. Either she or Chris checks in with each of the WT volunteers on a regular basis. As usual, I have no complaints, other than feeling under the weather.

OK, so here's what happens with English Corner: First, Mr. Zhang is away for two days. As I'm going up the stairs in the classroom building (at about 5:10 p.m.), I see lots of Senior 1 students tearing out of the building (Sports Day is tomorrow) and start to wonder whether we are actually having English Corner. Then I run into Tyler and Laura, the two other Senior 1 English teachers, who tell me that they think some of their students are coming to English Corner. But again, the Music Classroom is locked as it was last week. Tyler suggests to wait until 5:30 and if no students show up, I can leave. He doesn't know what to do about unlocking the classroom (last week, Mr. Zhang told one of the students to go somewhere to get a key). So I wait. Eventually three students show up (two girls and a boy). I can't find anyone to ask about opening the classroom because all of the Senior teachers are having a meeting on the first floor.

So I decide we'll just find an empty classroom. On the floor above, one of the Senior 2 classrooms (0701) is empty, so we go in, I turn on the lights and start setting up my iPod and speakers. Two boys (whose classroom this apparently is) walk in and I invite them to join us - then a few more walk in - and then a couple more. Eventually, I am singing "The Rose" with my 3 Senior 1 students and more than half-a-dozen Senior 2 students (all of them boys!) - and they are loving it. They ask me to explain some of the words and then want to sing it again. Then we go on to "My Heart Will Go On and On" from The Titanic (god, I hate that song! It goes "on and on."), and Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" - twice. By now, I have them standing up and belting out "because of you" every time it comes around in the chorus. Despite the fact that my body feels like sh--, my spirit is soaring. I am filled with such a sense of happiness and sweetness that these big high school boys (eventually we are joined by a couple of the girls too) want to do this. When we are finished, they ask whether we'll be doing it again next week because they want to come again! We'll see, but wouldn't that be great! I have visions (delusions, that would be!) of directing a high school chorus! I go to dinner floating on air.