Meet the teacher day

Meet the teacher day went well today. We went over to the school about 3- via a beng beng (more about that another time- but it is an electric rickshaw basically and there are a lot of them in our new area- $0.80 one way fare). Austin was being very brave and had a good attitude, though I could tell he was a little nervous. We met his teacher- Sun Laoshi (laoshi means teacher and it is proper to address them with the title) and another teacher at the school. The kids were still napping, but they were really nice to him. I was so proud of him- even in our short visit he spoke more Chinese than I think I have ever heard him speak in one sitting. I had prepped him to say "Ni Hao Laoshi" (hello teacher) and he did very nicely when we arrived. She wanted to "bao bao" him and he said very politely "bu yao xie xie" (no thank you). They asked him his name and he said his full Chinese name. On the way there I asked him if he wanted to use his nickname (Wei Wei) or his full name (Gao Wei Wen) and he definitely wanted to use the full name. They asked him how old he was and he answered in Chinese. I had to fill out a form with all his information- including his daily sleep and eating habits, things he might be really afraid of (I said drilling and thunder) and health background. His teacher showed him around once- picking him up this time, but he didn't object. He was also rather concerned about the bathroom. Well, maybe with good reason. They have a regular Chinese bathroom down the hall, but for convenience have set up a makeshift bathroom in the classroom. There is a screen and on one side is the girls and the other is the boys...but behind it are two buckets. If they have to pee, they just go in the bucket. Austin kept asking why the boys' bucket was a former Lego container. I think I would be glad I was a boy if I was him. If they have to poop, apparently they do take them down the hall to the real bathroom, though it is a squatty. Fortunately for Austin- he usually has to poop after dinner!

So, overall a good experience but we will see how tomorrow goes. His class only has 5 other kids and the older class has 9- so I think that is an ideal set up. I might be more nervous than he is. Pictures tomorrow, I promise.