“There are many things in the world that should be appreciated for the good that they present us, for example the simple beauty of a rose. In order to take full advantage of the good things in life, such as our family and friends, we need to set aside our stress and our work. If we only look at the future we will never fully appreciate the good things happening in the present. This is why I believe living in the moment and noticing the many good things in life is very important.

We are fortunate in many ways. We go to a great school, have loving parents and have good health. It is important to live in the moment and be grateful for what we have now. On Monday mornings I’m sure many of us are already looking forward to the next weekend. When the weekend comes, we probably look forward to the next special event, when that event passes, we look forward to our next break from school, but it is better to be living in the present instead of always looking forward to the future. When something great happens, take advantage of it and enjoy the full experience. When you are stressed, stop yourself and remember to take in all the good things that are happening to you. The virtue of living in the present is best said by the Dalai Lama. When he was asked what surprised him most about humanity he said, “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not live in the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future, he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies never really having lived.” We have many things to be thankful for and we need to make the most of them. If we do this, we will have a newfound appreciation for life as it is in the present. I believe that it is important to control your stress and realize the incredible things happening in your daily life. You should take advantage of the moment and not over worry the little things. So I leave you with something a great teacher once told me, ‘Remember to always take time to stop, and smell the roses.’ This I believe.”

His last line particularly caught my attention. “Wait,” I thought, “is he talking about me?” As goosebumps creeped along my arms, I knew my instincts were right and I was so excited.

I teach my students the concept of taking time to “stop and smell the roses” when I teach them about meditation. On these class days, I make 13-15 middle school boys sit silently in a room to clear their mind and exist in the present. Most of my boys can’t sit still in any normal scenario for longer than 30 seconds, let alone be silent, but they absolutely love meditating. Despite their initial, ill-informed perceptions, they came to crave the break from the pace of the daily grind. They relish in the challenge of thinking of nothing, and they share the images and journeys of their minds with excitement.

As a teacher, I have academic goals and life goals. As much as I want my boys to be fluent in Chinese, I want them to leave my classroom with an expanded worldview, a stronger sense of self, and a commitment to being a good person. These are lofty goals perhaps, but it’s moments like listening to my student’s speech today that motivate me to keep trying, to push them beyond their normal and stretch their comfort zones.

I was so proud of my student today. I am proud that he is someone who at 14, has internalized what it means to make the most of life. We can all benefit from getting a reminder to smell the roses because I don’t think any of us want to be the one on our death bed who wonders “where did all the time go?”

I had to look beyond the absurdity of the situation, and respond…fast. This student (not one I teach) had managed to drop his not-so-suave line on me a few minutes before my seventh grade class started in front of 16 other students of mine. It became obvious to me that it had to be dealt with immediately, and loudly enough that the entire classroom understood what I was (hopefully) crafting into a teaching moment.

As I very sternly looked him in the eyes and replied that his comment was, in fact, incredibly inappropriate, it became very obvious that it was not the reaction he had anticipated. His face transitioned in sequence from joking to happy to confused to uneasy to just plain scared. I have worked hard to make sure my boys know when they’ve crossed a line. I made a point that this was not just something he shouldn’t say in front of me, but why it was an issue to talk to women like that, and he affirmed that he could see the issue. He apologized profusely, and even showed up after the next class to apologize again.

This is not the only time I’ve been slapped in the face by an off the wall comment like this. When meeting with a group of high school boys who will play rugby for me this spring a few months ago, I was informed by a student that if i “dressed nicer” to attend their school meeting “more people would sign up for the team”.  At first I waited for him to be joking, and as the seconds went by and he waited for my response, I realized that he was not in fact joking at all and then I was at a loss for words. A real concern on our team was not having enough numbers to play this season; his intentions were genuine. However, the fact that he fell back on blatantly “selling” his young female coach to attract his classmates to the sport, is indicative of a deeper issue that runs through their culture.

I take my job very seriously when it comes to being communicative with my boys about what it means to respect women. I also understand that they don’t always have the best examples, particularly with what they are bombarded with in the media. I’ve never seen an episode of the Jersey Shore, but I do know a a good number of 11-14 year olds that watch it religiously. Examples and influences like these might make my job more difficult, but they also make it all the more important. Setting good examples and challenging the boys to think about issues such as gender is something I often discuss with my female colleagues, many of whom have had experiences like mine. Based on my prior interactions with the students that made these comments, I don’t think for an instant that they were aiming to disrespect me; however, kids need to learn that life doesn’t operate like an episode of reality television.

Fun fact: China’s name in Chinese is ‘zhong guo’ which literally translates to “Middle Kingdom”

The 6-week program is for Chinese teachers whose first language is English (description fits me to a T!), and is funded by Fulbright. I’m one of (only) 10 participants. We spend 3 weeks in Beijing and 3 weeks in Chengdu, each day receiving intensive language instruction and attending seminars and lectures on teaching techniques. All of us will be signing a language pledge for the duration of the program requiring us to speak only Chinese and we will be participating in other cultural seminars and events. We also create actual lesson plans during the program, so it will put me in a good position to start off the school year in the fall.

The program’s deadline was long past by the time I had started teaching. I didn’t even know the program existed. However, due to unforeseen conflicts, one of the participants had to unexpectedly back out– and here’s where fate intervened! The coordinator of the program happened to know the high school Chinese teacher at my school, who upon hearing the situation of the new vacancy told the coordinator about me. Within 3 days, I applied, interviewed and was retroactively accepted to the program.

Coincidence? Fate? Luck? Who knows. All I know is that I’m going back to China in less than 2 months and I’m very excited.

I really enjoyed my first two days, getting to know my students and co-workers and getting a feel of the vibe of the school. It’s a completely new environment for me; not only is this my first “real” job post-college, but it’s also my first experience in a private, all boys school. I teach a very introductory 5th grade class, 2 sections of 6th graders, a 7th grade and an 8th grade class. My students cover the full spectrum of puberty, with my pint-sized 6th graders and my I’m-not-in-high school-but-will-be-soon 8th graders that are an average a foot or two taller with voices a few octaves lower than my other sections. Overall, the kids seem incredibly enthusiastic for the language and have some real skills and in the relatively few instances that I’ve really gotten to work with them on Chinese, I feel this great excitement for the upcoming months.

Coming in as a newbie, in addition to being a young woman in a male dominated environment, has it’s perks and pitfalls. I’m one of three female teachers in the middle school, but I also have the element of surprise not being Chinese. No one quite expected someone who looks like me to be the new Chinese teacher and I’m trying to use that to my benefit. I’ve also caught wind of a few rather hysterical stories of some of the students’ excitement over the new “Miss” in town (we are apparently few and far between and these guys don’t get to see too many girls as it is). One of the more outgoing boys I sat with at our lunch table on Friday asked me how I was fairing in the ‘all boys’ atmosphere, and his question made me laugh. It’s definitely a new world, but I’m more and more happy each day that I’ve ended up with this job and can’t wait to see what happens over the next few months.