A special day

Today was a really special day, one of those days which reminds you what is important in life. We went for a home visit to one of the student's homes who lived next door. In a big group, the security guards at the entrance to the poor neighborhood almost didn't let us in, and I know it was Elizabeth and my fault because we really stood out with our blond hair. We thought we would have to go back, but with a lot of persuading we were finally allowed to enter. The girl who we were with lived in a little house that the family had built themselves, with just enough room for two beds and a ceiling not tall enough to stand up in. Her mother grows Chinese broccoli on a small plot of land near the house. They cover the plot with plastic to make a green house, so that they can grow all year round. We got to go inside and see (Picture 1). We also met the neighbors, who have the cutest little girl. She is three and was fascinated by us. She danced and sang Chinese songs for us, and when we had to go she started crying (Pictures 2). The children only have to pay $150 for the whole semester, but it takes their families months to make that much. I want to write so much more, but we have been warned that the government reads all of our email and we should be very careful what we write, so I'll have to tell you more stories later, but basically, I am really lucky to have gotten to keep these pictures.

School was great today too. I work with the lowest level of English, and I realized they didn't know how to count to 20, so I worked with them on numbers, and by taught my kids to count to a million. It was amazing to watch them realize that they could figure out really big numbers. When I would write one hundred million on the board, they would look at all the zeros and give me a face, but when I pointed out that they already knew the words for one hundred and one million, they all were just beaming. It was really a confidence booster.

In class, my favorite little girl, who drew a picture of me stated crying, talking about how amazing this school is. She is in the lowest level of English, and she talked about how her teacher didn't give up on her, even when everyone else did. The Dandelion school has become a model school, as one of the first middle schools for migrant worker children. The kids have so many big dreams, but even so, less than half of them continue onto high school. The parents want the kids to help, and as migrant children, they are really discriminated against and there are low expectations.