That's so last semester...

A new semester...a fresh start.

The new semester at the school where I volunteer was about to start and I was excited to get my new group of girls. Last time, I had no idea what to expect since I had never taught English at the High School level. I had learned a lot from my girls and felt like I knew a lot more about 15 year old girls than I did when I first started.

I walked into the classroom, but down my bag (which my last class said was "cool") and introduced myself. I told the class about my life back in NYC (lots of o's and ahhh's) my family, and my new life in Hong Kong. Then I opened up the floor for them to ask me questions.

Question #1
How old is your brother? (this is an all girls catholic school so many of them have boys on their minds...and many of them don't)

Question #2
Do you have a face book account? (There is no sense lying to them since they are going to find me anyway..I just told them that teachers are not allowed to be "friends" with students while class is in session.)

Question #3
Who is your favorite singer? A smile came to my face as I immediately said, "Justin Bieber!" They all looked at each other and started laughing. A second later they all said "EWWWWWWWW"

EWWWWWW? My last class had worshiped Justin. They talked about him non-stop! I guess I was a little out of the loop because he is no longer "cool" at this school. What is? Japanese and Korean hip hop! If I had only known this a few weeks ago, I would have paid more attention to the music on my trip to Tokyo!

A few weeks have passed and I seemed to have regained my reputation as a "cool" teacher. I told the class that I wouldn't be seeing them next week since I'm taking a trip to Shanghai. As though their response had been planned, they all shouted in unison..."Souvenirs!"

"What type?" I asked. "Food and accessories," they responded. I told them I would see what I could find to bring back. One thing I know I won't be getting....anything related to Justin Bieber.