I'm not in America Anymore

Obviously I am no longer in America, but living in a big city it is so easy to have a similar enough lifestyle that sometimes I forget.  Then I hear someone saying "Waiguoren" and I remember.  But today at my primary school I definitely remembered I was not in America anymore.  I woke up late chugged some green tea to give me a kick and then went to school.  I walked past the children doing PE.  Which is a story in and of it's self.  Then I went to my office to drop stuff off before going back downstairs to go to the bathroom.  I was told to bring my stuff because the office wasn't safe.. so so much for that.

These are the bathrooms at Yi Zhong but similar design to the ones at the primary school.  No doors, medium sized walls separating you from the other people in the bathroom as you squat above a trench that is flushed with water.  So the bathrooms at the primary school are similar.  I rushed to the bathroom trying to make it to the bathroom before PE ended and all the students would go.  I was going pee and I heard voices and sure enough a group of my students streamed in and said "Hello Patty."  Each one of them eagerly greeting me, as my face no doubt became redder and redder!  But eventually I managed to slip out of the toilet and head back up to my office before having to go face some of the same students.  Luckily, I don't recognize them yet.
But as if to make it up to me, the universe gave me a present, when I was leaving school at lunch time.  I was escorted down the street by some of my students who kept saying "Hello Patty", and then saying in Chinese "Oh you are so tall!"

On another note, PE in china is interesting.  They line up all the students and they do counted out exercises.  At Yizhong the students take up the soccer field, basketball courts, and two of the walkways.  The loud speaker barks out "Yi Er San Si Wu Liu Qi Ba, Er Er San Si Wu Liu Qi Ba, San Er San Si Wu Liu Qi Ba..."  All the students move in time, or as close to in time as they can get.  It is really quite amusing to picture American teens ever doing anything like this.  Just to put this in perspective here is a picture of the soccer field, behind that line of trees there are basketball courts that also have students lined up!  There are only 3 grades at the school, Gao 1, Gao 2 and Gao 3.  Gao 1 are sophomores in high school, Gao 2 are juniors and Gao 3 are seniors.