Trying to leave school in the afternoon can sometimes = complete insanity. If I accidentally time it right, I am stepping out right when a ton of the younger kids are being picked up by their parents. If you saw how crazy the public buses are here and what it is like crossing the streets, you wouldn't let your child go alone either. But the buses are for another post!

It's just ridiculous though. First I have to navigate through a sea of children who are supposedly lined up behind their teacher and a child holding up their class sign. It looks like a blob to me. I hear a few cries: "Miss Church! Miss Church!!" but I am too far in to the depths of the blob and can't stop now. After I push my way through I usually end up in a line of haizimen (children) who are narrowly filing out to the street so then I have to make a right-hand nose dive through the parents (I've become Chinese and the kids are walking too slow for my taste). They of course don't really move, probably in part because they are staring at me and also in part because they don't want to lose their vantage point. But after I make it to the street it's like a rush of fresh air to my lungs. Maybe I was holding my breath for good luck, I don't know. Sometimes I encounter a student on the other side and their parents want to see them talk to me so they push them over and I have a silly conversation with them for a little bit. Then it's sweet freedom, and honestly nothing feels better than putting on my Ipod and turning it up to full blast! I think next time I will have "We Will Rock You" ready to go.

Just look at the pictures though, do you see how far that swarm of parents goes back?! If you look closely, you can see the security guard getting involved too! This behavior reminds me of when I first landed in Dalian though- they had like a glass viewing wall separating the baggage claim area and the waiting area to pick up your arrivee (to me that is just really funny in and of itself considering how useful and necessary it turns out to be). At first I thought someone really important must have landed because so many people were watching us get our bags...but no. Some people were seriously standing at that wall for like over half an hour! Come on people it's really not that interesting :)