Chinese school

Saturday was our first day of Chinese school. I had told Zhao Lei we were going to Chinese school earlier and she was clearly not happy about it. I think she said something like,"No." When it was time to go leave, she didn't want to get off the electric jeep. She finally got in and we headed off. I had planned to get there early, but it took so long to get her in the car that we arrived only a couple of minutes early. When we arrived I got out and went around and stood by her side of the car, planning to hold her hand and walk with her. I had thought she would be nervous but happy to finally hear people speak Mandarin. And she would get to be with kids who spoke Mandarin. She wouldn't get out of the car. I told her we had to go and she said, "No," with a stormy look on her face. Uh oh. I had thought that she might only like Chinese school for a couple of years until she figured out that not everyone had to go to school on the weekends or when she got sick of doing the homework on top of her regular school homework. I knew that she needed to go because there was no way I could let her forget her language simply because she hadn't felt like going when she was nine. But looking at me and saying no and not getting out of the car? I hadn't thought of that. I tried to get her out for a couple of minutes by talking to her. Of course, I was doing It with very few words and a lot of facial expressions and gesturing. It was really, really hot that day, which didn't help. And I was hungry. After about five minutes, I turned and started looking for reinforcements. I asked a dad who was walking by my car to talk to her. He halfheartedly told her to go to school then gave up. The lady I asked next said she only spoke Korean. Lucky for me, the next lady spoke Mandarin. She had her three year old daughter with her. She talked to Zhao Lei for about fifteen minutes until she finally got her out of the car. She walked with us to Zhao Lei's class's before she left. Really, really nice of her and she was very kind to Zhao Lei. Class had started by this time, but everyone stopped when we walked in the room. I explained the situation to the etcher who was very nice and talked to Zhao Lei for a couple of minutes. The room parent spoke to her as well. She sat down at a desk and I sat down at a table in the back of the room. I settled down to relax, feeling badly about how it had not gone the way I had planned and feeling badly that Zhao Lei was upset by it. She had just opened her textbook when a really loud noise came over the loudspeaker. It was an earthquake drill. Really? Today? Not tow minutes after arriving In the clasdrool and there was an earthquake drill? So we all got under the desks and held on as they blared the alarm sound and told alerted us it was a drill. After a few minutes we all had to go outside and line up. Zhao Lei wasnt very happy with me or the situation, but went along with it. We finally went back in and I read on my iPad to escape for a while. There was a break after a while and she told the teacher it was okay if I sat downstairs with the other parents. I took that as my cue. I pretty much just paced for the next two hours hoping she at least liked it a little bit and wanted to come back.
I signed Brookelyn, Sasha and I up for mommy and me Mandarin classes for the next four Saturdays while I waited. When class was over she came out and told me she was hungry. I handed her a small snack and we headed out for lunch. She wasn't mad at me at all anymore and we had a nice lunch. Since then I found tutor through the school who is going to meet with Brookelyn and Brayden once a week to teach them Mandarin. I think it will help if she sees she is not the only one having to go to class there. And I want all of them to learn how to speak Mandarin. Might as well start now so they can communicate better with Zhao Lei.