Rememberies

People often say I have more beauty products than a girl, and while I contest that assertion, I do like to moisturize my hands.  And there's a very good reason for that.  

I once got ringworm on my hand (it's like athlete's foot on your hand) in the first few months of teaching when I first started with Teach For America.  It was the first time I used chalk a lot, and my hands were very dry from the chalk.  That's apparently one good way to get ringworm, dry, chapped hands.  So after I cured my ringworm, I started to moisturize my hands like crazy.  I'm teaching at a camp in a poor Chinese school in the outskirts of Beijing, so I've been writing a lot with chalk for the first time in a few years.  

I got involved in this camp through a group in China that focuses on enhancing the lives of migrant children.  Migrant children are in a very precarious situation in China, straddling the grey, murky area of the law.  Technically, it is illegal for people in China to leave their hometown or province without the proper paperwork (e.g. if they get into a university in another province). 

Well, there are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions of migrant workers in China, busily digging and building for the 2008 Olympics.  Well, since they're not technically allowed here, their children can't go to the local public schools.  Where do the children go?  Turns out local businessmen open up "black market" private schools.  

So far, the children are great.  They are so bright, and full of energy, it's really a shame that they are relegated to less than stellar education.  I just hope I can help make their experience with the camp a good one.