Celebrity Status Update: China Famous?!

So I totally had to share this one...
Day two of teaching and I do my usual introduction: Here are all the places I've traveled to, here is what I majored in, these are my hobbies, etc. This time however, things went a little bit differently than they had in previous classes. This is my Freshman class, my 7:00 pm - 8:50 pm class comprised of 50 or so eager beavers who are giggly and excited and talkative. When I start to write my hobbies on the board, I write the word s-i-n-g-i-n-g and immediately hear an echo of "oohh" and "aahhh" followed by the voice of one of the young males in the class who demands "teacher, sing a song". This of course is followed by thunderous applause so after a few seconds of this, I reluctantly agree and proceed to sing the main chorus of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" and next thing you know, phones are pointed in my direction and the flashing of lights overwhelms me. 5 minutes later, I am being told to pose this way and that way and videos are being recorded; students are having their friends take pictures with me as others are posting videos of my 30 second performance on the Chinese equivalent of YouTube. Luckily, the bell rang to announce that class was to start again and I was able to usher them back into their seats. By the end of class, I had taken more than 25 photos and all of the students had asked for my phone number and my QQ id (their equivalent of Skype) and already as I type this, many of the students have added me to their QQ contact list. Not many people can say that they were celebrities abroad but I do believe this certainly qualifies. If there is one thing I truly look forward to this year, it is spending time with the amazing, sweet, and spirited students I am teaching this year. Such a different experience from the adults who make me feel like a zoo animal and glare at me (yes, one guy on the train actually scowled) for being Black. Moral of the story: don't tell Chinese kids you have a talent because they will ask you to demonstrate. They asked me to do a traditional Haitian dance as well but I told them that the dance was for another time!

This was the first time I saw the City Skyline at The Bund in Shanghai
Just added this pic because I want to perform here sometime and maybe now I can!