Right now my life feels like this:
Monday: Work
Tuesday: Work
Wednesday: Work
Thursday: Work
Friday: Work
Saturday: Work
Sunday: Blog
I hope it lasts!
I talked about my new Y1 class last time. Wow, those kids think I’m HILARIOUS. What a wonderful change. So good for my self-esteem. The littlest things I do are apparently hysterical and evoke laughter and glee. I wonder how long it will last. The other day I went student by student, saying hello and taping their nametags to their shirts. I had a pile of nametags, so it took some searching, so I would chant their name a bit while I looked for it. The exchange went something like this:
Me: Hello Jenny!
Jenny: Hello.
Me: Let me see…Jenny Jenny Jenny Jenny Jenny…
The chanting is what evoked such laughter. I guess it was funny. So THEN, because I am apparently a laughter-whore, I started chanting their names in song. OMG. They loved it. They also love when I demonstrate how to play games. I try to be really dramatic when demonstrating how to slap a flashcard on the wall with a mosquito slapper. The more ridiculous I look, the more laughter I get. I still have a crier or two, but for the most part the kids are catching on and feel pretty comfortable with me. They’re adorable too, and the parents have stayed in the hallway and we’ve closed the drapes so they can’t all stare at us the whole time.
In my Y2 class, we’re learning clothing, and the other day I had all the kids take off their shoes. I put all the shoes in my basket and we counted them and talked about how many blue shoes and pink shoes and black shoes we saw. They loved it. It’s pretty exciting taking off your shoes! This week we’re going to take them off again and I’m going to sell them back to the kids (they have to say, “I want two blue shoes” or whatever). I’m pretty excited. I think they’re going to like it, since if they like anything more than taking off shoes, it’s fake money.
Let’s see…did I talk about my new K1? I have a K1, which is the very beginning level for older kids. I have several Japanese students in that class, and one student can’t really speak English OR Chinese, so my co-teacher has a hard time communicating with him and his family. I’m a little confused in that class because I haven’t taught a class like it yet. My previous K classes used a different book, and while the book we use for this class is the same book series as my M class, but M classes go half the speed of K classes. Plus, I only have my M class for the first hour, while I have this class for the full two hours, so I’m not used to it. It’s also a little tough because their ages range from six to twelve, so I have to think of games and activities that will please everyone. Plus, we’re literally learning A, B, and C, so the kids can’t write full words yet (at least most of them can’t), so that eliminates a lot of games. But the kids are super nice and my co-teacher is awesome. She is new to the children’s department, so she’s confused and possibly overwhelmed, but she’s super friendly and nice and helpful.
I also have a new K3 class. Actually I’m not sure it’s K3, that’s how confused I am about what classes I have right now. It’s a pretty big class—17 or 18 students—and they are mostly boys. I think I have three or four girls. I’ve only had them for one day, but I think they’ll be a good class. I might have to make them nametags, though. I can’t remember that many boy names. And there’s a pair of twins in there too, so there’s no hope. There’s one kid who is super weird, in a good way. He just sat in his seat giggling for the entire class. He’s super talkative and bouncy and energetic and he just constantly laughs. It’s like having a drunk person in my class. His is the only name I remember—Jimmy2 (there’s a Jimmy1, hence the 2…yes they name students here like they name Lucilles in “Arrested Development”).
My adult class ended this week. I was up late Friday night filling out final grade reports, and then on Saturday morning, only five out of ten students showed up! And the fifth one only showed up after the first hour-and-a-half! I was worried that they hated me, but I got my survey score result after that class and they gave me a really high score, which made me feel better. Although, one of the categories in which I didn’t get a perfect score was “Teacher is (often/sometimes/rarely/never) supportive and encouraging.” Who doesn’t think I’m supportive and encouraging enough!? I didn’t think that was possible, and now I’m worried. I hope I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings. But anyway, I won’t be following this class (most of the time you don’t follow a class in the adult department) and I know that I’m getting a new kids class on Saturday mornings, so I don’t think I’ll be working in the adult department again anytime soon. I’ve been claimed for the children’s department I guess. That’s fine…adult classes are nice in some ways, but they stress me out in other ways. But they were nice people and fun students, so I’ll miss them.
This week I have two new classes: an M class on Thursday nights and a K class on Saturday mornings. I subbed for a class a couple Thursdays ago for one of the foreign teachers who just quit and I was TERRIFIED I was going to get assigned that class (they’re a nightmare), so I’m thanking God for this M class I’m getting instead. Although I haven’t met them yet, so maybe I should knock on wood…
Speaking of knocking on wood, that’s one of those superstitions I can’t shake. I HAVE to knock on wood lest I jinx myself, and I taught that to my A12’s a few classes ago. We were practicing the future tense and they were asking each other, “What won’t you do next month?” and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM answered, “I won’t die.” That’s when I knocked on wood for each one of them and explained the superstition, which they rightly dismissed as absurd. But who says stuff like that?! Crazy kids.
I think the highlight of my week was in my Y2 class. Our new “P” word is “pizza.” I was asking different students to give me different flashcards that were on the floor, and I asked Mia to give me “pizza.” As she picked up the pizza flashcard, she pretended to eat the pizza and then…licked it. She licked the flashcard. I said, “Eww!! Mia, there are so many germs on that!” and she looked at me and laughed, with a look that said, “Ha, ha, I’m oh-so-clever!” I wish I could adequately describe how filthy the flashcards at my school are. They’re grimy. They’re sticky. They’re disgusting. My newest Y2 kid, Aaron, wouldn’t touch them for a while. He picked them up by the edges very slowly and carefully, letting the skin of his fingers make as little contact as possible. And here’s Mia, LICKING the pizza flashcard. And to top it all off, thinking she was really clever. It was hilarious really, because she’s soooo very wrong about how smart she was. Disgusting, Mia. Disgusting.
Ahh!!! I almost forgot about the real highlight of my week. OK, for those of you who know about my obsession with this dish that I first experienced in Hong Kong, check out what I found today:
I know!!! It’s “Soup Lady Soup.” We went to the mall to buy Mike his birthday present (new headphones!) and ate lunch at the food court. I had yet to find something I liked at the food court, but I saw this lady buying a noodle dish that looked like stuff I’ve eaten at Thai restaurants in the States, so I ordered that. It was delicious, but more importantly, it came with this dessert soup. It’s coconut milk, tapioca pearls, and chunks of fruit (usually mango and pineapple). I think there might be sweetened condensed milk too. It was my favorite nightmarket food in Hong Kong, and I tried to recreate it at home several times (my family members all hate it). And here it is in Taiwan too! I was so excited. I don’t know what it’s called in Mandarin but I need to find out. Mike had just left our table to go get food when I discovered what was on my tray, and it took everything in me not to jump up and chase after him so I could show him it as soon as possible. I was thrilled. Oh yeah, and it tasted pretty great. Not as good as the original, of course. Wherever you are Soup Lady, I miss you!
So yeah, it was Mike’s birthday on Friday! We got some Indian food for his birthday dinner. Usually we just order a couple curry dishes at this place, but they raised their prices, so we got the set dinner, which was cheaper. I got a nice yogurt drink and Mike got some Indian chai tea. The set comes with a little salad dish, which includes some chips, vegetables, a potato pancake, and a couple spicy sauces. The lady explained that the “green juice” (or green sauce) was a little spicy and the “orange juice” (or orange sauce) was very spicy. Mike confused them and ate a bunch of orange sauce on his first bite, which was pretty hilarious. It was REALLY spicy, even if you just had the teeniest taste. I was waiting for him to cry, but he didn’t. But the meal was really good! I felt like I was going to burst when we left.
I also bought him a nice cake from the bakery down the street. It was hazelnut/coffee flavored, and had cute little squirrels on the top. It was delicious! We also watched Wall-E (adorable) and today I bought him headphones. I had tried to find headphones by myself, but could only find headsets and I was confused and didn’t want to buy the wrong ones. I felt bad he didn’t get to open up a wrapped present, but I’d probably buy the wrong kind anyway, so it’s best that he got to choose them himself. It was a fun birthday!
So we’re both jacked up on antibiotics right now. I’ve been on those antibiotics all week (I stopped taking the stomach and cold pills after a few days) and my cough is nearly gone. I feel so much better. But it’s still there, and Mike caught it too, so we both went to the doctor again yesterday after work. He gave me a few more antibiotics and a new powder. They had us go in together, so I got to watch Mike’s experience too. He told Mike he has bronchitis and had him to breathe into a machine for a couple minutes. While I was waiting for Mike to finish breathing into the machine I watched two children be seen by the doctor. It’s so weird to me how we all watch each other get seen by the doctor. So Mike got a cocktail consisting of FOUR pills and some powder. We’re not sure what the fourth pill is, but oh well. He is feeling better even after just one day, so I’m sure he’ll be fine.
So because we’ve been sick, poor, and I’ve been working a lot (and six days a week), we haven’t gone on any adventures lately. All my adventures involve my interactions with five-year-olds. I hope to go to Kaohsiung soon before it gets too hot (Kaohsiung is in the south), and next weekend we’re going to a forest park area of some sort in Nantou with Mike’s old students. While I love doing nothing on Sundays now that I work a lot, I need to make myself go out and do things.
Oh yeah, so this week at my morning class, we made pizza. We took pieces of white bread and spread tomato sauce on them. Then the kids added some cheese. Then we poured a medley of peas, carrots, corn, and ham chunks on top and cooked them in a toaster oven. Each student could make two, so the Chinese teacher suggested the kids give their second pizza to another teacher. So the kids walked around the school giving their pizzas away. One student couldn’t find the teacher she had in mind because she was in the bathroom. So she walked into the bathroom and tried to give her the pizza in there. Gross! The teacher told her she was very nice to think of her, but next time, try not give someone food in a bathroom. Of course one student chose to give his pizza to me, so I had to eat it, even though I try not to eat before doing a surgeon-style hand-washing and I ESPECIALLY try not to eat what five-year-olds create. I told myself that the toaster oven killed all of the germs that little Louie spread on his pizza when he licked his fingers and played with the cheese and vegetables. I know I need to loosen up in this respect, but if you watched five-year-olds pick their noses the entire time you read them a story, you wouldn’t want to eat anything they go near either.
Speaking of this class, these kids HATE “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” Who hates “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”????? I take offense to this. The Very Hungry Caterpillar rocks. What’s wrong with them!? They much prefer “Pig Picnic”--where the pigs share their picnic food with the wolf--and vegetables kissing each other. Crazy kids.
1 comment:
I agree with the kids. You're pretty freakin' hilarious. Also, LOVE LOVE LOVE Mike's cake.
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