Be Kind

Periodically I need to have a little discussion with my kids about how they treat other people. This talk usually stems from one of them being rude or disrespectful to someone within the confines of our school.

So I decided to shape my latest lecture in the form of a self-learning exercise.

First, I asked them to tell me about all the things their parents teach them. There were no surprises in this segment of the discussion.
Then I asked the kids to tell me about the things I teach them.

The list consisted of the basics: English, stories, how to say things, new words, funny things, how to read, how to be crazy, ect. There were also comical additions like zhongzi, a tradition triangle sticky rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo and eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, thrown in the mix.

Then I asked them what other things I taught them other than English. This took some thinking…

Evan raised his hand first. A million thoughts ran through my head trying to figure out what his witty answer would be. Here we go!
“Evan, what is something else I teach you that is not about English?”
With a slight smile on his face he replied,

“You teach us to be kind.”

I almost crumbled.
Here I thought for sure he was going to say “diarrhoea” … his word of the month.

They Call Her Kitty, Kitty Kat

Over the past month, our apartment has had some new guests arriving intermittently. I don’t mind guests. Actually, I love it when people come over to visit, but it is in our apartment where these guests still remain. It’s not like I can just ask them to go. They are small and take up very little space. They don’t eat my food or snore like my mother. I think it’s their eyes that get me. Kind and soft.

After some self-coaxing, I have concluded it is time that I accept these free loaders as permanent fixtures in our apartment.  Although this is not saying much, they have now survived longer than any fish under my roommate’s care. Poor fishies. *sniffle

So the other day I am chilling on the couch doing things of such little importance I don’t remember what they were. Then entered Emily with something in her hand.  She approached the TV and began shuffling her collection of stamps around to make room for one more.  Now, these are not just any ordinary stamps. These are much more than the hand-carved wooden or granite ones you can get with your Chinese name on them. These are finely moulded plastic Hello Kitty stamps. I think the fact that ink is not included only adds to their value in Taiwan. It just leaves you with more options in the end.

No need to be underwhelmed. There are more.

Hello Kitty is a commodity in Taiwan, and it is often very expensive. But lucky for many people in Taiwan, 7-11 offered these stamps as their sticker collecting campaign last round. With purchases over a certain amount at 7-11 you get stickers to collect, and when you collect enough stickers, you can a free prize. Normally these prizes are tacky, so I give them to my kids in Teacher Teri’s Store. I am in no way implying that the Hello Kitty stamps are tacky, but I will say to this date I have zero in my possession.

The discussion between Emily and I included comments about how many there were, and the joy she felt when she finally had a complete set. I gathered it was equivalent to parents holding their newborn in their arms for the first time.

Then my inquisitive nature got the best of me. How did you get so many?

I got them through buying and trading.

AH WHAT? Buy them? You bought them? Really?

Well I had to buy them to get the complete set.  Aren’t they cute? You can’t look in the box at the ones they give you, so that’s why there are replicas. I had to get a complete set before any of my students did.  I needed a full set. Yes necessity.  I am taking them with me when I go home. Yeah you can buy them. Some were so difficult to find……

By this time my head is spinning. Am I hearing this correctly? I keep hearing so many unexpected sentences that I can’t seem to process them quickly enough or put them in the correct order any longer.

 Who could have foreseen this going beyond just one set? Maybe I should have looked closer at the signs? Asked more questions? Scheduled around the clock 7-11 watches? As I reflect on the last couple months, I have realized nothing I could have done would have curbed this obsession!  Alas, 18 Hello Kitties and counting. Nicely displaced on our TV and in front of the fish tank, which is strictly reserved for only the frog prince and some special princess kitty.

They give our fish friends word of encouragement. Just keep swimming... swimming...swimming.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Emily through this long journey. Apparently her world almost came crashing down on her when her students got a complete set before she did. She doesn’t know what their tactics were, but all that mattered was at the end of the day she had her Hello Kitty stamping sets… again ink not included.

This is an ode that’s not an ode for my dear Emily. We have had a great year in Taiwan and have shared so much. Someone who I wish to never be far or forgotten. 

AND DRUM ROLL PLEASE

My apologies for being MIA. It feels as though I just wrote a blog, but it turns out the last time that happened was six months ago! 

At the end of the month, I am moving into a new apartment. And as of tomorrow I have been here for one year. It is really difficult to believe that I have been gone for that long! 

I thought I would finally post a video of where I have been camping out for the last year. I know Jamie will approve of this place because of the sunlight and brightness. My bamboo grows like weeds here. My new place still has the same amount of sunshine only I am three floors higher, so I can get the best seats in the house for earthquakes.

Here is the link to the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CPr3Tuwf2k&feature=youtu.be

XOXO

It was bound to happen

I am starting to miss things. Some claim this means the homesickness is setting in. At first I rejected this diagnosis, and I thought it was merely a cold. A common cold: occasional sneezes and a stuffy nose.

Then I started noticing my tolerance for stupidity dwindling. This is where I realized it was something far more. Maybe it’s the apocalypse or a French horn being blown into a fan. Then I saw post after post…

Hear ye hear ye. Behold Teri, beautiful Northern Lights dancing through the midnight sky. The one and only Aurora Borealis. Na, na, nah, na, nah. You can’t see it because you moved to the other side of the world where this beauty has yet to touch.

Barnacles!

I am even beginning to miss the magpie you never see but always hear at 5:00 am on the mornings you crave sleep more than the smell of freshly cut grass.

I’m not superwoman. I guess this was bound to happen…

No sense of Ha-Ha

A while back, I was reading a story with my PET class. One of the vocabulary words was stern. So logically, I told them if someone is always serious, my mom says, "They have no sense of ha-ha!" There were some laughs, then we moved onto the next word.

Last week, the kids were being a little unruly, and I was getting a little frustrated.

"Seriously guys, we have to get through this stuff!!!!!"

As I am facing the board, these words came hurdling at me.

"Teacher you have no sense of haha!"

I turned to them. You could see the fear in their eyes. I could not contain myself any longer. I almost cried I was laughing so hard, and they were not far behind me. 

It is time...

Here is a little list of things I have observed and learnt over the course of the last 6 weeks. But today I am saying good-bye to Mr. splint, even if it is a week early. I think it has healed as much as it can, and I don’t trust the advice of the last doctor I had, and I am thoroughly sick of it. Ooooo I feel like such a rebel sometimes!

1. I can no longer fist pump with two hands
2. I have a perma claw…
3. My peace sign looks gimped. I call it the peaceful claw
4. Purse essentials turns from lip gloss to surgical tape and liquid advil.
5. Things are better in twos. There were a few times when I was sliding down a greasy hiking trail backwards that I would think to myself, “Hmm a second hand to grab ANYTHING could be somewhat useful at this point in time.”
6. Front braking on a scooter is doable with a little practice. It also teaches the best head banging techniques.
7. Being a hand-talker scares small children
8. The perfect time to re-tape is while waiting for a meal, and it gets people even more curious.
9. Sneezes sometimes hurt, especially when they catch you by surprise. I have learnt not to flail my hand while I sneeze.
10. Everyone wants to look at it and touch it as if they are all doctors. I felt guilty after rudely jerking away from an actual nurse who wanted to take a look. Don’t worry I let him take a look once he showed me his credentials.
11. I now know that feeling of disappointment most adolescent boys feel when they fail to unclasp a bra with one hand on the first try… Good thing I give myself second, third and sometimes fourth tries.
12. I have had nightmares about family members in the medical professions scolding me for not having a bone density test done on my hand and telling me I am pretty much doomed. 
13. Sometimes I follow my intuition. When I packed baby powder in my belongings, I had no idea what I  might use it for. After 4 days of being in the pouring rain, and my fingers being on the verge of rotting, it saved me. It really did.
14. The splint makes it easier to make puppets with a flashlight as long as I remember how to do it. First try, epic fail and the children knew it. I got better though.
15. This hand is a human magnet. It absolutely is! Even when walking with it against my chest through a crowd, people run into me straight on. Hmm let me rephrase: It gives me invisibility powers. That is why everyone runs into me. Silly me.

I keep posting about my hand. I know it is boring and this is the third one, but my creativity in writing is lacking these days. I think I just need to go for some long walks with my voice recorder (I replaced Teri’s Book of Random Thoughts with this handy device that records faster than I can write), or sit with a fabulous glass of wine and a book. I will post things with more substance soon!

Life can be tough

You know life is tough when at the end of the day the biggest thing you have to complain about is your straw having a crack in it and you having to work a little harder to not become dehydrated.