Good Morning from Taichung! This past week we celebrated Teacher's Day in Taiwan. I received some fun little gifts from my students. Jeffrey, who is one of my favorites (I know, I know, it's not very American to pick favorites, but everyone does here, so why not?), he gave me the sweetest gift. Jeffrey is a very, very smart student. His English is very good and I often think he is quite advanced for his age group. When I explain this to his parents and also comment on how he always raises his hand and I sometimes don't call on him just to give the other children a chance, they look at me with great surprise "Really? That surprises me." both of his parents have commented to me at different times... Very Taiwanese to take the compliment as a surprise. At any rate, he came to school, gave his Chinese teachers their gifts and then sat by the door, waiting for me to arrive (I come to class a bit later usually). When I walked in with my hearty "Good Morning Flower Class!" hello, he ran up and gave me, six bars of lavendar soap. I think the hand sniffing rule has given me a serious reputation.
Another student, Shine, gave me a sweet soap and lotion set from Crabtree and Evelyn. No other foreign teachers got soap as gifts, so either I don't smell very good in class (which I hardly think is the case) or the hand sniffing rule really is effecting the children's views of me. Either way, I am very thankful for my gifts. I also got lots of sweet cards. The kids are too cute. My friend Faye, who I work with, got a card from one of the smart kids in her class and it said "Teacher Faye, it's to easy for me. Happy Teacher's Day." We laughed so hard. Apparently, the class is too easy for this student, but the fact that she used "to" incorrectly, was hillarious. Faye wanted to jokingly correct it with a red pen, but refrained.
This week, I was sick. Sicker than I have been in years. I think it's a combination of me not getting enough rest, my immune system needing a boost, my body adjusting to the changes in Taiwan's pollution and water and possibly sniffing mostly clean, but sometimes very dirty hands. At any rate, I slept pretty much from Thursday evening until Saturday morning, and am feeling much better now.
Today, a group of us are headed off to the waterfalls. I might jump in this time. Wish me luck! The weather is starting to cool and the cold days aren't that far away, so we have to take advantage of the warm weather while it's here.
3 comments:
i dont get the sniffing hands comment. did i miss a posting?
My kids are notorious for using the restroom and not washing their hands. I have become the unofficial hand sniffer, to make sure that they are using soap and walking out of the bathroom with clean hands. It pleases them to no end to shove wet, but clean hands right up my nose practically. Ah, children...
Hi Mari! I found your blog linked from Cathy & Chad's. You are doing such cool things!
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