Pink Lemonade

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

♦ 9/25/2012 08:19:00 PM 1 comments

I don't really have a lot to blog about lately. Mostly I work, come home, eat, work some more, come home, eat, and go to bed. There are also weekly Outings involved, but rarely does anything of Blog Material happen.

However, this one I just can't pass up.

So, actually I'm working at an elementary school here in town again, right? Due to privacy laws and all that kind of fun stuff, there's not a lot I feel safe blogging/talking about in public. Which is OK, and I don't mind. But today I had a student that I work with ask me, "Do you have a baby in your stomach?"

The answer, for those of you suddenly concerned, is, of course, a resounding NO. But still it was funny in an awkward sort of way.

(Also awkward is when you can't spell "awkward" and end up spelling it "awkard" instead.)

Meanwhile, now that the weather has turned more autumnal, if anyone has Out Doors suggestions for things to do in the surrounding area between the hours of, say, 4-9 on a weekday, please. Share.

Labels: children, School, Teaching, work

The End of Days (second edition)

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

♦ 1/17/2012 06:57:00 PM 0 comments

My last Wednesday. There probably won't be a whole lot of detailed description to this post simply because I don't want to think about the good-byes. I'm not ready for that yet.

Christina and I gave the AK kids their Christmas presents from us (we didn't do it the last day of class because Wednesday was Jack's last day).

I also attempted to take pictures of my 5Ga class. Yeah... didn't work so well.

My with Katie. She doesn't come on Friday's, so she was kind enough to take a picture with her teacher.

After class, Christina and I decided to take a present to the nice scooter people by the train station. It was... slightly awkward (no English on his part and very limited Chinese on our part. VERY limited). A few days later, when Dad and I were walking by, the other scooter guy came running out to me with a Christmas card and a present for us (Christina and I) of "wife cakes."

On our way home, we found this tree about a block away from the school. With Christmas lights. And garland. And ornaments! Behold:

Then, it was Friday. I woke up early (well, same time as usual, actually, I just actually got ready when I woke up) to pick Dad up at the Fengyuan train station. I had to wait for... a lot of time, but it was worth the wait. He spent the day with me and got to go to all my classes. Lucky Dad!

AK went... crazy. Since I was teaching PE anyway, though, I decided running around the playground would be just as good a work-out as anything I had planned, so we ended up going with that instead of most of our "exercises" for about 10-15 minutes. Then we went back inside and played a game of Cone Catch. The kids loved it that Dad played with us!

Then there was my 5Ga class. PARTY DAY! For about the first 20 minutes I had them clean a classroom that had already been cleaned at least 2 times. Then we played games, ate food, cleaned up all the crumbs, and watched the old cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. After whining that they didn't want to watch a Christmas movie and being obnoxious for the first 3 minutes of the film, they got sucked into it and loved it.

Sam and Johnny

Me, teaching Rosenna, Sam, and Johnny how to play LIFE.

Jacky, William, and Chris were playing Monopoly.

Me with Jacky. Let's just ignore what was going on in the background.

Amanda, Me, Anne, and Rosenna. Nini and Pamela were little stinks and didn't come to class. SAD FACE!

Johnny (standing as far away from me as he possibly can), me, Sam, William, Jacky, and Chris

Class picture!

Finally, writing class. We finished watching Hook and practiced communicating in English. I'm going to miss these two. I do miss these two. Thanks for saving my Friday's, Angel and Kevin!

Finally, before seeing Dad out for the night (he was staying at a hotel down the street by Night Market), I had Dad help me to take a picture with Frances.

And then I hunted Charlene down because I love her, and she sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to us in Chinese! (There is videographic evidence of this somewhere on the internet, but I don't want to embarrass her too badly.)

Labels: children, Taiwan, Teaching

The End of Days (First Edition)

Thursday, January 12, 2012

♦ 1/12/2012 06:14:00 PM 1 comments

FINE. I'll blog again.

So, I'm back in America. It's a bitter-sweet thing, and I'm trying hard to be glad that I'm back but, truth be told, there are many times throughout the day where I wish my time in Taiwan was not yet quite over. Jet lag may or may not have something to do with this.

I have... a lot of pictures and things to blog about. December was quite the month for picture taking. So, because I don't want to overload you too much, I'll be doing this in segments (however many it takes to get caught up).

First up, Christina and I attempted to take pictures with each of the little AK kids for Christmas. It took us three days to accomplish this, but I think it was worth it. Here are some of the little squirts that my heart is aching for:

Tiffany

Kevin getting the Teacher Look (but the tail end of it, so... doesn't look too intimidating here, does it?)

Group picture with Christina!

Group picture falling apart.

And Tim. How can you not miss this face? (Totally stole this shot from my partner in ~~crime~~ teaching)

Jay, trying to do a fish face. Perfect, because I'm the one that taught them that.

Now, the following three pictures tell a story. Kylie was trying to help us to take a class picture (unfortunately, not everyone was there, but you work with what you get in Taiwan). Nick was, well, being Nick. He was trying to cover his face, so I was holding his arms down.

Nick is now drooling. A lot. I haven't noticed. Yet:

I have now noticed the drool:

And declared picture time to be OVER!

Then there was Roommate Christmas (December 17). We had Christmas breakfast (pancakes and waffles), then opened presents. It was great fun. I'm going to let the pictures tell the story, though, because my brain is tired.

Immediately following Roommate Christmas, a few of us booked it to the bus station to make our way to Taichung for a Branch Christmas lunch (there was so much eating that day; I hate it when my whole day is centered around eating). For months I'd been wanting a good picture of one of the speaker trucks that drives by (usually advertising for the upcoming elections). How lucky was I when one not only drove by, but had a giant straw man on top? I'd say very lucky.

Christmas luncheon that turned out to be mostly the people I live with, but a few other dear friends from church as well.

Elias, Jenny, and the Listons

On the way home, Jenny wanted documentation of how crowded the bus can sometimes be. This isn't even close to the worst that I have experienced, but still is noteworthy.

Then there was the school Christmas Dinner. (Like I said. Nonstop eating All Day Long). There were these terribly delicious fruit mousse things, though, and I wish I could eat them always. They had strawberry (the flavor I chose) and mango (as pictured here, before Christina dived into it). SO FREAKING GOOD!