Mainly the Earthquake Drill

Here's a few exciting things that happened last week at school:  

At Shun An the older students have the option to ride their bikes to school, but before they can they have to pass the bike test to get a bike license.   They have a written test and a road test, although I’m not really sure what’s on the written test.  So last Tuesday during lunch I went over to watch the road test which involved kids weaving their bikes through ten cones, which were really close together I though.  Everybody had to try multiple times and one kid must have tried like 20 times.  I really admired that perseverance…especially since after everyone finally passed I took a try and it was so hard!! I kept hitting all the cones and never was able to pass, which of course was hilarious to the children.

Wednesday I was greeted with a moon cake and pineapple cake and the question “Do you know your BMI?”   Well, no, I don’t.  So we went to the health office to check it just for fun and then I came back and feasted on my treats.  Every couple of days if not more, someone in the office bestows some little treat on me.  They’re all super generous and I get to try a lot of things that I probably wouldn’t buy.  I love pineapple cake which makes an appearance on my desk regularly.   It’s basically a little square of sweet bread with mashed pineapple in the middle and always seems to be delicious.  Moon cakes are slightly more hit and miss.  The ones I’ve had here are round and flaky with different things in the middle.  I’m a big fan of the taro ones.  The kind I had on Wednesday is really famous here in Yilan I guess and it was red bean and egg and it was a little salty.  I would say that so far I’m definitely more drawn to the sweet ones.

Friday was yet another earthquake drill but this time it was the full deal.  I was at my other school, but was yet again employed in taking pictures.  The whole process was about 45 minutes and the whole time I didn’t really know what was happening but was the only person taking pictures since everyone else had a different role and I was determined to do it well, so I was running all over the place snapping shots left and right while random faculty members would call “Charissa!” and point emphatically at some event and I would dash over and take pictures.  The whole thing was like being in a play (except when everyone else knows the script but you).  First it was the basic part where the students put on their yellow pillow hats and crouch under their desks.  Then everyone gathered out in the open area in front of the school and teachers handed out masks.  After that I didn’t really know what was happening but someone called “Charissa!” and pointed at some teachers helping the handicapped children to the medical tent, so I took a bunch of pictures of that.  Then all of a sudden (at least it seemed to be without warning to me) the whole school started running away!  They crossed the street and gathered about a block away so I ran after them taking pictures the whole time.  As I was crossing the street and people in the community were outside watching or waiting to cross the street, I couldn’t help but wonder what they thought of me, some random foreigner chasing their children while snapping photos the whole time.  Anyway, shortly after that everyone came back and then a few children went to their designated spots to be rescued because they had gotten injured.  A boy got his leg put in a makeshift brace and was taken to the medical tent on a stretcher and the other boy had his arm put in a sling.  A girl was taken away in an ambulance (played by some teacher’s car) and I actually never saw her come back so hopefully that all worked out.  By this point it was raining steadily so the students sought shelter in the hallway (it’s outside but covered) and someone brought me an umbrella which was thoughtful since I was the only one without a hardhat on (all the teachers had them, but I didn’t get one, so hopefully if there’s a real earthquake they have a spare).  So next some teachers ran over to the designated spot where a fire was supposed to be happening and put it out with fire extinguishers (some real, some imaginary).  I think the last thing that happened was some parents came and picked up their children by checking in with a dean and then led their child away.  It was all very eventful!

Last Week

The other day I took a little walk around my M-W school and snapped a couple of pictures just to give a glimpse of the school.  So here they are!

This is the front of the school.  My classroom is on the second floor right next to the red giraffes

This is the walkway from the English classroom to some of the homerooms  Also, the little red berries on the plants are poisonous so we have to make sure the kids don't eat them.

I don't know what the significance of this is, but it's at the school so I took a picture.

Here's the bathroom

That's my desk! And my co-teacher at her desk

Here's my beautiful scooter in the scooter parking lot

The first time I was going to scooter to school, I was reviewing the directions I had written myself and they kind of made me laugh, although they worked perfectly: Right at T, left at T, right at the temple, left at the rice paddy, school is on right.

Last Tuesday morning was an Earthquake drill in all the schools across the county.  We didn’t have a class at the time so I ran about taking pictures because my co-teacher, Grace, is in charge of sending in the report to the government so she needed pictures as proof.  During the first part of the drill all the students put on yellow cushioned hats that made them look like Little Red Riding Hood (except for in yellow) and crouched down by their desks.  Then they all ran out to the track and gathered there to wait for any aftershocks.

Then on Thursday and Friday at my other school my co-teacher, Siena, was gone for a workshop which she had just found out about so I had to plan for and teach all the classes by myself…which was extra interesting since I didn’t have most of the textbooks at home to plan with and since I didn’t actually know how to get to this school on my own.  I remembered part of the route from the week before and looked up the rest on google maps and hoped that I’d be able to find the roads in the morning.  I was quite relieved when I did because this school is about a 25 minute drive out in the country.  Also, once I got to school, a homeroom teacher or an administrator hung out in the back of the classroom during each period I had to teach, so I felt very supported (and also extremely aware of whenever the class kind of fell apart!).  But overall the days were successful enough.

One of my favourite parts of the school day there is when the students try to talk to me in-between classes.  The third graders are probably the most talkative because they’re not inhibited by my foreigness, but still really want to talk to me and they think that just because I’ve spoken some Chinese to them means I’m completely fluent so they just talk away.  On Friday I was gathering materials for the next class (we have 10 minutes in-between classes, it’s glorious) and a few third grade girls were having a discussion in the room.  I wasn’t paying super close attention but it was something about how they get yelled at by some teachers for doing something or other.  Then they all looked at me expectantly as one girl asked, “Do Americans get angry?” I assured her indeed they do and she looked at me for a second then dismissed it with a shrug of her shoulders and a, “well, I’ve never seen it.”  But if her class keeps up what they were like on Thursday, she’ll probably have the opportunity to see it before the year is out!

Also, I had the classes make name cards so I can start to get their names straight and how two kids made it to 6^th grade with the names Empty and Monkey is beyond me, but I plan to amend that situation.  During the first week I also renamed little first grade Ink a more appropriate name.  The ones that are really a challenge though are the names that aren’t really names, but aren’t so obviously not names that I can insist on something a bit more conventional. Lala, Blue, and Wennie for example...

Shun An

The beginning of this week I went to my other school (Shun An) and this one is a lot of fun too! It's a bit bigger, with about 360 students so there is more staff to meet as well, but they are a really welcoming and kind too.  One of the first things I did upon arrival was guess the gender of the next baby being born to one of the teacher's wives.  It's quite the to-do and the losers have to treat the winners to dinner and I really hope I win because I guessed girl and only 4 other people did, so if we lose we will have to buy dinner for like 14 people.  Some people put so much thought into their answer and I was asked multiple times if I wanted to switch but I decided to stick with my original guess.  I was one of the first people to guess and apparently one of the other teachers who guessed girl is notorious for losing these bets so I think that made more people guess boy.

Anyway, this school is a little different and in the English classroom we all have to remove our shoes and the kids sit at tiny little tables on tiny little stools.  It's all very cute although the fifth graders definitely don't fit very well and most of them sit on the floor and use their stools as individual tables.  I only have 1st, 4th and 5^th grade at this school, so it's different from the other school in that I have multiple classes of the same content.

We had a whole school assembly where I introduced myself to the school which was fun.  Then they showed a picture of a flower that apparently you should crush and put on your skin if you get bitten or cut (I think this is what was being communicated) so I made mental note of that although I hope I don't need to ever recall it.  Next on the agenda was earthquake review and I guess there will be some earthquake drills coming up in the next few days.  I was commissioned to take pictures and videos of it because they have to send them into the government to prove they did it.

Also, I decided to get a hair cut just for fun and on Tuesday I felt up to the adventure, so after school and after seeking advice about where to go I went on my merry way.  I kind of forgot though how many questions hair dressers ask because in English they seem easy but in Chinese they were quite difficult (and by that I mean I have no idea what was going on).  In fact, most of them time I just agreed to whatever they asked and hoped for the best or when they gave options I said either way was fine.  Since I wasn't too concerned about the outcome, I think it worked out okay.  Towards the end a little girl came in (she turned out to be the hair dresser's niece) and she was totally engrossed in the process.  She let out a little squeal of joy when she saw me and they said she liked to see foreigners because she liked to see their hair and eyes.  So she stood about a foot and a half to the side and just watched.  She was really cute. 

This weekend we had our Fulbright Orientation in Taipei with all the other Fulbrighters (other ETAs, researchers, and fellows) in Taiwan so that was kind of fun to see and meet others.  On Saturday we had a really big touring day, going to four museums.  They were really interesting but I started to wish I knew more history.  My favourite stop was the aboriginal museum.  We had an awesome tour guide and it was just super interesting to learn about the aboriginal people here.  I think she said they recognize 10 groups right now, but the number will probably be growing soon to like 14.  Most of the places just had so much to see that I think I just need to go back sometime and check them out at my leisure.  

Scooter Shenanigans

Here's a little overview of the latest:  

Last Tuesday I moved to Luodong to be nearer to my schools.  Thursday was the first day of school and I spent both Thursday and Friday at Dong Sing elementary.  It’s pretty small (only 1 class per grade, except for 2 classes of 5^th graders).  I really enjoyed it.  The kids are mostly all really sweet and the rest of the staff was so kind too.  The staff was so impressed with my few phrases of Chinese, I couldn’t help but love them!  Seriously, they were very welcoming.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I will spend at my other school, which is bigger, but I’m not sure by how much.

Also, Tuesday morning we had our scooter test and I somehow managed to pass the road test.  We had to take a written test first and then if you pass that you can get a 50cc motorcycle license or take the road test if you want to drive something more powerful.   I wanted to get a heavier one so I decided to take the road test.  We got some time to practice going around the track before it was time to take the test, but since there were only two scooters between about 10 of us and there were Taiwanese people practicing too there wasn’t a whole lot of opportunity to practice.  Basically the test consists of driving down a narrow strip (maybe about a foot or a foot and a half wide) that you need to take at least 7 seconds to drive down without putting your feet down.  That part was really hard to go strait and slow.  After that we could resituate ourselves and enter the rest of the test which consisted of driving around about a three foot wide lane and stopping at a stop light, a stop sign and railroad tracks.  Also using your blinker for the two turns.  The first several times I practiced it was pretty rough, but by the last time, I knew if I could do it just like that I would pass, but even so when it came time for me to go I was a bit nervous (although on the outside I think I was fairly calm and collected).  Just about all the other ETAs were watching and so were a fair number of random Taiwanese bystanders.  The man who was testing us helped me line up my scooter before the slow part and I took off.  I went too fast so it only took me six seconds to go through but fortunately you have two chances to do that part.  The second time I was able to do it and I was so encouraged by all the cheers of the ETAs!  So when I started the next part I was feeling pretty good.  I stopped at the stoplight, but after that things rapidly went downhill.  I failed to use my blinker but still made the turn okay, but somehow one second I was driving down the lane and the next second I was smashed into the tires that lined the track.  Yes, I ran into the wall, which was the one thing I really didn't want to do.  I played it cool though and just casually swung back onto the course without putting my feet down.  If you put your feet down outside of the course it’s 16 pts off (and you can only get 30 pts off before you fail.  Not using your blinker is 8pts).  Going off the track was also 16 pts and I think crashing into the wall is an automatic fail.  But after I got back onto the track I did a good enough job with the rest of the test (except for using my blinker…still didn’t do that).  Anyway, once I finished one of the ETAs asked the man giving the test if I passed and the guy just kind of shrugged his shoulders and gave a slight nod.  I’m convinced he didn’t see me crash into the tires (I had noticed during other people’s tests he wasn’t playing the closest attention).  So that is how I got my scooter license. 

On Friday I was able to take a scooter of my own home and I drove it to Yilan (about 12 kilometers away) to visit my old roommates and neighbors.  It’s pretty fun to drive, although slightly terrifying at the same time.  I also got a bit lost both ways so it wasn’t ideal but I’m sure that will get better with time.  Also, I mostly use my blinker now so I’m already improving since the test!

Anyway, that about covers the latest excitement around here.