"Where are you from?"

I started teaching today! And I absolutely love it--today was my 'long day' of 5 periods of 6th graders, but even so, it was fantastic! I got there at 9:30, left at 3:00, and had a delightfully short and apparently short 5 and a half hours in between.

I was teaching with Alison at Han-Min today, and the next lesson in the textbook was, conveniently, "Where are you from?" It was the perfect tie-in from me to the lesson and back again. The first thing Alison and I did when we entered the classroom was introduce ourselves (mostly me introducing myself, since they've had Alison for a week now), and then Alison asked them if they had any questions for me.

And, at least three times out of the five, they did: "Where are you from?"

Bingo.

We taught them the six vocabulary words in the book, "the UK," "the USA," "Japan," "Taiwan," "Taipei," and "Kaohsiung"--all of which they pretty much knew (go figure with the last three)--and tried to explain the joyous complications of the US and the UK. (Do you know what the USA stands for? The United States of America! Did you know you can say "the USA" or "the US" or "the United States" or "America," too? Then came the part where Alison and I were baffled trying to explain how England relates to the UK, other than to say it is a part of it and not a country on its own. Oh, geography and politics.)

Then we plunged into asking them for other places they knew in English. Without fail, they produced Canada, Australia, China, New York, London, Tokyo, Singapore, and a handful of other countries and cities around the world (of which there were dozens, ranging from Canberra (Australia) to Madagascar to Chicago, depending on the class), and we used those to challenge them. The ultimate challenge for the final game of hangman, which I stumped them with every time, was the word "Oregon," which they of course had never heard before. But it was a nice way to end each class, with a new fun fact about where the new teacher was from and a new vocabulary word!

So here's a lovely cultural difference between America and Taiwan: in Taiwan, the teachers get treated like celebrities and/or royalty. And not just me as the foreigner--Alison seems to consider it as a given that the only things she ever carries away from class are her water bottle and maybe a book (despite carrying a portable microphone and book full of teaching aids from room to room), and that the class (or at least, most of the classes) will stand and bow when we walk in, and again when we leave.

And this is 6th graders! Sure, they still do some of the standard 6th grade stuff like whisper and laugh with their friends during class, but they aren't blatantly disrespectful or rude to their teachers or, that I've observed so far, even to each other. In the hallways, they greet every teacher with "Laoshi hao," which is more or less "Good afternoon, teacher." Amazing! Granted, it's early in the year yet, but I'm liking what I'm seeing.

Recess happens in the hallways here...

...as well as on the track.

And is still pretty orderly!

And Alison and Maggie are beyond sweet! We all share an office, together with the other subject teachers (science and English), and they have gone out of their way to make me feel at home. They are constantly telling me to make myself, at home, sit down, use the computer, and offering that I use their things. Today at lunch, they BOTH got me coffee, unbeknownst to each other until Alison came back from the store and saw the coffee already sitting on my desk. Alison even made me a bag decoration out of native Taiwanese-style beads. And gifts aside, I can't imagine more supportive LETs--I feel so blessed to have them in my life; I hope I can be as much of a blessing to them as they are to me!

Getting to and from Han-Min today was actually kind of fun--I knew where I was, and how long I had to be there, and despite the stares I still get, I feel like I belong in Kaohsiung. When I run across other white people here, I'm tempted to ask them if I can help them find anything--but then don't because, truth be told, I probably wouldn't know how to find what they're looking for, my sense of belonging aside. The MRT ride was infinitely better than last week, since I'm riding at off-peak hours, meaning I can actually sit down and relax (what a difference that makes) and, as I did this afternoon, write.

This afternoon was pretty much amazing. I got out of Han-Min at 3:00 after a great afternoon teaching great kids, boarded the MRT, sat down and drafted my application essay. Just, you know, pumped it out. To be fair, I'd started it during nap time (ah, nap time! We get an hour and a half for lunch and/or napping--it's brilliant), but still, I wrote the bulk of my essay on the train; I wasn't quite finished when I got off, though, and the creative juices were still flowing, so I meandered off to the Starbucks two blocks from my apartment--today was first time I've visited, though, for the record--and plopped down to finish it. When I got home, a full day of work and an application draft down, I shot off a few important emails before dinner--I love being this productive in a single day!

Tomorrow I will be presented to the entire student body at Han-Min at 8:00am--hence the early posting on here. Hopefully I'll be sawing logs by the time my normal (late) posting time comes around.