Kids and Questions, Questions and Kids

"How old are you?"
"Are you married?"
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Are there any boys who like you?"
"What 'type' of guy do you like?"
"What's your blood type?"

No, this is not a somewhat creepy dating survey I found while surfing the Internet. Rather, these are questions I was asked today--most, repeatedly--by my sixth graders.

Hooray for all new classes at Hanmin!

For the first day, apart from a book-check, that's basically what we did: introduce me, by way of a massive question session which turned often towards my personal life. I was expecting it, of course--this is not my first time being introduced to a classroom of Taiwanese 6th graders, after all--but it never ceases to amuse me the questions they'll ask. This time at least a few tended towards the inappropriate, evidenced by Alison's pursed lips and refusal to translate as the class burst into laughter and I caught the words "ta ting bu dong" (she doesn't understand) floating around as we moved on, but overall it's just fun to see where my kids' curiosity leads them.

And today it led them in some fun directions, as I found myself explaining, not just about my dating life (or lack thereof), but about my family, my hometown, my pets (number, type, size, and, which I found most interesting, age), my favorite sports and teams (Mariners and Seahawk love! The kids all knew Ichiro, which was fun), whether I liked ice hockey (I said not really, then discovered the questioner was a hockey player--whoops!--and changed my tune), whether I'd ever seen a ghost (no) or an elf (no, and here I took the opportunity to tell this particular boy that I hadn't seen a vampire or a zombie, either), whether I had a chameleon (no), whether I liked turtles (yes), whether I had ever been to San Francisco, whether I had ever been to Japan...the list goes on and on.

I liked being back in the classroom, meeting new kids and, this time, putting together what I hope will be a workable system of actually learning their names in a timely manner: I'm taking notes on the location and unique attributes of each class as I go, including a seating chart for each on individually dedicated pages of my teaching notebook. I had three classes today, 6-1 (first class of the day on the first floor, yay mnemonics!), 6-10 (second class, second floor) and 6-9 (last class, highest floor), and so far I can tell you a few kids' names and where they sit, thanks to things like the cluster of Wendys in 6-1 and the Steven table in 6-10, plus fun things like a Quinton in 6-1 who resembles my friend Quinton back home, and a very bright-eyed and attentive front-row sitter named Kevin in 6-10.

The questions were just one aspect of the joys of being back in my wonderful schools; the best part is the students behind them. Having new kids breaks the sting of not seeing the ones from last semester in class anymore; so, too, does the fact that I saw several classes worth of them in the halls, or by my desk as some of my favorite girls from last semester, Lily and Sammi, brought me my lunch.

Really, any of these kids could ask me just about any questions, personal or not, and I'd answer. They're just too amazing to mind it.
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And now, because I have decided I like recurring themes, I give you another unsolved mystery of Taiwan! This one stems from a seemingly innocuous item: Nutella.

Or, rather, the abcense of Nutella. See, I was craving it the other day at the grocery store, but of course they didn't have it, so I picked up a jar of  off-brand "chocolate hazelnut spread":

 

Except, oh yeah...

...it also had caramel mixed in. Not a huge deal, caramel's a good flavor too, and look at those pictures up there--looks like roughly a 50-50 split, right? Should be fine.

So today, I decide nothing sounds better than a Nutella(ish)-spread piece of bread for an afternoon snack (no judging, you know you want one too). So I go to the cupboard, grab a piece of bread and my jar of handy-dandy Nutella(ish) spread. I open the lid. I peel off the interior seal. And I see....

This.

I'm sorry, but what? Scroll up and look at the label again. It says: "chocolate hazelnut spread." Then a gap. And then, as if it were a bonus, "+caramel." It most definitely did not say "caramel sauce! with a thin streak of chocolate hazelnut mixed in for color!" Nor did the outside stripe pattern give any indication whatsoever as to what was inside.

False advertising: gr. Don't get between me and my chocolate fix! Why do they do this? Probably because caramel's cheaper or something. I don't know. It's a mystery, after all!

In the end, it still tasted okay. But not nearly enough chocolate.