Countdown to 1

The countdown has begun - only 5 1/2 weeks of school left. Soon I will be staring at the graduation stage and watching my students march down in their colorful robes (I'm sure they're colorful, I don't know what color though), and my freshmen will be promoted to sophomores (providing they pass my class) and my juniors will be promoted to seniors...

And so the seasons change, although I would say, not quite as fast as the weather here in Taipei. After a lovely sunny week during our spring break, with absolutely perfect weather, it has gotten rainy, cold, humid, and hot all at once and you never know if you should bring an umbrella and coat or sunglasses and hat, so I always bring all of them. That's why I always carry a backpack laden with all sorts of things that I'm always dropping.

I have learned a lot this year. I must say I have learned so much about myself it's quite intimidating. Sometimes what you don't know won't hurt you, until you finally know it. For example, perhaps organising teenagers everyday is not my strong point... I know it isn't, as I would much rather be the one behind the desk hunched over a keyboard and typing furiously away on brilliant lesson plans and fun ideas and activities and field trips. But to implement them? What a different story. Whoever decided that students should go to school everyday must have not been a teacher. Why not every other day, so teachers and students have time to recuperate from the experience, get their homework or research done, and come back again for some more intense learning? But perhaps one needs the steady routine of doing something everyday, or there must be other reasons, which I have yet to be fully convinced of.

I learned that I love showing people Taipei because I really like it here. What a lovely spring break - showing one of my best friends around to all the places I like to go to and places I haven't been to before. Public transportation is one of my favorite parts of Taipei because you can be independent and not have to drive! It truly is a place for me.

I learned that I like milk tea... and then I learned what kind of tea it is and I learned why I was so happy after drinking it :) But it really does taste good. Milk tea is a black tea with milk, sugar,and these little round balls of jelly that are more chewy than jello. I tried it one day just to be adventurous, not sure what I would think since the first time I ever saw milk tea I ran away from the little sample cup as fast as I could. However this time I managed to like it so much it promptly replaced guava juice as my new favourite drink.

Another thing I learned is that I'm thankful for friends, especially friends who take a Sunday afternoon off to help me look at all the American Literature books in a bookstore in Taipei 101, in an effort to create a treasure hunt / learning experience for my American Literature students. Fingers-crossed, I will be able to finish it by next Sunday.

I still enjoy learning Chinese, even though I haven't spent much time on it this year. But, despite that fact that it's almost the end of the year here, I signed myself up for a Chinese class at a university... an hour away... and I have lessons once a week in conversation. Last week I learned words like 'sit' and 'stand' and 'crawl' and other useful words. I suppose if I ever lack words to use in my limited Chinese conversations, I can always ask people to crawl away from me.

Well it's getting late here in Taipei, although you are probably just waking up across the world. I hope you have a great night. I will keep you posted (perhaps it may not be until next month at the rate I write)

Until next time,

R