Chapter 27 MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Monday, December 21st

Life as a PE teacher—someone is always crying, complaining, or hurt. Nothing is ever fair, and someone will always lose. The truth is, life isn’t fair, but try telling that to a bunch of seven-year-olds. Well, back to the crying…there we were, playing Freeze Tag…all the kids were running around having fun, then Candy slipped and fell. Her fall wasn’t all that bad, because Kerry broke it, ha. She fell right on top of Kerry, who then hit the ground upon impact. He went face first to the hard, wood floor. I quickly ran over to him, he began to sob…I went through my usual prompts, You’re okay, you’re a big boy…show me your muscles…oh, look how strong you are… Haha, then Tim came over to console him—of all people, Tim is the worst at being tough…he’s always crying. Ironic? Nonetheless, Tim was so cute. He said, “It’s okay Kerry, I’ve hit my head 100 times in this gym.” Chuckling to myself, I responded to Tim’s remark, “…and you’re okay, aren’t you Tim?” “Yup!” he replied. Kerry let out a few whimpers and the game went on. Less than a minute later Tim fell down and hit his head…he started to get teary eyed, “Oh Teacher!” He exclaimed….I just looked at him, “Well Tim, now you’re at 101!” Haha, he began to laugh and shook off his owie like a champ!

Tuesday, December 22nd

Because most of us teachers don’t have to teach a class until about 5:00 pm on Tuesdays, we went to my student, Samuel’s, Chinese School to help throw a Christmas Party. We had so much fun…we played games, Sammy gave a good magic show, and Santa even came by to hand out some Christmas presents. Let’s see…we taught the kids the Hokey Pokey, ‘Santa’ Says, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, and Musical Teacher (our own rendition of Musical Chairs). After the games, I read one of my favorite Christmas books to the children, The Polar Express; after which, we sang Christmas songs to see if we could get Santa to make an appearance. It was so fun to see the kids get so excited. They hardly spoke any English, but their body language said it all.

Wednesday, December 23rd

I went to the Dentist this morning….US$3.00 Can you believe it, just $3 bucks!!!! This is a first, so I just have to make this announcement: I HAVE NO CAVITITES! …amazing what a little dental floss can do, ha!

The Ko’s brought me a Christmas gift today. They are too sweet. They gave me a card, some guavas (which taste great when actually ripe), and….you guessed it, more Chicken feet!!! I can’t bring myself to eat them again. I can actually see the claws on these feet they brought, YUCK! Frank thinks he’s so funny bringing me some toes to nibble on. Once I get a good picture, the feet have got to go!

Thursday, December 24th MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

My 2A’s have been reviewing for their final all week….today we were going over lots of grammar. When we came to our chapter on making singular nouns plural, I asked the kids how to make a noun plural that ENDS with the letters, ‘sh’. Well, Hank obviously misunderstood me, thinking I asked what words START with the letters ‘sh’…all of the sudden, he shouts, “SHIT!” Oh my goodness, “Hank, shut your mouth, you cannot say that…” He just began laughing, then all the other kids chimed in, “What did he say, what did he say!” I tried to divert them from the subject, too late:
Samuel: “What did Hank say? Did he say S-H-I-F-T?”
Annie: “No,” he said, “S-H-I-T!”
Samuel: “What?”
Kyle: “Hank said SHIT!”
Whole Class: Gasp.
Keep in mind, this whole conversation happened in about a 15 second span, it was so funny. The things these kids learn—I just don’t know where they get it.

Wow, Christmas Eve already, I can’t believe it! For the night, we took the super students to McDonald’s one last time. I didn’t think I’d get another chance, but I’m glad I did because Hank and Kyle were able to come, which means Hank’s sister, Sunny, was able to come; she is a doll. So, while we were eating our chicken nuggets and fries, I made the comment that I didn’t have enough ketchup. Viggy, my old student, leaned into me and gave me her ketchup…a few seconds later, Kyle showed up with some of his ketchup, then Jimmy, then Alex….the ketchup just kept coming. I’m still not sure how everyone found out that Teacher Tanier needed some Ketchup, but by the end of the night, I was up to 12 packets.

Friday, December 25th

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Today was my first Christmas away from home. Christmas in Taiwan didn’t feel much like Christmas without the Christmas music, Christmas dinner, family, snow (sometimes), toys, and fun…but it was still a good time. I was able to talk to my family via skype—that was great! Jaime and Buck were there with ma and pa opening up presents on the bed. Haha, everyone was so funny…I couldn’t stop laughing. I felt as though I was right there with them. I can’t wait to see them in a month! Wahoo!

I went into work early to wrap some gifts for my students, the secretaries, and teachers. I was up in my classroom when Penny (our cute, little secretary) so gingerly walked in. She was cleaning and doing her thing when she saw all my gifts scattered about my desk. She asked with her little English, ”What for?” I told her they were Christmas gifts…she then went on and asked, “You, why go home?” I told her I wanted to stay, but my contract was up…her last words, “I LOVE YOU.” I almost got teary eyed for a moment. It’s amazing how close you can feel to someone when you can’t even speak to them. Penny is one of the cutest little Asian’s I know. She is always smiling and just so happy. I have loved working with Penny and Emily and I will miss them greatly. I hope they know how great they are; seriously, whenever us teachers need anything, with the drop of a hat, Em and Pen Pen are at our beck and call. You don’t get that kind of service in America. I love them!

Christmas in Taiwan! To make Christmas feel a little more like Christmas, all of us teachers and secretaries went out to dinner. We didn’t go to any old place—we went to ‘THE TASTY’, and boy is that seven course meal tasty, especially when it’s just US$15 for such an extravagant meal. It was so fun to go out to dinner for one last time with Em and Pen Pen….they are the BEST!

Saturday, December 26th

My last Saturday in Taiwan…IT’S HERE! I spent the day packing and journaling/blogging. I told myself I would journal once a week while I was here in Taiwan. I’m not that good at keeping any of my goals, but this one, I really tried to do…although it’s been hard to do, I’ve been successful so far. Because this next week is going to be crazy, I may have to do to a little pre-show of what’s goin’ down.

I can’t believe I got myself all packed! For the most part, I am all ready for my 35 day backpacking trip! WAHOO…I’m getting so excited. Tyson left for Hong Kong on the 24th and arrived there today. I will meet him in Singapore next week. Buck will leave on the 31st of December and I’ll meet him in Singapore as well. I have all my stuff crammed into a little backpack that my roomie Sammy is so kindly letting me borrow. I actually have a little extra room. I can’t believe how light I’m packing—I didn’t know it was possible. I guess living in Taiwan made me realize that I don’t really need all those materialistic things such as a brush, blow-dryer, flat iron, jewelry, make-up, etc, etc. Ok, Ok, maybe a brush is needed, but a pick will have to do for my trip.

After packing, us girls went to Max and Vivian’s with our friend, Julia. I’m so glad I was able to see Julia before leaving; it was also fun to go say goodbye to the boys at Viv’s. Julia is so nice. She made all of us girls shadow boxes. She copied our pictures from Facebook and pasted them on a mat that was cut out like a box. She then wrote letters to each of us. She is so thoughtful!

Sunday, December 27th

Goodbye to the WuChuan 2nd Branch. Today was my last day at church in the English Branch. Ber Han (Maryland’s sister school) got done teaching last week, so none of those teachers were at church to say goodbye to (they’re all traveling, or home now), but I did get goodbyes with some of my good friends: Bush, Jenae, Elna, Yvonne, Elder and Sister Greene, President Baclayon and his family, Angela…the list goes on. I am so thankful for my ward family here in Taiwan. I don’t know what I’d do without them!