2014-01-31

Momma Bear, Papa Bear, What do you see?

To summarize the end of the Summer/Fall/Winter semester (yes, literally I sweated from every inch of my body, walked comfortably around in long pants and t-shirts, and froze every bone in my body.... all in one semester), all I can remember was a deep realization into child psychology.  Small children's worlds exist in their own bubble... they have their favorite toys, their favorite people, and their favorite thoughts in said bubble... but no other children's needs can penetrate this bubble. And it is only with maturation and growth do they finally come to realize that if they have a question they should raise their hand or wait in line.  And that LITERALLY hanging off my arm pleading "Amanda Teacher! Tell me the answer!" does nothing but make me want to assist in anyway what so ever.  But comedic events aside...

Towards the very end of the semester many of the ETAs here realized one of 4 situations was happening: A] our patience was about 1/4 of what it had been at the beginning, B] the students' patience in class had dropped to about 1/4 of what it had been at the start of the semester and restlessness had increased 2x, C] our tolerance for "bad"/rowdy behavior had dropped to about 1/5 of what it had been, or D] (and this is what I like to think was the case) some combination of B and C. Fortunately, my co-teacher informed me this is perfectly normal and many teachers experience this at the end of the semester so it's ok!

But I was very touched and honored to have so many students coming up to me, with pitiful eyes and somber looks to ask me, "Amanda Teacher, will you be back next semester? Or will you go back to America?"  And after I smiled and happily told them I would be back, they cheered and gave me a hug and then went back to playing with their friends since they didn't have to deal with our imminent goodbye just yet.  Overall though I'm very excited for next semester. As I wrote in my mid-year report, the first semester is all about learning how to teach and getting to know your students, and the second semester feels like when fun things really can get rolling!

PARENT VISIT

My parents came to visit!  As I told my parents while they were here, you really don't realize how much you have changed/how much you missed people/how much a place has affected you until someone who has been there your whole life (aka parents) comes to see you in your new environment.  I mostly spent a lot of time showing them my life in Taichung (my school, gym, shopping districts, and favorite eateries of course), but we took 2 mini vacations: one to Kenting and one to Taipei... and then they had to leave :(
My dad's favorite performance at the End-of-Semester Show
Kenting!

This is the Florida/Hawaii/awesome vacation spot of Taiwan. It was beautiful, it was the first time I had thawed out in months, the food was great, but the best part was... the hotel room.






Smokey Joe's... had a spunky, old-America style to it, and I highly recommend it. I managed to get us a great deal online and we had a suite with free fruit cups every day and tons of free drinks (wine + others).  2 separate rooms each with queen bed, 2 bathrooms (one with a huge tub)... and check out that pool! But it was too cold to swim :( Oh well... guess I'll just have to go back \^-^/

Pictures of Kenting natural beauty...










Taipei!

Parents and I got to see a lot of cool things that I have never done in Taipei before (mainly because I've never really spent days there to just go around and see stuff).  We found an amazing pizza restaurant, an amazing Chinese style restaurant, a really cool old-Chinese good street, saw Taipei 101, saw Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, and went shopping :)












To summarize it was a beautiful trip, and I've missed my parents a lot. They are the greatest, and I feel so blessed that they were able to make the trip out here so I could share my life with them. I love you guys!