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So after unknowingly using face-wash as body lotion for the past 2 weeks I have concluded that my deductive reasoning skills may not be as sharp as I once thought they were…either that or four months of being in Taiwan hasn’t made my Chinese any better…
The past month has been hectic as the Dragon Boat races are coming up soon. These days we’re practicing about 5 times a week and have started to use the actual boat we will be competing in, on the Love River. The river practices have been much better in many ways since it’s nice NOT to be sitting by the side of a swimming pool rowing water and never getting anywhere…however, the course on the river is a lot longer than I had expected.
My arms and back are starting to get sore, but I am really excited for the races to begin. This weekend is the preliminaries, and if we make it through, we will row in the final race on May 31st -a National Holiday. Apparently every year there are thousands of people lining the river, and the event is broadcast all over the news.
The other day my team saw
our competition….Off in the distance one morning, we saw a group of people walking in sync to a whistle that was being blown to the beat of oars in water.
As they came nearer, we saw that they were 12 high school girls (who reportedly have been training for like 5 months, for 4 hours a day AND on a meal plan) approaching. These girls are eerily intimidating - especially with their matching mullets.
I’m not kidding.
I mean, I’m sure they’re perfectly nice girls - smart, funny, incredibly tasteful - but it’s kind of weird to look at them all together cause it’s like an army of “ultra-buff, super-fit carbon copies”…At least, that’s how my teammate described them as she took a drag of her cigarette… Something tells me the “team temporary tattoo” we were planning to sport, will pale in comparison to their clone-like team appearance….but we have spirit!
Aside from training, I did manage to get away to a mountain village 2 hours north of here, called Maolin. Two friends and I took our scooters and drove out there for the day a couple Saturdays ago - it was beautiful. We visited some
Maolin
My friend Carolyn and I on the mountain. hot and cold springs in the mountains, and drove through some small towns which are much different than the areas closer to the city. Here, there tends to be more aboriginal Taiwanese, and there are no foreigners so…whenever you venture through these areas, you start to feel even more like a zoo animal.
The aboriginal culture is quite interesting, and I’m hoping to visit more places where it is dominant. All in all it was a pretty relaxing day where we just took it easy and stopped a lot to eat and take in the scenery.
At school I have been busy with different little projects - my kindergarten class is graduating in July, so a coworker and I had to come up with a play, a song and costume ideas for the kids. This is still very much a work in progress as we still have to figure out how to get 5 and 6 year olds to MEMORIZE lines (we chose a rendition of Pinocchio). Stay tuned…
In terms of my older two classes, we recently had a Mother’s Day celebration (I know, it’s a strange ‘holiday’ to choose to have a speech contest…). This was
Maolin3
Mountain Villiage possibly the cutest thing ever. The other branch of our school came to ours and we had all the classes sit in an assembly. There were a few students from each class that were chosen by their teachers to recite a speech about their moms - and my starters class (kids who are just starting to learn English for the first time) had a spelling bee that I made for them, and a poem reading contest. SO CUTE!
This day brought me back to when I was in elementary school and had to do speeches. I think I was less nervous then than I would be now….
When I was younger I always thought the teacher would never suspect that my parents had helped me write my speeches….as if they would look at my work and think I was some ‘child prodigy’….Now that I am in the teachers shoes, it’s SO OBVIOUS when a kid has his or her parents’ help - which, by the way, is not a bad thing!
For instance, it’s HIGHLY unlikely that little Johnny came up with “My mommy had me by cesarean section!” (I laughed so loudly and abruptly that he lost
Junior Jungle
This is my school - it's in a really nice area about 5 minutes from my place, and close to many tea shops. his train of thought and had to start over…I felt bad, but what else could I have done?)
This speech was sandwiched between one kid who told us his mom likes “yoga and yoghurt” and another who “likes mommy because mommy likes things”. Not too hard to sniff out the imposter.
The speeches were brilliant and creative, nonetheless…and I have to say that considering the vast differences between Chinese and English AND the fact that most of these kids just started to learn a new language…they did an amazing job -most even memorized their pieces! I was really impressed with all the students, and especially proud of my own classes (I’m a little biased). It’s so rewarding to see the progress that these kids make in a month. They’re so smart.
OK - that is about it for me. I hope that things are great where you are….
As always, I miss you…keep in touch.
Rebecca-if-I-have-a-mullet-in-the-next-picture-you-see,-you’ll-know-why-Orsini
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Kathy
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Good Morning, Miss Orsini
Hi Rebecca--Great pictures. Can't wait to see you with the mullet as you win the dragon boat race. I am going to be in a rowing regatta to raise money for Heart and Stroke. One of our ten crew has just qualified for the Boston Marathon....the rest of us....hmmmmm....... good luck in your race! You look like a natural in the pictures with "your kids". I'd love to teach with you some day! Enjoy, though I know you are! Cheers--Kathy