so right now i am blogging while hsinchu is getting a typhoon! everyone says it will be here tomorrow, but if this isnt it already, i am really scared (excited!) to see the rest of it! it has already broken my favourite umbrella and soaked me with rain. its really crazy! everyone was telling me not to go outside and to go to 7-11 and stock up with food just in case! (just in case...what?! i wondered...) being the crazy mei guo ren that i am, i decided to go out in it tonight just to see what it was like. my umbrella broke and my hair was practically being ripped out of my head but it was so cool! my first typhoon! and tomorrow should be even better, from the looks of the forecast!
i cant even express how much i love my job. oh my stars. its amazing how i can wake up in the worst mood ever and feeling bad and sorry for just about everything, and how i drag myself to work hating everything and skip home with the biggest smile! i love those kids! i was still in a slump this morning and didnt want to do anything but sleep all day...but i walked into my first class and one of my students ran up to me with a mischevious smile and something in her hand. she tugged at my dress and said "kitty teeeeecha" (which is what im often called) "its for youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" in her hand was a keychain of a little boy with some chinese writing on his hat. i almost cried! then she gave me a big hug and sat right back down. in the ten minutes i was supposed to be setting up for a game, i had 8 year olds crawling all over me, asking (in chinese of course, but I COULD UNDERSTAND IT AND REPLY!!!!!) if we had typhoons in america and if i was going to eat cup noodles for supper. they were telling me stories of how their greatgrandmother's dogs drowned in a typhoon once and how they all left their umbrellas at home and what were they going to do? and that they liked my hairstyle. those ten minutes were some of the best i have spent in taiwan so far. when it was time for me to leave they all shouted "NO BYE BYE!" and ran to try to drag me back in the classroom. there is nothing better than that, truly, even if every other friend you've ever had in the world has hurt you. really puts things in perspective.
speaking of my students...a couple of days ago, i was writing something on the board so the classroom was dead silent because the students were copying. all of a sudden, one of them shouted "MEI GUO REN!!!!" really loudly (mei guo ren = american). i died laughing.
tonight, i finally got to talk to my second japanese rooooomie, rikachan. i havent talked to her in ages and it was so good to chat to her and catch up and plan our reunion!!! i came across a sir j. barrie (the guy who wrote peter pan) quotation tonight: 'memories are our roses in december.'
i was reminded how true that was when i was talking to her...even though i miss the ihouse and all my friends so much, i still have the memories that will always be there and even if there is a typhoon and im disagreeing with friends and i cant speak chinese that well...thinking about those days is gooooooood :)
there is a dog that lives outside my 7-11. he never goes in, never barks at anyone or begs...he just sits at the door and watches taiwan go about its business. maybe i will adopt him. i have in fact already named him 'george' and im pretty sure he smiles at me when i go shopping.
im going to add a new special section entitled 'students words of wisdom' because everyday they shock me with their profundity. todays comes from a tshirt, actually (one of the only tshirts ive seen in taiwan with correct english). its from pope's essay on man, which ive read a gazillion times...but it was nice to be reminded of it: hope springs eternal in the human heart.
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