生日快樂 finally, a real one

i realised today that i haven't really devoted much of this section of my cyberspace to talking about my job and what i actually do with my life in taiwan, so i will do that now, in account of today was an especially good day =)

i have one student who announces that its his happy birthday every single day when i come in class, then proceeds to ask every single child in the class if it is their happy birthday, and then finally after we have established that it is in fact no one's happy birthday, we begin class. you can imagine his excitement when he was able to announce that today was someone's birthday. ally went to the 85 degrees cafe and bought him a little cake at my request. i saved the last 15 minutes of class for a little party! we all crowded around him (and boyyyyyyyyy was he shocked!) and sang happy birthday (finally legitimately!) in english. it was so much fun...tammy took lots of photos of us with his cake and his little '7' candle...hope to have them up soon =)

its so different teaching small children now. i get to shop for cute little things like stamps and stickers, and i spent an hour today colouring flashcards for the weather and the days of the week. of course i spent 4 years in uni learning how to corrall teenagers and keep them out of prison; i am totally still learning the ropes of how to deal with 8 year olds (dont even start me on how to deal with the kindy! i still dont know...) but, its actually quite fun. i could never teach proper elementary school in america with american children, but i have to say that i do love teaching esl to taiwanese babies! and, i like the fact that i also have advanced classes where i get to teach lots of nerdy grammar (spent a whole lesson tonight on the past perfect tense....:) and also adult classes too.

old life = getting ready to out for a long night of salsa dancing at 10p on friday night
new life = just getting off work and getting ready to sleep at 10p on friday night because i have to be up early on saturday to work