before i die, i want to stand under the ceiling of the sistine chapel and look at michelangelo's greatest (in my opinion) work. i think rome is most definitely next on my list of places to go. i hate i missed rome last time i was in italy, even thought venice is definitely one of the best places on earth. at any rate, rome is next on the list.
teaching language is really interesting because you can see the progress you are making daily. it is amazing how much my students pick up from just listening to me speak english. while this is mostly a good thing, today i got a shock when we were on a bathroom break. i was walking the class down the hall to the bathrooms when i saw one student break in line. before i could open my mouth to correct the problem, i heard another student step in to do it for me: "L! get back in line! good lord." even though it was funny and the kid heard me laugh, i felt kind of bad at the prospect of having him possibly running around any given english speaking country in the future telling people "good lord" and having any given english speaker say "who on earth taught you that." this same kid was later shouting about his "spange bag" pencil...he was trying to say "sponge bob" but just couldn't quite get it out. i really think i spend most of my time cracking up at my hilarious and sweet kids. a few days ago i walked in the classroom and one kid had his arm in a sling, another had a huge scratch on her face, one was broken out in hives, and another had a patch on his eye. even though that's not at all funny, they all just had this look of complete and total desperation on their faces...when i walked in and they greeted me as normal, i just couldn't help but laugh because i felt like i had just walked in to the children's ward at the emergency room.
i am so proud of my little babies, though, that i could just bust. they are so smart, and they have come so far! (and i'm not just saying that because they have an awesome teacher... :) i also really like this age because its fun to watch them grow up. they were so young last year, and now they seem so old! maybe its because now we can have a full conversation in either language, but i have really enjoyed watching them grow and progress. i can't stop smiling when i hear them, even outside the classroom, speaking english to each other...or when they hide in my classroom and turn off all the lights to jump out and scare me...or when they pull a melted piece of candy out of their pockets and say "for you, katie teacher!" i never thought i would like working with younger kids so much. they are so much fun! today, for example, we were in the middle of a lesson when it started to pour down rain outside. one of my students, J, looked out the window and shouted "teacher teacher! look! big rain!" i started to pretend to be her and pretend, in a funny voice, that i was a weathergirl. everyone, including me, was in stiches, the lesson went wonderfully and i was impressed at their progress, and we had an awesome class.
a few days ago, i started thinking about chocolate chip cookies. like proper chocolate chip cookies that you can heat up in the microwave and pretend like you just baked. i went to the grocery store in search of them, walking up and down every single aisle looking for cookies. this was kind of traumatic because asian grocery stores are so overwhelming for me. yes, i grew up in the land of super wal-mart and sams club, so i know it might seem strange that another country's grocery stores can overwhelm me. its just that when there are durian (if you want a shock, google "durian" and read about the terror for yourself) stacked up to the and live shrimp jumping out everywhere i kind of don't know how i'm meant to react. i hate grocery stores period and actually i avoid going at all costs, but i really wanted a cookie...but i digress. long story short there weren't any...and i really missed america in that moment, so much so that i wanted to be 7 years old again and plop myself down in the middle of the aisle and scream bloody murder because i JUST WANTED A COOKIE.
also i bought some bananas a few days ago and left them sitting on my counter. i woke up and there were about 203948230948 fruit flies EVERYWHERE. i remembered once that someone told me that you can make a trap out of vinegar and dish soap, so i did. it worked wonders, and i felt like such a good housekeeper, trapping and killing my own fruit flies. what is the problem, you ask? well...now my house REEKS of 23048203948230483 easter eggs. for me, the impossible stink of vinegar will always mean easter eggs.
i really like this: love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image... otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them. isn't that interesting? i think we all need to start loving each other that way.
no haiku lately.
i really miss writing them!
so here you go- yay!!
taiwan is the greatest place on earth. how can i ever leave it?
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