Wednesday, September 3, 2008

frank, frank, frank, frank, frank.

look how cute gram and spanky are.

classes today were insane.
i just picked up a new baby class today. they've been learning english for 2 months and they haven't even finished their beginners book so we have to teach the rest of it in addition to the first really hard book they have. today they had to write down:
Q: Who are your English teachers?
A: Sherry and Megan are my English teachers.
when i wrote it on the board, they were screaming 'so looonggg!' and i said 'you're not in baby class anymore, this is short!' and they all groaned like what have we gotten ourselves into.

some wrote it like:
W h o a r e y o u r e n g l i s h t e a c h e r s
and some wrote: whoareyournenglisteachers
and lots wrote:
Who are your Engl
ish teachers?
so i had to explain the concept of keeping words together because 'a' is a word by itself, so you have to push the letters in each word together so people don't think they're their own word. it was bizarre. and they've never heard of a period or a question mark.

3 boys in there refuse to speak english so i didn't give them any stickers today. we use stickers as incentives. they can pick out little prizes that would remind you of what you get at pizza hut with tickets, but it's more like office supplies.

after that, my other class seemed like a breeze. i showed them the pictures of the fam and they were all enthralled as the others have been. and i had a map so i showed them where texas was. they were pretty impressed with how far away i live.
the annoying/cute thing in there was that toward the end, they wouldn't stop repeating everything i said for about 20 minutes. it started off ok because they have to repeat after me for the new words and the new lesson, but they'd repeat me when a kid wasn't paying attention and i'd keep saying their name. frank never pays attention so i'm constantly saying 'frank, frank, frank, frank' until he looks at me. so today the whoooole class was saying it.

i also had kind of an interesting snippet of a conversation while i was checking the new words with these 2 kids, iris and kevin 1 (we have 2 kevins, kevin 1 and kevin 2). iris was looking at my eyes and she said 'your eyes are so beautiful!' and kevin started looking at them and he said 'they're blue and green' and i said 'and yellow!' and they said oooohh. and then they said we have brown eyes. everyone, brown eyes. and they were touching my hair and telling me how many colors they could count in my shades of blonde. it was kind of a weird moment. imagine what it would be like if everyone in your country had the same color hair and the same color eyes.

tonight the usual suspects played spades again. justin and i won.
and at midnight serena presented me with cookie dough :) and i opened gram and spanky's jam and maple syrup, but i'm leaving all of the wrapped presents until the afternoon. i'm pretty excited though!

2 comments:

Its_Lily said...

Is it today?? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Majjy said...

Since you are 12 hours ahead of your natal family, it is September 3rd in Taiwan and therefore your birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY darling!!! 23 years old and spending the anniversary of your birth in Taiwan. Who would of thought?!?!?!? I still remember the day you were born like it was yesterday- probably because you made your entrance so quickly that the doctors didn't have time to give me any drugs- so I remember every detail. I'm glad to have been present to fully participate.

Despite the fact that you were born at 8:23am, the adrenaline coursing through me, made it impossible to relax or unwind. Long into the night, I was still staring at you in the bedside bassinet trying to come to terms with being a new parent- both amazed and fascinated by your tiny features, fingers and toes. Such a petite package commanding such awesome responsibility. Honestly, I was equally scared and exhilarated. To date undoubtedly your entrance was the most awe inspiring moment of my life.

We are very proud of you and love you more than words can say. Faj and I admire you for taking on this year long adventure and acknowledge that neither of us could have easily done what you are choosing now. The fact that it pushes us beyond our comfort zone has earned you our respect.

A wise man once told me that you can only love people whom you both respect and admire. If that's true, you will travel this lifetime well loved by many.

Your greatest fan and supporter.
Mom.