Bunnies, eggs, adhd

Easter would have passed me by once again if it hadn't been for my overzealous co-teacher, always on the ball and on the lookout for the next best photo opportunity. We took the school to the park and had a gigantic treasure hunt. No eggs were harmed in the event, and even though they were touting it as an "Easter Egg Hunt," the kids were searching for small Ziploc parcels of silver Hershey's Kisses. FYI: chocolate has a pretty low melting point, and having a chocolate hunting party in 28 degree sunshine makes baggies of chocolate soup!

We painted eggs in class again this year, and once again my co-teacher Jenny decided against taking my advice on not draining the insides. Giving hollowed-out eggs to five year olds and expecting them to be gentle with the fragile packages whilst painting them is a pretty tall order. We know this from last year; we had many egg casualties and many tears. To my surprise, this year was nearly a complete success as we only had one broken egg. The shit-for-brains kid who dented his egg was the same one who ruined my Five Tastes science experiment by spitting his salty taste back into the common bowl. That was the closest I've ever come to hitting a child. And I'm completely within my rights to call him whatever name comes to mind, because he is in fact a complete tosser. However, at school he'd never know that I didn't think he was my bff. This is my version of being professional, I suppose.

To go off on a tangent momentarily, I often wonder about this boy and his wild and erratic behavior. Is he this rambunctious naturally, or does he act out because he's the only Caucasian in the class? Or is it the overbearing mother? I suppose it must be all of the above, each to some degree. My knowledge of early childhood education and development comes solely from my immersion in teaching, and not through any bookwork.

The bunny eggs turned out well, and the kids were happy with the results, which is the reason we do these crafts, right? One of the bunnies, sadly, will never see properly again.

Spring, Sunshine, Sunburns

Happy Easter, and Happy Spring!

It has only been a few short weeks since I last blogged, and I remember writing the last blog in my warm pyjamas and slippers on my feet, and a hot tea in hand to warm against the frigid winter air. What a change in weather today; bright blue skies, at least for the better part of the morning, and 26 degrees.

My class took a trip to Chiang Kai Shek Residence for a picnic and to view the acres of flower gardens. In fact, I never got to see any residence, just row after row of roses and cabbage-looking things. Oh, of course there was a cafe to by ice lollies and coffees, but there were far too many people in queue to even consider it. My jeans and polo shirt were definitely not an appropriate choice for such a hot day. I actually like that the seasons change with such abruptness here; at least it's predictable. Ooh, and also, happy first sunburn of the year! Go, go melanoma! Just kidding. No, not kidding, melanoma isn't funny. Sorry.

We had a very lovely picnic, and actually it was so typical of what I remember picnics to be from my younger years that I hardly noticed I wasn't supposed to be enjoying myself. Well, considering how much I was hating this winter, I was quite taken aback by my relaxedness today. We played games and threw balls and ate junk food and got cranky from too much sun. I broke up fights and bandaged some wounds, both physical and emotional. There were about seventy five thousand too many people at the park, literally, but I found that I was able to ignore the crowds and just enjoy the moment.

I think that we were all enjoying the first real day of good warm weather, and it shows on their faces. I was going to say that the kids were praising the sun, but I was playing fetch with them and the picture was a little bit staged. :) Yep, I'm not above subjecting my students to fetching just for a photo-op!

One of the memories that stick out for me from elementary school was playing with the giant nylon parachute; how we would whip it up and around, creating a storm system of synthetic waves and undulations. How we would bring it low, then quickly overhead, darting underneath and tucking it under our bums, the parachute sinking slowly, slowly, silhouetting our bodies like psychedelic snow under rocks, us lost in a world hidden from reality.

The picture of the still-closed rose seems cold, bleak and uninviting, a bizarre juxtaposition to the sweat that was dripping down my forehead when I snapped the shot. I was going to post-process some vibrancy into the petals, but then I was reminded that everyone has their own way of dealing with the changing of seasons and weather, even flowers.

Just a short update: Rob never got to have his meeting with the bosses yesterday because one of them, Kimberley, suddenly had to go to the hospital. Presumably this was because of her dad, although no reason was given and I suppose none should have been expected. None of my business, I get it. How convenient, though, that she had a hospital emergency the moment she was going to have to confront Rob in a face to face meeting and deal with her own managerial incompetence.

I actually think this is a good sign, because it means they're afraid.

Here is a picture of the alley where we live. The speed bump in the foreground points to the entrance of our stairwell on the left. In an apartment complex of 12-14 identical buildings, the sign at the end of the street is the only clear indication that I'm in the right alley. Let's hope they don't rent out that space too soon, or I'll be lost in my own neighborhood!

We've been feeling a little bit like frogs in hot water recently. You know the old adage: place a frog into boiling water and it'll jump out; put the same frog in cold water and apply heat, you have a cooked frog.

Although I don't mean to belittle the experience of Jews in Nazi Germany by any means, I sometimes do feel like I know to some extent what they went through in the years leading up to the concentration camps. Hitler didn't just suddenly round up the jews and the gays and ship them off. His process was a very slow and dedicated method of stripping the jews of their rights and freedoms, one at a time. I suppose one must have thought, "Well, we can't go to the market on Tuesdays anymore. Well, what can you do? We still have the rest of the week." And on this note Hitler was able to suppress any uprising by doing it slowly and methodically.

My point is that schools here, and mine is the case in point, have a tendency to hook you into working for them, and then slowly and continuously pile on the work, contractual obligations and promises be damned, until it reaches a breaking point. I haven't had to suffer this so much recently as I work solely in the kindergarten, so my kids don't have as much homework and tests as the older kids do (but they DO get some homework, almost everyday. These are four and five year olds. With homework. It's sick).

Rob's getting the shit absolutely thrown at him: they are demanding nearly four hours of out of class work per week, unpaid, which includes creating homework and tests, marking the homework and tests, as well as writing daily personal records in each of their communication books that get sent home to the parents. The most recent disgrace is that, even if he spends several hours creating the tests and homework on the weekend, the boss can say that she doesn't like it, change anything she deems unfit, and then not pay him for the work because it wasn't good enough.

Oh, and they also wouldn't mind if he could teach them the material in the curriculum as well. Did I mention that his Chinese co-teacher quit suddenly a few weeks ago, and there hasn't been even a whisper of a replacement? That means he has the work of three people now, as the co-teachers usually do double the work of a normal person, for half the pay and double the hours. Did that make any sense? Basically we make six times what they do.

The administration are walking on thin ice treating Rob in this abusive manner. He's ready to pack up and go, and frankly if he loses his job today, they don't lose only him, I'll be right behind him, quitting on his heels. They may think they can afford to fuck with him, but the school is in dire straights recently and I know they'd be rather screwed if they lost two teachers mid-semester; the parents just wouldn't put up with it and the school would see many kids pulled. Thankfully, Rob has a meeting today with both of the directors of the school to see if he can't get something resolved. I think he's going to ask to either be paid for his time, no questions, or get out of creating the extra homework and tests, especially if they are going to claim veto power.

I just want to add that we are aware that "real" teachers in the west are overworked and underpaid and have all worlds of extra work that they are expected to do. However, I do believe that this is laid out in contracts, and is a known aspect of the job, so it doesn't come as a surprise to them when this happens. For us, we were hired for a job and they are slowly cooking us alive with these menial tasks and downright disrespectful and abusive behavior.

Will keep you posted.

Some lot of good these sign posts are going to do you if you get lost!!


Those statues are the welcoming committee outside the cultural center in xinbeitou. We very nearly went in, too, but had very little cash on us. Next time.

Also outside the cultural center was an amazing and ingeniously carved barricade or fence... Wooden stumps with iron faces holding hands. So creative!




Right, then in the park by our house I decided to try to haul my fatass to the top of the pole. I was surprised by my success! Look carefully and note the absence of a ladder or steps. Will note location of the pole should I ever get chased by a dog whilst beside this park.

More Pics from XinBeiTou trip

Rob straddling a pig. Mmm, sexy! He loves riling up the locals...

Rob by steamy hot springs. Locals often come to cook eggs here. Yes, I think making eggs taste as if they've gone bad is a really great idea, too.

Man in window.

Hot Springs info. To paraphrase: Really hot sulhpuric and acidic water from a volcanic source, one of only two in the world of it's kind.

A lot of people will actually go downstream from the source to soak their feet, as the water has cooled considerably by this point. You won't catch me in there; I'm not convinced that all the grey water from the hotels' hot spring baths isn't just dumped right back into the stream.

Xin Bei Tou Hot Springs

We awoke this morning to a crisp blue sky and twenty degrees, absolutely the most perfect weather for leaving the house and making new discoveries. As is usually the case with us (in Taipei), we were hard pressed to come up with anything interesting to do. After a frustrating half hour or so wandering around bumping into the locals, Rob decided we'd return to one of our old haunts: Xin Bei Tou.

We lived near, in and around the Xin Bei Tou hot springs for a month with our Hungarian friend Gabi, about two years ago. The trek up the hill brings one past several hotels that take advantage of the natural hot spring, as they pipe the water in to offer their guests privacy while luxuriating in sulfur baths, at a hefty premium of course. Our apartment also had one of these feeds, so our bathwater could be hot spring water or regular water, or any combination we desired. The hot spring stuff is pretty hot, 80 to 100 celsius, so you either have to dilute it, or run the bath several hours in advance for the undiluted variation. We definitely never took full advantage of those baths!

The pics in the post after this are also from the same journey.

Check out the picture of the shops; there's one called "Come Come Club Bar." Priceless.