Living at an international school has its advantages. For example, tonight we had a live football game and we had Thanksgiving dinner! We still had to teach today and will have to teach tomorrow, but all of the students had to get dressed up in their nice uniforms, there were tablecloths on the tables, catered food... mmm it was delicious.
And the bar was set pretty high. My family knows how to do Thanksgiving dinner- two turkeys (one oven-cooked, one deep-fried), two kinds of mashed potatoes, two kinds of stuffing, two kinds of gravy, cranberry relish, seven-layer salad, applesauce-jello... I'm forgetting something.
So when I heard we would be having Taiwan's version of Thanksgiving dinner, I died a little inside.
But it was actually pretty great. Especially the pumpkin pie. I had two slices. My students were disgusted. The idea of having sweet pumpkin anything grosses them out because they're used to having hot pumpkin soup. So when they see a cold piece of pumpkin, they think it's going to be nasty. Their faces were really funny when I made them try the food instead of playing with it and shoving it front of the person sitting next to them. They were good sports about it though. I told one that it was in fact a delicious dessert with lots of sugar so it's sweet! His response was, "Well I'd hope so!"
While we were eating dinner, I asked each of them to share what they are thankful for. I went first to give them an example.
"I am thankful for my family for supporting me and loving me every day. I'm thankful for my new friends here in Taiwan and my friends back at home. And I am thankful for my students who teach me patience and many other things every day. I am very happy you are my students."
Then it was their turn.
"I'm thankful for my cat, my dog, and my fish."
"I'm thankful for my parents for giving me a good education."
"I'm thankful for my friends because we always have a fun time and for my teachers for teaching me and putting up with me!"
"I'm thankful for my family and my brother and my teachers and my friends, Tony and Beckham and Jay and William and Adam and Jeffrey and Kevin... they are my brothers."
It was so sweet! I made the rest of the boys say thank you because what Isaac said was so nice.
It was a very lovely evening filled with football, good food, amazing conversations with students, and laughter. So much laughter.
I thought today was going to be a lot harder than it turned out to be. I miss my family dearly but this experience, and being able to share a wonderful family tradition with young people, is exactly what I needed.
I am thankful for so many things in my life. I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world to have such a wonderful support group back at home.
I'm thankful for my family: mom, dad, and E. I love you so much and miss you more and more every day but I know that if things were even a little different, I wouldn't be here. Thank you for always supporting me even though it means I'm 7,000 miles away during the holidays.
I'm thankful for my friends in the States. I don't know what I'd do without your support from afar. Thank you for making this experience so much more meaningful with your kind words.
I'm thankful for my friends here in Taiwan. As this week proves, when it rains, it pours. Not only is the professional support wonderful, but the friendships we have formed on top of that are each amazing in their own way. No matter what is thrown our way, we will be there for each other and that's how it should be. It's much harder to get by in a school when you're an island. I'm learning something new every day. In your own way, you are each helping me become a better teacher, a better friend, and a better person. I still have a lot to learn, but I know that being here working with all of you is helping me become the person I'm supposed to be.
Finally, I'm thankful for my students. It's because of them that I love it here so much. They push my buttons and make me want to scream, but through those times they are teaching me patience and understanding and empathy. Those are skills that are not taught in college education classes or even during student teaching. Those are skills that are learned when you are in your own classroom with your own students overcoming your own challenges on a daily basis. When I'm having a bad day, they can tell and they try to make me feel better. They ask me about my family all the time and remember everything I tell them (one student remembered that today is my dad's birthday and started singing "Happy Birthday" at the top of his lungs! I had to stop him though because he was in fact yelling the song. I think he wanted my dad to hear him in 'Merica.)
Basically I love it here. What's new, right?
Happy Birthday pops!
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
So far, so good
I have definitely changed since moving to Taiwan. I know I've said this before, but I've had time to think about these reasons due to current events, so I'm going to tell you about it.
There are many reasons for this transformation, some good and some bad, but I'm trying to keep my life focused on the positives because those are the things that keep me afloat.
The biggest way I have changed is that I have learned how to not sweat the small stuff. I'm constantly asking myself questions like, "Will I be upset about this in a half an hour?" or "Can I learn from this? How? Okay, now I need to move on."
I'm the kind of person who sweats the small stuff and that has caused a lot of anxiety and stress in the past. I'm a grown up now, with a grown up teaching job- I don't need any more anxiety and stress in my life because my job and my students already pile it on. Any added stress that I allow into my life shouldn't be there so I'm trying very hard to sort through everything in my head constantly.
I owe a lot of this transformation to the people I'm here with. There are a couple people that stand out in my mind who I have gotten very close to. I can talk to these people about the problems that are on my mind and they tell me, "Don't worry about it," and "Okay, yeah, that sucks, but it's not worth you stressing about," or even the always-necessary, "This isn't a real problem, so don't make it into one."
I need these people in my life. I need that external being saying the words that my brain is thinking. I gravitate towards these people because they keep me level and they keep me focused on the future. Whether that future is in an hour or in a month, it doesn't matter, because it's always forward and that's where my attention has to be.
I think that's where everyone's focus should be, but I can't control other people. That blog post is for another day.
Another big lesson I've learned is to not care what other people think. I know, I know- we're all taught this when we go through puberty, lose control of our emotions, and the other eighth grade girls become total bitches.
But moving to a new place can cause you to second-guess the type of person you're coming across as. I think it's pretty safe to say that a few of us held back who we really are when we first got here because we were testing the waters. There's nothing wrong with that; you don't want to show all of your crazy to complete strangers right away. You have to subtly throw your crazy out there once in a while so they can get used to it.
Eventually you just say, "Fuck it. This is me and if you don't like it, tough titties" and dive right in.
Remember how I said that I've gravitated towards people who keep me level and focused on the future? Those are the same people who I'm one hundred percent comfortable being exactly myself around. I'm the type of person who doesn't think before things come out of my mouth (I'm working on it. In school, I'm fine. Outside of school? No dice). And I'm the person who does a stupid dance on my scooter at a red light because the passenger on the back of my scooter mentioned a super catchy commercial that I've had stuck in my head for the last week and a half.
This is a message to anyone in my life, ever: If you have ever seen me do something absolutely moronic or heard me say anything that makes you question my sanity, it means I like you and we are friends. Congratulations and good luck getting rid of me.
Another reason I had to quickly learn to not care what other people thought of me hit me when the school year started. It's hard to explain the feeling you get when you know people are talking about you but they're doing it right in front of you in another language. It's extremely weird. It's sort of uncomfortable at first. Then you learn to brush it off. Because you have to. You don't have a choice. Get over it.
Other things I've learned since moving to Taiwan:
1. How to drive a scooter- this could use some work, but technically I have learned.
2. How to comfortably use chop-sticks.
3. I have picked up the Chinese language pretty quickly in the last month. Because of this, having conversations with crazy ladies in the grocery store parking lot is not a source of stress, it's actually fun and entertaining! Or at least as much fun as liang ge meiguoren can have in that sort of situation. ("I think she was telling us about her grandkids' ages." "Yeah but also something about our eyes." "And was she gesturing 'Facebook'?" "Did you see her hair color? Could that have been natural?" "I just want bubble tea.")
4. Sleep is awesome. I've known this for a while, but I still like saying how awesome sleep actually is.
I'll add more when I think of them. Time for bed.
There are many reasons for this transformation, some good and some bad, but I'm trying to keep my life focused on the positives because those are the things that keep me afloat.
The biggest way I have changed is that I have learned how to not sweat the small stuff. I'm constantly asking myself questions like, "Will I be upset about this in a half an hour?" or "Can I learn from this? How? Okay, now I need to move on."
I'm the kind of person who sweats the small stuff and that has caused a lot of anxiety and stress in the past. I'm a grown up now, with a grown up teaching job- I don't need any more anxiety and stress in my life because my job and my students already pile it on. Any added stress that I allow into my life shouldn't be there so I'm trying very hard to sort through everything in my head constantly.
I owe a lot of this transformation to the people I'm here with. There are a couple people that stand out in my mind who I have gotten very close to. I can talk to these people about the problems that are on my mind and they tell me, "Don't worry about it," and "Okay, yeah, that sucks, but it's not worth you stressing about," or even the always-necessary, "This isn't a real problem, so don't make it into one."
I need these people in my life. I need that external being saying the words that my brain is thinking. I gravitate towards these people because they keep me level and they keep me focused on the future. Whether that future is in an hour or in a month, it doesn't matter, because it's always forward and that's where my attention has to be.
I think that's where everyone's focus should be, but I can't control other people. That blog post is for another day.
Another big lesson I've learned is to not care what other people think. I know, I know- we're all taught this when we go through puberty, lose control of our emotions, and the other eighth grade girls become total bitches.
But moving to a new place can cause you to second-guess the type of person you're coming across as. I think it's pretty safe to say that a few of us held back who we really are when we first got here because we were testing the waters. There's nothing wrong with that; you don't want to show all of your crazy to complete strangers right away. You have to subtly throw your crazy out there once in a while so they can get used to it.
Eventually you just say, "Fuck it. This is me and if you don't like it, tough titties" and dive right in.
Remember how I said that I've gravitated towards people who keep me level and focused on the future? Those are the same people who I'm one hundred percent comfortable being exactly myself around. I'm the type of person who doesn't think before things come out of my mouth (I'm working on it. In school, I'm fine. Outside of school? No dice). And I'm the person who does a stupid dance on my scooter at a red light because the passenger on the back of my scooter mentioned a super catchy commercial that I've had stuck in my head for the last week and a half.
This is a message to anyone in my life, ever: If you have ever seen me do something absolutely moronic or heard me say anything that makes you question my sanity, it means I like you and we are friends. Congratulations and good luck getting rid of me.
Another reason I had to quickly learn to not care what other people thought of me hit me when the school year started. It's hard to explain the feeling you get when you know people are talking about you but they're doing it right in front of you in another language. It's extremely weird. It's sort of uncomfortable at first. Then you learn to brush it off. Because you have to. You don't have a choice. Get over it.
Other things I've learned since moving to Taiwan:
1. How to drive a scooter- this could use some work, but technically I have learned.
2. How to comfortably use chop-sticks.
3. I have picked up the Chinese language pretty quickly in the last month. Because of this, having conversations with crazy ladies in the grocery store parking lot is not a source of stress, it's actually fun and entertaining! Or at least as much fun as liang ge meiguoren can have in that sort of situation. ("I think she was telling us about her grandkids' ages." "Yeah but also something about our eyes." "And was she gesturing 'Facebook'?" "Did you see her hair color? Could that have been natural?" "I just want bubble tea.")
4. Sleep is awesome. I've known this for a while, but I still like saying how awesome sleep actually is.
I'll add more when I think of them. Time for bed.
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