Thanksgiving from Taiwan

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!

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.

What's a "tease"?

Today, we were reading some Greek mythology in first hour. In one adaptation of the Cyclopes story, he falls in love with a sea nymph who is, for lack of a better word, a tease.

When trying to describe this concept to my 9th graders, I took a pair of scissors and asked one if she wanted them. As she began reaching to take them from me I said, "Just kidding!" and snatched them away. Everyone laughed.

I did the exact same thing to another student who had been talking a lot all class period. He reached for the scissors and when I snatched them away, he finally understood the concept of not getting something you wanted.

I tried describing that when girls do this, in America we call them a "tease." I said some girls go around saying, "Hi boys, you're very cute." and they flirt with boys but then they say, "You can't have me!"

They got a kick out of it.

For the rest of the class, they would throw "Just kidding," at the end of just about every sentence.

When I assigned homework, one looked at me and asked, "Just kidding?"

At the end of the class period, I stood in the doorway saying goodbye as they left. One student looked at me and said, "Have a good day, Ms. Seeds! Just kidding!"

Double Ten Day

Today is my lovely mother's birthday! She is 53 years young. When I have more than one hour of free time, I have every intention of sending her present home. I also got some lovely ladies in my life a small trinket which I'm going to send home at the same time. Honestly, it's all about finding the time during the day to get to the post office to send the packages. Also, speaking the language would help so I'm planning on asking one of the teachers who speaks the language to accompany me so I don't look like a complete fool.

On another exciting note, Happy National Day of the Republic of China! Today is the equivalent of the Fourth of July in 'Merca. It's the day the Qing Dynasty, China's last dynasty, was overthrown. It all started with privately-owned railways being built across China. The Qing government ordered the railways to become nationalized so they could pay back the amount owed to Great Britain, US, France, and Germany (the countries building the railroads).

The people revolted and planned protests and a bomb went off earlier than planned and hospitalized one of the leaders of the protests. The government found out who he was and, in order to avoid being arrested and executed, they staged a coup and overthrew the government! This year is the 102nd anniversary of the Republic of China.

(This is the condensed version, summarized by yours truly from what I read on Wikipedia. I may have forgotten some important parts or maybe got some parts completely wrong. Look it up yourself.)

Some of the students in a Chinese class gave a presentation and passed out pins. They represent today's date: 10/10. In Chinese, the number 10 is written as "十" so the symbol for today is two of these characters put together.

Tonight, there will be fireworks all over the country. I would go down to People's Park in downtown Taichung but, alas, I am on duty tonight. Thursday night duty is the most entertaining because it is also room inspection night so the girls will be in a cleaning frenzy at 9pm when study hall ends. AKA dance party in the hallway with some rap and dance mixes.

Living in a boarding school, we follow many traditions that a boarding school on the east coast or in the United Kingdom would follow. One of these is the weekly room inspections on Thursday nights.

Since everyone is living so close to one another, germs are easily spread and immune systems are easily corrupted with dust! By having room inspections every week, every boarding room in the building is checked for said dust and trash and germs. Originally the headmaster was the one doing the checks, but he has since trained the Dean of Dorms and Dean of Students so now they're the ones who check the rooms.

And, yes, everyone gets a grade. A beautiful, sparkly clean room receives an "Excellent." If there's a little dust found, the room receives a "Good" and if there is too much dust found or trash not taken out or a pillow out of place, the room receives a "Fail." Then, they average the scores, get a percentage of each score and give the floor an overall passing percentage and that number is read off the next morning at assembly, along with each room number that failed.

If there are too many rooms on a floor that fail, the headmaster will go through a couple days later and check that floor all over again. Last week, for example, our second floor boys didn't do so hot. The boss checked their rooms again on Monday and was still not satisfied with the cleanliness of the rooms so he instructed the dorm parent on duty to take all of the second-offenders' computers. I saw Andy coming downstairs the next morning with somewhere between 10 and 15 laptops and tablets.

Overall, I love my job as a dorm parent. Spending time with the girls after school is over is so much fun and I'm getting to know them outside of the classroom, which some teachers will never get. It also helps that I only teach three of the seventy-some girls who live on this floor so there really isn't any teacher-student to dorm parent-student awkward transitions. Not like there would be... but it's nice that it's not really an issue to begin with.

I also love living in a dorm because I can hop upstairs and check on the other 95% of my students, 8th and 9th grade boys, during study hall to make sure they're understanding the material. These students are so great and they work very hard, but it's very hard for them to ask for help. By me going up and simply yelling, "Do any of Ms. Seeds' students have questions on the homework?" I get about seven to nine of them coming out and asking me questions they never would have asked me otherwise.

Hell, the other night, one of them asked me for help with his geometry.

Also, the chances that a student can help another student with homework are pretty great when all of the students live on three floors of the building. Tonight, for example, one student came to me asking for help with her biology homework. Osmosis. Yeah right! I read her notes and the section of the textbook that defined the terms and didn't get any of it. I grabbed her book and led her downstairs to the upper school boys' floor and yelled, "Is anyone really good at biology? Preferable AP biology?" I got a couple wonderful volunteers and chose one to explain the concept to her. He did it in Chinese, which is necessary with understanding concepts before learning the new language of it, and he also gave her fun ways to remember said concepts that he uses!

I told her if we hadn't come downstairs, I would still be staring at her book. She laughed. But it's those kinds of situations that make me very happy that I chose to work in this environment.

Now, I'm off to bed. I have a FaceTime date tomorrow morning with the birthday girl that I have to be up early for.

Conversations with Students

My 8th and 9th graders are very comical groups of students. They are still at the stage of language-learning where they are always excited to be speaking English so they talk all the time. This is a wonderful stage to teach because, as many teachers would agree, talkative students present many teachable moments. As a teacher, you take every teachable moment you can find because you're opening their world to so many new things, especially ELLs.

Here are a few of the conversations that have made me love my job so much more. Some come from what we're talking about for the lesson, but most are just random conversations generated by inquisitive 8th and 9th grade boys.

Adam: What is 'yo mama'?
Me: It's short for 'your mom.'
Adam: What does it mean?
Me: In America, sometimes people make fun of other people's moms by saying mean things about them.
At this point, all of the students are staring at me like I'm insane. Rightfully so.
Jeffrey: Like what?
Me: Ummm, like, yo mama so stupid, she tried to arrange her m&ms in alphabetical order.
*after about five seconds, one student laughs*
Me: Do you know what m&ms are?
Kevin: Yes! Ooohhhh! I get it.
Jeffrey: What's another one?
Me: Yo mama so stupid, she went to the dentist to get blue tooth.
Jeffrey: Oh! Yo mama so blue tooth!
Me: No. What? No. You have to be mean about it. You say things like fat or stupid or slow.
Jeffrey: Yo mama so awesome!
Me: Sure. Say that.

Beckham: Ms. Seed, what do you call it when you put a needle into an animal and they die?
Me: Lethal injection?!
Beckham: Lethal injection?
Me: Yeah, the verb is to euthanize. It means to kill someone or something with using a needle. Why?
Beckham: Do they do that to animals?
Me: Yeah, I guess.
Beckham: And human?
Me: Um, let's talk about something else.

Me: Okay, take out your class notebooks.
Jeffrey: Yes, sir!
Me: No. I'm not a boy. You say "yes ma'am!" to a girl.
Jeffrey: Yes man!
Me: No, Jeffrey. Ma'aM! with an M!
Jeffrey: Yes man!
Me: Forget it. Just say "yes, Ms. Seeds."
Jeffrey: Okay, Ms. Seed! You're welcome, Ms. Seed!

Jeffrey: Ms. Seed, how many boyfriends do you have?
Me: Eight.
Jeffrey: Oooh! Eight!?
Me: Yup!
Jeffrey: Mr. Foster has five. And Mr. Perez has too many.
Me: That sounds about right.

Me: Who do you pray to and what do you pray for?
Daryl: "We buy paper money and burn the paper money and pray for more money, but we get no money because we spent our money to buy the fake money to burn!"
Me: Why do you do this?
Daryl: Me?
Me: Yes, you.
Daryl: I don't do that! I'm Christian.
Me: Oh.... okay.

Daniel: How many children does Zeus have?
Me: A lot. He was a very busy man.
Daniel: What does that mean?
Me: He had a lot of children. Like fifty or something like that.
*Confused faces*
Daryl: With Hera?
Me: No, with different women.
*Confused faces*
Me: Ummm... How do I put this delicately...? He had sex with a lot of women and had a lot of children.
*laughter*
Me: Yup, I don't have to translate that word!
Daryl: (facetiously) What's "sex"?
Me: Ask your health teacher. Who is your P.E. teacher?
Clement: Ms. Chevron! She will say, "That's an indoor activity!"
*laughter*

Week Three and the Promise of KTV

We are halfway through week three here at ICA. Everything has been a whirlwind so far, but each day is getting easier and easier. Thank goodness for the support of wonderful coworkers and friends here in Taiwan and the endless words of encouragement from my family and friends back in the states. Without these things, I’m not sure what I’d do.

I love my classes. I see a group of ninth graders first hour for Literature class and then I see a group of eighth graders fifth and seventh hour for Literature and Language Arts. The great thing about my schedule is that I can plan fifth and seventh hour as a block period. This means that whatever we don’t cover in fifth hour can be pushed to seventh hour. Thank goodness for this because every day is different with that group. Some days they want to work very hard and other days it’s like pulling teeth. I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to see them twice in one day because I can guarantee that the important lessons and activities will be covered.

The hardest part about my classes is the range of students I have in each class. I am not alone in this struggle as these groups of students travel together all day, so all of the teachers have this challenge as well! Because of this, there is such a sense of community across the departments. I meet with the math teacher almost daily to discuss our classes. 

The fact that an English teacher and a math teacher can coordinate plans that benefit both classes and all students is absolutely amazing. I feel really bad for any teacher out there who feels they cannot approach a teacher in another department because of the content covered in each class.

I have also been given the amazing opportunity to teach my very own ESL class! It consists of five of the eighth graders I see twice a day plus one other eighth grader who is in the upper-level eighth grade classes. For the last couple of weeks we have been playing English games and getting to know each other and getting more comfortable with the small group. This week, we’re going to be diving into vocabulary skills. I've contacted their content teachers and have collected vocabulary and assessment plans so I can incorporate that information into my class with them. 

This is where cross-curricular coordinating and communication plays the biggest role because I have to communicate with seven different teachers for this group of six students. Whew!

Break dancing has been very fun as well! I only have four students in the club right now, but I have been assured from a number of people that once varsity volleyball ends, I will gain four or five more boys who were in the club last year. The four I have right now are very hard working and extremely talented. We have a teacher come to campus to teach techniques and tricks and combinations and all of the students are picking it up so fast- I’m so proud! I love interacting with them and joking around. I am looking into local competitions for the spring and possibly getting off campus to do some performances at nearby facilities (elementary schools, The Down Syndrome Association, etc.) to get the school’s name out there and to get my dancers something to look forward to!

Other than that, the teachers have been spending time together in and out of school to get to know each other better. This last weekend, I went hiking at the Dakeng Scenic Area trails. It's a twenty minute scooter ride to get to the parking lot up in the mountain and then the trails took us three hours to complete. My calves are still screaming (and yes, I've still worn my heels to work each day) but the view and the work out were completely worth it. 

A few friends did this trail during summer, so rumors of these trails have made their imprint in my brain. I've wanted to do this hike for a long time now so I feel a true sense of accomplishment and I can't wait to do it again!

This is the view from the top of Trail 5

This is halfway up Trail 2

This is the trail/stairs we used for the entire 3-hour hike. Sometimes the ground was right below the logs, sometimes it was a steep decline to our death. But the railings were reinforced (Carrie) and we didn't die.

Tonight, I have been invited to go to dinner with some English teachers to a dumpling restaurant! Supposedly it is one of the best restaurants in the world so my expectations are quite high. And there was the promise of a KTV cab ride on the way there, so that raises the bar quite a bit more.

Learning from What I'm Missing

In the first six weeks of being here, I have missed a lot of things back home that I have never missed out on before. Besides two close friends' weddings, I have missed out on even closer friends' birthdays, Irish Fest, State Fair, family vacations, a great summer job, Milwaukee summer nightlife, and countless other things. These are things that are traditions, things that my family covets and have truly taken to heart now that my brother and I are old enough to appreciate them as adults.

The hardest part, by far, of being here is not spending time in Presque Isle with my family. This is the first time in 15 years that I will not be going up north to the beautifully secluded Presque Isle Lake, but, fortunately, I will be able to return next summer when I am home for a few months.

I've said before that I define myself by the people in my life, friends and family, and the adventures we share. Reminiscing about past events, those being from years ago or escapades from the night before, have helped me become the person I am today. I have also said that I have to change my priorities and define myself by what I do with my life and who I encounter on these new adventures. I have been trying really hard to do this, and so far have been successful, but I also don't want to let go of what has gotten me here today.

In the first six weeks of being here, I have made friendships that will never be replaced or forgotten, I have seen things that some people have only seen on the Travel Channel or on the internet, I have taught in my own classroom for four weeks, have made connections with students that some only dream about in their methods classes, I have become even more independent in a new country where I barely speak the language, and I am so proud of myself.

On top of being a first year teacher, which is hard in and of itself, I am thousands of miles away from my family. The furthest I have ever been from them is two hours by car (my trip to London doesn't count because I was coming home in a week.) During my last year of college, when classes were overwhelming or I just wanted an escape, I would pack up the car with my laundry and my homework and head home for a couple nights. I was able to relax, turn off my brain for 48 hours, leave my phone in my bedroom, and be completely secluded from the stresses and responsibilities of methods classes and student teaching.

I don't have that luxury here. If I want to be by myself, I lock myself in my "apartment/dorm room," which will soon be surrounded by hormonal teenage girls 24/7. My second option is to go for a drive on my scooter and find a place to relax and read in the city, which so far has been a wonderful escape and I plan on continuing this during the regular school year whenever I can. There are amazing book stores here where people sit on the floor just to read a new book. The atmosphere is wonderful and the selection is mind-blowing so I can see this becoming a weekly escape.

In the next couple of days, the rest of our teachers will be returning from their trips and we will all be reunited again, everyone ready to exchange stories and inside jokes that were created on our different adventures. In less than a week, orientations and meetings commence with returning teachers- department meetings, time to lesson plan, house meetings, floor meetings, everything a teacher has to go through at the start of the new school year. I will have the privilege of being a part of two different departments- English and ESL/Student Services. I can't wait to see the differences between the two and use the strengths from both to progress into an even more helpful and well-rounded teacher for my students.

Every struggle that we face in life helps us become the person we are meant to be. Some of us go through different struggles at different times in our lives, or different struggles altogether, than the people sitting next to us. It's important to not let those hard events define who we are, but rather help guide us to be a better person who has a better, more well-rounded take on life. I have grown so much since moving to Taiwan, as an individual, as a friend, and as a teacher, and it's only been five weeks. I can't wait to see where my experiences take me in the next ten months.