Thanksgiving weekend in Hong Kong!

Hey y'all!
This past week has truly been amazing in so many, many ways.  To start, it was American Thanksgiving!!!!  Yay…so my normally adorable preschoolers got a special surprise.

I can't post pictures of my precious students… so these are their teddy bears

Thanksgiving TURKEY!!!  Thank Principal Susan!

I celebrated in typical American fashion:

And I had a pretty fantastic dinner with the CEO of the school and various church members:

So many food pictures...

We love them in Taiwan

Don't worry, there are more...

But it was time for me to take a break from Taichung life for a little dose of home.  But since America (or Canada) is too far away…off I went to Hong Kong!

*I truly believe in seeing everything a country (or S.A.R.) has to offer.  But I live in Taiwan, so most of what I did in HK was to get a taste of "western" culture, which is intertwined with more traditional Chinese culture in Hong Kong.  So if my excitement about American culture seems a little disturbing, sorry!  The holidays have made me miss home!*

Friday Afternoon/Evening:

HK Airport is totally ready for Christmas

Double decker bus- the cheapest way to get from the airport to your destination!!!

But don't take the bus if you have places to go…because traffic can be a LITTLE problem  here.  But it gives you a great view of the city and a real idea of how HK actually operates.

Also, feel free to enjoy delicious sushi dinners in your hotel room when you finally get there at 9 pm..

Saturday:
This is probably the closest I actually got to being culturally appropriate.  So when you think of HK, you probably think of me doing things like this:

My first selfie of the trip! REAL TALK: Gingerbread lattes don't exist in Taiwan!  But they do in Hong Kong!

 You probably don't see me here:

This is Tai O, quite possibly the most beautiful town I have been to in a long time.   Huge SHOUT-OUT to Cindy Fung, who has worked here, for recommending I visit!  (And this is the view from the Solo Cafe.)
To get to Tai O is very easy, and only takes about 2 hours from my hotel in the heart of Kowloon.  Amazing!!!

Fresh air/No throngs of tourists?  Sign me up!

Also delicious ginger honey tea and informational books provided by the greatest cafe ever!

And you can take a boat to see dolphins...

But there has to be a downside…the constant smell of fish and shrimp paste

Which clearly didn't get me down when I made it to the Tai O Heritage Hotel!

Or spoil my appetite- yummy pork dumplings (another great recommendation from Cindy)

Having spent a delightful morning and afternoon in Tai O, I arrived back in the metropolitan HK area with plans to attempt to understand the MTR Airport Express (which I failed at MISERABLY!!!)  and to aimlessly wander around some shopping malls.
So imagine my surprise when I found myself here:

Wait…is that ice?

Are these ice skates?

Have I just been skating at the rink for an hour and a half?

The Canadian in me can't resist ice skating.  So having found a rink and wanting to relive my glorious Rockefeller Plaza days (well, day, I only went once) off I went.  I'm actually not horrid at skating, so I managed to stay upright the whole time.  Strangely enough, I didn't notice any fathers attempting to teach their daughters hockey strategies (thanks daddy!)

 I did a little shopping:

TMNT Advent Calendar #winning

Yeah…this is creepy…what are you doing Hong Kong?

Also, Cartier decorates for the holidays spectacularly everywhere, not just on 5th Ave.

I returned home, by way of mile long subway connector overpass (Dear NYC, can we get one of these between Grand Central and Penn, please?), to my hotel to rest up for my next magical adventure Sunday…which was also when I had to go home…

And got an obligatory Christmas-y pic at the mall!

Sunday:
What's a poor deprived expat to do when missing the Christmas season in the States?  There's only one answer, y'all: GO TO DISNEYLAND!

I am enroute to the happiest place on earth!

 HK Disneyland is clearly winning with the convenience factor, everyone.  For starters, you can take the subway to Disneyland.  Less than 1/2 a mile from the front gate.  And not just any subway car…the special mickey car.

Disneyworld, your monorails aren't this cool.  And they're in the park.

Also you can buy your ticket at Circle-K, which is basically the same thing as 7-11.  Hello, convenience!  Good-bye, traffic nightmares!

Scenes from the happiest metro station in the world!

I arrived at the park about a half hour before it opened and was treated to these beautiful views as it opened!

The front gate!

And here come the princesses to greet us!

 Once inside, there was soooo much to do:

Buzz Lightyear!!! 

"You must be sober and in good health to ride this ride."  Ummm…what types of problems are y'all having in HK?

Sleeping Beauty's Castle (also, the smallest castle ever.)

My favorite ride!!!!!!  (no sarcasm.)  Just as magical in HK as in Orlando!

 There was delicious food to eat:

Dole Mango Whip!!!!  They have them in HK too!

Mickey mouse hot chocolate!!!  Look at the sprinkles!

Also, hot ginger coca-cola.  Sounds gross to me, but to each their own...

There was a parade to watch:

Parade time!

It's like the Mickey water tower at WDW!

Lion King = A classic no matter where you are

And every parade needs a band playing Christmas carols!

There were new and old friends to meet!

Even before the park opening, I found these two!

Look who I ran into right as the park opened!

Not pictured: Tinkerbell's extreme confusion when she asked: "Where did you fly in from?" and I sad Taiwan.  #expatproblems

But eventually, I had a flight to catch…so I said goodbye:

 After (top) and Before (bottom) shots!!

No, Thank you Disney!

Grabbed one last Gingerbread Latte for the flight:

See you next Christmas!

My airline still feeds me! Yay Dragonair!

 And I was out of HK$!!!  So thanks HK for the amazing weekend!  But I can honestly say I am happy to be home in Taichung for now!

Christmas tree at school/home!

Happy start of the Advent season everyone!  I hope mine continues to be this blessed!  Check back next weekend for pics and stories of our preschool Christmas show!

Things my Students Say...

Hi y'all!


This week I have been quite lame...so my sincerest apologies. Aside from playing badminton (be glad there's no pictures from that) I have been decidedly uncool. Also I have 0 hand-eye coordination- so I don't think badminton is a sport for me.
But I did go see Hunger Games this weekend. And that was AWESOME! Go see it y'all!


But the level of sass in the movie made me think of another group that has been particularly sassy this week...my students.
Now I love my students, and they are brilliant. But sometimes they say things and I have to stop myself from laughing. Sometimes it's cultural misunderstandings- but more often, it's just that I teach students who range from age 4 to age 10.


So this week I present...things my students say:


Preschool:

• Me: Boys and girls, today we have a special visitor!
  
• Student: Is it Santa? Is Santa here? (Proceeds to jump up and down)
  
• Me: No, it's someone here to talk to us about grandma and grandpa.
  
• Student: Not Santa? (Face crumples)
  
  

• Me: (During Christmas Rehearsal) I can't hear you singing!
  
• Student (in Chinese) Teacher, maybe you don't understand Chinese because you can't hear.
  
  

• Me: Today we have spots! Who is wearing spots?
  
• Student: Teacher Lauren you! (points to my freckles)
  
  

• Me: How are you today?
  
• Student: I'm Crazy!
  
  
• (In the middle of story time, in Chinese) Teacher, ------- didn't eat his breakfast. He shouldn't get a smiley face today.   *My students eat breakfast at home. I have no control over this. 

• Me: Let's pray.
• All Students: Thank you God for snack time. Amen.
• Student 1: No!  No! No!  Thank you god for lunchtime.  We do not do our best!

1^st Grade:

• (I walk into class) Student: Teacher horse!!! Teacher horse! (I shouldn't have told them my Chinese name is 馬若蘭。
  
  

• Student: Teacher, what are pom poms?
  
• Me: You wave them in the air when you dance
  
• Student: Is it cake? Chocolate?
  
  

• Student: Teacher Lauren will you check my homework?
  
• Me: Sure!
  
• Student hands me Chinese workbook.
  
  

5^th Grade:
This week I asked my students:
“What is your favourite thing about this class?” Their answers:

• When Teacher gives us food so she doesn't get fat
  
• When Teacher talks funny (I believe this is when my southern accent comes out)
  
• When Teacher pretends she's stupid so we have to help her

“What is your least favourite thing about this class?”:

• Teacher can't have the air conditioning on because the doctor said so (this is true)
• When Teacher understands Chinese and gives us strikes for saying bad things
• The water drips in the bathroom

• Student: (imitating me) Y'all, we ain't got time for this mess.  (Note: My students are not going to be prepared for life outside of the South at this rate.)

• Student: (talking about hobbies) Teacher Lauren, do you bake cookies with your boyfriend?
• Me: No
• Student: Do you have a boyfriend?
• Me: No
• Other Student: (Nods knowingly) Did he get three strikes so you break up?

On that note...

Next weekend I am off to HONG KONG!!! Happy American Thanksgiving to me! So I promise next week I will have some great photos, stories, and philosophical musings. I apologize my blog is neither academic nor transformational...but hopefully something this week made you smile!

Why it's more fun to be a teacher than a student

What are you doing this weekend?  That was the question I asked my 5th graders this week.  We're learning the present continuous (aka I am doing, he is going, etc.)

You see life as a preschooler is pretty awesome in Taiwan.  You get to go on field trips to see things like this:

"What are these?  What sound do they make? Why are you trying to grab Teacher Lauren's camera?"
- Questions I ask my preschool students on field trips

But the older you get, life gets significantly less fun.  As evidenced by my 5th graders' writing:

On Friday, I am studying for my test.

On Saturday, I am studying for my test.

On Sunday, I am studying for my test.

I am not having fun this weekend because my test is very important. 

Am I striking fear into the hearts of 5th graders everywhere?  Of course not.  These are my students' normal school midterms they are studying day and night for, not my test.  Now clearly some of my students in Mississippi could have learned a lot from my fifth graders in Taichung about work ethic.  But at the same time, it seems that being a student, from elementary school to high school, is more stressful than anything else in this country.  They are always studying, and there is so much pressure to achieve- from parents and from themselves.  It seems that my fifth graders in Taichung could also learn something from my Mississippi students- how to enjoy being a kid.  

So I am trying to enjoy my life a lot more…because I am hoping that I can convince my students to have MORE fun!!!  So far this includes dance parties and candy, plus games and contests.  And having lots of fun myself!   Because if I don't know how to relax and have fun, I can hardly encourage my students to do the same.  I've failed at this before, but I think I'm currently pretty successful.  For proof, some things I did this weekend:

Fun fact: You can make dulce de leche in Taiwan.  Put a jar of condensed milk in a crockpot full of water for 9 hours.  Enjoy with cookies, crackers, apples, guava, or just a spoon.  Reminiscing about Paraguay is strongly encouraged. 

We went to bible study…and there was a light show at a temple across the street!!! 

Hiking!!  Do I enjoy hiking? NO.  But do I enjoy face paint? Yes.  Time with friends? Yes.  The realization that I can climb approximately a gazillion stairs even though I might feel like I'm going to die? Definitely.

And a week late, a Halloween party! (I'm little red riding hood!) And thank you Pinterest…so many awesome spooky food ideas!

So what's next to convince myself and my students that life can be fun?  

Can you read Chinese???  If so this should be easy!  If not, let me give you a hint: 3/15 Hualien East Coast Half Marathon here I come!

Happy Halloween!!

We have been celebrating Halloween in grand style here in Taichung!  It's been a little bit of a rough week- I managed to get sick the day I was subbing and therefore working extra hours.  Oops!  Luckily it's nothing ginger and honey haven't been able to fix.  And of course, candy.

In my preschool classroom, we have been busy making all sorts of things to celebrate.  We learned what pumpkins are and how to make jack-o-lanterns!  My students loved getting to cut out some smiley faces and "hair" for their pumpkins!

We're so cute other classes came to take pictures with us!!!

The next day, it was time to use our real pumpkins!  I had requested canned pumpkin from my school to make pumpkin smoothies with my students.  Of course, canned pumpkin, it turns out, does not exist in Taiwan.  Instead, we got a small pumpkin.  I will say, cutting and boiling the pumpkin was much easier than I expected, and the kids loved getting to practice counting their seeds!  Also, Pumpkin Smoothies are so delicious and easy to make (ok, less easy without canned pumpkin) it was a great day!

No pictures from our messy adventure, but this is what the finished product looks like!

I seem to have become Martha Stewart over the past week, because I insisted that we keep the pumpkin seeds so I could roast them.  And used the pulp to make a face mask.   I don't know what's up with me.  It's a little scary.  I also did this thing where I did laundry and grocery shopping before noon on a Saturday.  Really, I think I'm becoming a grown up.

Just my pumpkin seeds hanging out in my classroom…where my fifth graders would be extremely confused about what they were

Thursday, actual Halloween was finally here.  We lit our jack-o-lanterns (made with my fantastic co-teacher Vicky) and donned our "costumes".  My students were cats and supermen/women, complete with masks or ears.  We went trick-or-treating to our sister class, the Deer class.  It was adorable to watch the children exchange treats.  We later went to sing our trick or treat song for some of the other classes, and were blessed with even more candy!  We also had some other students from the Lion class who trick or treated with scary face make up- we were excited to see someone else in "costume".  It was a great way to share the holiday with my students!  

My 1st and 5th graders) didn't get quite as much fun, but I did make some chocolate bananas for them and show them the jack-o-lanterns!)

As for my Halloween celebration, I got to go see Thor this weekend with some friends, which was AMAZING.  Go see it when it comes out in America and Canada!!!  I won't spoil anything, but prepare yourself for some big shocks!  And stay after the credits!

The perks of living abroad…seeing the movie before it's out in the US!!!

Field Trips, Dry Cleaning, Shopping, and Life Without Coffee

I wish that I could fill this blog post with amazing adventures I went on this week…but I can't, because I can be kinda lame (oooops.)  So instead I'm going to try something I haven't done before- which is just talk about things I've learned since moving to Taichung.

I am a city girl. I thought I was a country girl.  I love walking into the Crystal Diner Sunday afternoons and seeing the entire congregation of the church I just went to.  I love seeing my students at the grocery store.  But you know what I love more?  Starbucks.  Jazz Festivals.  Museums.  The ability to find couscous in the grocery store.  Public transportation. Shopping.  Walking home at 10 pm and not being the only person on the street.  Taichung has ALL of this.  And I'm sure, so does New York, or Hong Kong, or Asunción, or even Raleigh.   But I think I had been denying to myself how much I feed off the energy of a big city.  Even though the smog can be gross and sometimes it's 人山人海 (literally people mountain, people sea, aka people everywhere.)  There's something comforting in the flashing lights from the stores and the fellow joggers on Sunday.

Case in point: The Taichung Jazz Festival

Chinese is really hard.  Yes, yes, everyone knows this.  And I knew this.  After all, I studied Chinese for awhile.  But for some reason I forgot just how difficult it really is.  I'm currently learning bopomofo, which is the phonetic "alphabet" of Chinese.  (as in, it can teach you how to talk, but not how to read.)  The TPRS teacher in me loves this- finally language acquisition in the Chinese classroom- but it is frustrating.  Because I still can't read…especially because of the traditional characters that Taiwan uses. But I will continue to practice- and not get upset when I can't improve as quickly as in Italian or French.

A Bopomofo app for iPad… doesn't it look fun?

It's okay to be alone sometimes. I am by no means an extrovert, but at the same time, I like to be around people.  I don't like to spend lots of time with myself, in quiet reflection, which Oprah tells me is very important… likely because I don't like what I have to reflect on.  But I'm realizing that alone time is important.  Because sometimes it's good to hang out with friends, and sometimes you need to think about what's best for you.

Ok, sometimes it's better not to be alone

I am a work in progress. I have NO IDEA what I want to do with my life.  I have NO IDEA where I want to be in my life.  And I have NO IDEA who I want to spend it with.  But that's okay, I hope.  Because I'll figure it out.  That's what self-discovery is about.  And that's part of the reason I chose to take a job I never expected in a place I never expected.  So here's looking at you, Taichung!  In another 2 months I hope I stay this in love with you!

Just me in my uphill battle against my doubts.

Also, today marks my FIRST WEEK WITHOUT CAFFEINE! (Doctor's orders: I apparently don't get "good sleep") That's the longest I've gone without coffee or Diet Coke since I was 18! It has been difficult, and I have not been the happiest person because of it.  But I did it! (and doctor's orders, I'll do it for another week.) So dream big y'all!  If I can do it, so can you!

I dream of Pumpkin Spice Frappuccinos…
not that I'll ever be able to have one since they don't exist in Taiwan

Thanksgiving, River Walking, Ice Cream, and Gua Sha

I can't believe it has already been one month since I last blogged!  Time has been flying recently here, and I have a feeling it will only get busier as I get excited about many new things...

One of my many adventures when I could've been blogging...

Also where I got completely soaked...

And made new friends!

I have had a busy past month- lesson planning, river walking with friends (yes, like walking in a river), eating too much ice cream, shopping in fancy stores, making upcoming travel plans (back to Hong Kong in November, Australia in January, Kuala Lumpur in February), not to mention celebrating Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from my preschool students- they made hand turkeys!
 (and want to go to Canada to see the snow!)

Here the big focus in school now is preparing for our upcoming Christmas shows.  My students for preschool will be perfectly adorable as usual.  I actually don't know much about the song they're singing as we've had some CD player issues.  But we will have to begin practicing soon.

Warning: extremely adorable Christmas song

My elementary school production theme is "Christmas around the World"- and no, it wasn't actually my idea, although I obviously LOVE it.  As America is just too easy for us, my 1st graders will be celebrating in Italian, and you can listen to their song above!   My fifth graders have their work cut out for them- they'll be performing Auld Lang Syne in the original Scottish of Robert Burns.

Yep, we're awesome...but only enough to do the first half.

This means lots of practicing in addition to lots of schoolwork which keeps lessons very busy.  But in a good way!

I also went to the doctor yesterday because I've been having some headaches and neck pain.  I went to a traditional Chinese doctor (which is a real doctor, by the way) and had a great conversation about why I should drink less coffee (oops), not eat cold foods (no more ice cream) and sleep more.  Sounds like a pretty good plan to me!  I also got gua sha done, which is attractive.  Basically I got my skin scraped on my back and neck (my neck is actually redder than my back) to promote my circulation and release bad things (like stress) from my neck.  Bye-bye neck pain!  I highly recommend trying it at least once.  And unless your skin is like mine, it probably won't look quite this bad!

I promise, it feels great!

All right, that picture is a little gross, so to make you (ok, me) happier....

This is an ice cream and cake place...that used to be an optometry clinic...and still looks like one...but instead of glasses in the drawers there are cakes!!!

So I will try and blog again soon with more updates on my fantastic life...like my field trip next weekend, Halloween party, and going to see Thor 2.
In the meantime, I miss you all!  (Unless if you're in Taiwan!)