Lindsay Gets Confident With Chopsticks (aka Independence Day Weekend)

I have been leading the toddler's morning class for a full week, but I'm still being slowly worked in to my other levels.  Having missed the official program training by a few days I am constantly a step behind those in the know, and thus the staggered class observation is much appreciated; just plain good management on the part of my branch.  Their plan of getting me confident with the "Yo-Yo" class has worked, as I am no longer terrified of the miniature humans--and they are no longer terrified of me.  My name has officially been changed in the minds of the Elephant class to 'Teacher Lindsay' and it's a good thing too, as I had planned to answer to that name all along.  The class is fairly simple to plan for since it's pretty much the exact same thing the whole week, with the exception of the "Fun Time Activity!" which occurs at the end of every class...this is where my immaturity (*ahem*creativity*ahem*) comes into play (with the help of the activity suggestion book). My shining moments this week involved Play Dough and the ever exciting 'Orange Roll!', in which we sat on the ground and rolled oranges back and forth...for thirty minutes.  Back and forth.  Should the kids have lost interest I had plans to let them investigate the oranges by peeling them, smelling them, tasting them, etc.  There was no need for this extra step since wonders didn't cease, and the children were more than happy simply rolling the oranges.  Did I mention this went on for thirty minutes?  The Play Dough, on the other hand, has been added to my list of emergency activities--underlined, highlighted and bold, bold, bold!  As I was demonstrating how one deals with Play Dough ("Do we eat the Play Dough?  No.  Do we throw the Play Dough?  No.") the children stared, mesmerized and they were all mumbling something in Chinese over and over.  I asked the Chinese-speaking teacher what all the kids were saying, she started laughing, "It means, 'I want to play with that.  I want to play with that.'"  Clearly the Play Dough casts some sort of spell over toddlers--this is helpful to know.  It has been added to the shelve of magic, where the bubbles reside.

After one week of teaching "Yo-Yo" and observing older classes, we have been rewarded with a two day weekend!  Yes, you read that correctly...a special two day holiday weekend.  Although I do only have one class on Saturdays and it's finished at noon-thirty, so I hardly consider it to be a work day.  Walking home from this class yesterday I passed a restaurant that had a counter with food I could see, and thus point to--my favorite type of place.  I entered and started moving down the line.  The woman filling my take out container talked rapidly with a smile on her face, ignoring my shrugs and mumbles about not speaking Chinese.  She shrugged in return, but didn't stop talking.  When it was time for me to move around the corner of the counter (and to the mystery meat section) she wouldn't pass on my box, instead continuing to speak to me in Chinese.  I smiled politely and kept shrugging...the people behind me looked at me like I was the reason the line was held up.  The cashier spoke harshly to the woman helping me, and took my box away from her, successfully ending the one-sided conversation.  The new woman pointed to the meat area; I shook my head and moved closer to the cash register.  She pointed again, and said something in Chinese (clearly they were not grasping my language barrier).  I said no again, and pulled out some money; she continued to stare at me, baffled that someone would refuse the meat spread.  I could see I was fighting a losing battle and submitted, choosing the least offensive chicken item I saw.  That seemed to satisfy her and she finally let me leave, tossing chopsticks in my bag with judgmental eyes.

Since the rain had finally subsided for the morning I decided my lunch must be eaten outside, and I set off in search of a park bench.  The tricky part about eating lunch in public was that my chopstick usage would be in full view of an audience.  I walked for quite a while when I finally spotted a park; there wasn't a secluded bench, but I was hungry and tired.  Plus, I'd been in Taipei for three weeks...that's plenty of practice.  Right?  I focused, and actually succeeded!  I ate a whole lunch with chopsticks--by myself!  And this wasn't an easy lunch full of large bulky items...no!  This lunch involved scrambled eggs, spinach, and rice!  The rice was my greatest challenge yet, but it was conquered--as was everything else!  (With the exception of the large hulking piece of fried chicken which I was forced to choose...this was eaten with my fingers)  What's that Asia?!  How do you like them chopstick skills?!

Speaking of Asia...more specifically, Taiwan.  Tomorrow (October 10th) is the 100th anniversary of "Double Ten Day", or the anniversary of the Wuchang Uprising.  It is celebrated as 'National Day' for the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name...because it's not technically a country).  The whole situation has something to do with railroads and displeasure with the nationalization of them, and according to Wikipedia (even though I'm a teacher now, I'm still going to go against the rules and quote them), "These events served as a catalyst to the Xinhai Revolution, which led to the collapse of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China."  I really should know more about this day since history's my thing and all, but the books are expensive here and I couldn't find a Taiwan history book that didn't look like a textbook.  When I get my visa I will be able to peruse the library, where it's rumored there is an English section...I'll explain "Double Ten Day" better and in more detail when that happens.

Last evening the three of us decided to try a movie night, complete with the obvious fast food prior to the viewing.  Having walked by 'Mos Burger' many times we decided to finally give it a go.  Pointing to pictures on the menus seems to be the fool-proof way of ordering, so I stuck to my method and pointed to the cheeseburger (with no hot sauce, since that's always the inevitable follow-up question to whatever I order).  The cashier pointed to my choice of side dishes, one of which was a side of chicken nuggets!  I opted for the french fries, but it's nice to know that I never have to choose between the burger and the nuggets again.   Another employee also tried to sell us a 'Mos Burger Calender, 2012 Edition', complete with coupons.  No, thanks, but maybe next time.

Off to the movies we went!  Crossing our fingers on the walk up to the theater that the movie would be in it's original English, with Chinese subtitles we embarked upon our greatest challenge in Taiwan thus far.  Going to the movies here is over-stimulating and quite the event (as most things in Asia have turned out to be); our first challenge was buying tickets.  There were no movie posters at which we could point, and the screen with the time-table kept switching, so we couldn't rely on that.  Finally an English-speaking employee was located and we were in business--sorta.  It turns out that everything is ordered at the ticket counter...we had to make beverage and popcorn decisions before we were prepared.  And then there was the dilemma of finding the correct stand at which we were retrieve our popcorn, finding the correct theater, and finding our assigned seat.  All of this and we didn't even know if the movie was going to be in English yet!  It was.  And we survived, but not without a last challenge at the garbage cans on the way out.  They're very serious about what trash goes where, but all the directions are in Chinese (naturally)...I always have a slight panic attack in front of the garbage can options.  On our way out of the movie theater complex we vowed that next time we would be so much better prepared; knowing our popcorn order, buying candy ahead of time, bringing a photo of the movie poster to point to, etc.  We won't be caught off-guard again...at the movies, at least.

Today, since I didn't technically have any lesson plans I could work on, became a lazy-Sunday...resulting in a trip to the bookstore.  Obviously.  My specific reason for going involved embracing my nerdy side and search for a book light, but of course I walked out with something other than the one thing that was on my list.  It doesn't count though, it's a comfort book ('A Room With a View') and it was super cheap; those kinds of things are necessary for me to live in Taipei.  On my walk back to the hostel I snapped this photo of the Xinyi shopping district:

 

And since we have no classes tomorrow (remember, it's a two day holiday weekend) we ventured to the Roahe Street Night Market in search of food.  It was the most crowded I'd ever seen it, but we still hit up the favorite booths, all of which know our order now (not like it's difficult to recognize us).

 

As predicted, the photo just can't do the market justice.  Even with the crowds of people I quite enjoy it...it's the stinky tofu smell that I can't handle.  It just hurts my nostrils.  So badly.  It was so crowded tonight that when we reached the end we hesitated to start down the other side in search of the pancake man.  That hesitation was quickly corrected, and we ventured back in.  The pancake man must always be paid a visit.  It was worth it (it always is), and right when we walked up he said our order to his assistant.  They are literally miniature pancake sandwiches, with your choice of delights on the inside.

Ignore the custard, red bean spread and some sort of berry situation happening in the photo--it's the chocolate we like.  Since he had so many orders racked up with the busy market, we had to wait a little bit...he gave us all a chunk of chocolate while we stood there.  We're friends.  He's going to miss us when we move, and are no longer a few blocks from the market.  We'll miss him equally as much, though; that's for certain.  Reunions will be had.  Bulk orders will be placed.  We'll keep in touch with the pancake master.

As you can see, Taiwan is well prepared for their all-important day.  And despite my ignorance about the details of said all-important day, I plan on fully participating in the festivities.  I've heard there will be fireworks, and all those close to me know how much I enjoy fireworks...and how upset I become when I don't get to see them.  Obviously I will be there on the wharf in the best possible viewing position tomorrow evening.