...and it is all the rage among Taiwanese school children. I've saved five out of the necessary nine stickers in the past week--this statistic is both shocking and appalling. Only five 7-11 lattes this week?! I should've had my free pen days ago!
When people see me add the stickers to my collection they assume I'm going to give it away as a prize to one of my classes--they're wrong. I plan on going about my daily writing business with a new sense of flair...and as the envy of all my students.
***
A fellow teacher told his kindergarten class that my Chinese name is 'Lady Gaga'...so that was an interesting greeting from a class of twenty 5-year old's this morning. And their parents found it to be a curious salutation later in the day as they were leaving.
***
The Christmas tree at school was removed the day after Christmas, with a blatant disregard for the 'New Year's Day Rule'. Yesterday the vacant spot was filled with this:
I couldn't bring myself to reprimand the kids that punched it as they walked by since I've been holding back from doing that very same thing.
***
Last week was the start of a new 'Yo-Yo' unit which means one thing...
...a new window display! It's still unclear as to whether I succeeded in drawing a bear (as was intended) or if I morphed it into a dog unintentionally. The class poll was inconclusive.
***
(Further) Evidence that I have the coolest co-workers:
On Tuesday, after kindergarten, the rain took a break and it was decided that we couldn't let it go to waste. A fellow teacher and I headed around the block to Carrefour (Taiwan's Wal-Mart) to purchase baseball gloves. We bought the cheapest ones we could find at NT$298 (US$9)...both cheap in price, and in quality. We headed to the park across the street to have ourselves a catch; we even played a game of "Pickle"! It was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon and temporarily satisfied my urge to throw a baseball around. I've already given a trustworthy individual instructions to transport my glove to South Carolina, where we will rendezvous in two weeks' time.
The baseball glove remains in my school locker, where it shall be ready for any spontaneous games of catch that may be had in the future. That is, if the rain gives it a rest, already!
***
The kids here play "Paper-Scissors-Stone" nonstop (it's actually quite brilliant). In some variations of the game the loser can get their foot stepped on--literally; if your weapon of choice is on the losing side you have to jump out of the way almost immediately upon throwing down to dodge the winner jumping onto your foot. I enjoy entering these games during class break times, but sometimes just to mess with the students I'll step on feet whether I win or lose. The following is a diagram one of my students, Jamie, drew to illustrate how the game works when there are more than two people involved.
The 'paper' sketch reminds me of "Bullwinkle"; the 'scissors' even resemble the moose's hooves.
***
It was a really, really fun Friday.
Have you collected your pen yet??? If you do not get one of the above (Black, white, blue birds or the green pig with a helmet)... are you willing to trade? I have a white one that I'd really like to trade for a red one (or a special pig)!
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