That's All Folks

Sorry about the late posting. I wish I could say that I was out on a grand adventure, but that's not the case. Really, the internet was just acting up and I couldn't write. This morning was a morning where I just did a workout at home. Again, this morning, I was so tired and didn't want to wake up. I don't know what it is, I'm getting more sleep then when Nancy was here and I'm going to bed earlier, but I am SO tired when the morning comes and my alarm goes off.

This was my last day teaching (hence the title of the blog). I didn't bother to tell the kids because I'll still be around and it's not like me not teaching is going to damage them. They are used to teachers coming in and out. My lessons went well today, but seeing as it was my last day, I would have hoped to do more spectacularly, but that's not how it panned out. In the morning I taught about sequencing and how we day something came first, next, and last. I had lots of props for that lesson and so it went well. The second class was on grocery shopping and sorting groceries. I forgot that I change classrooms and wouldn't have the toy check out counter to play with and so it the lesson dragged on for me as I just had them sort the groceries twice. They seemed to like it, but I was done with those things at the end of the first rotation, but then I had to do it all over again for another 45 minutes. Killer!

At lunch time I was hoping that I could ask Teacher Steffanie to help me book my Hong Kong trip. But she was super busy playing boss while Yuling is out. There were a couple of parents who came to check out the school during lunch time and so Steffanie had to try to sell how great our school is so that they would sign their kid up. I had already had most of my lesson done but I didn't want to go anywhere in case Steffanie finished early and so I did a whole lot of nothing during lunch time. Scratch that, I actually got all my evaluations done during lunch time, so it was actually a good use of my time.

After lunch I taught about Olympic medals. But the first slide of the powerpoint was a picture of Nancy and her sister. Nancy sent me a picture for me to show the kids to let them know that she misses them. It was funny because in the first class I asked what we were talking about, I got them to say "olympics" and then I turned on the TV and turned my back and kept talking. They pointed and said "Teacher Nancy" I told them that I am Teacher Brooke, not Teacher Nancy. They kept pointing and I asked what they were pointing at. Beth (the new teacher) was sitting in the back of the class and she looked at me and mouthed "on the screen." I nodded my head and mouthed back "I know, thanks." So then I told the class why I had a picture of Teacher Nancy, told them that she misses Taiwan and then clicked to the next slide to get back on the olympic track.

Kristy did not come to school today and so I did not tutor her today. I felt bad asking Teacher Steffanie to help me out because she is so busy but I finally went down and asked her for help. She was of course willing (she's a big sweet heart). I didn't think it would take that long, but it turned out to not be as simple as I thought. We found the hotel again for the days I wanted and we tried to book it, but just like everything else, when I typed in that I was going alone, the price raised. And it actually raised quite a bit. I was frustrated and I don't see how it makes sense, but I finally decided just to get it. One, I felt bad that Steffanie was sitting there so long when she's not getting anything out of all this labor (well, I'll probably get her some kind of thank you gift). And two, the price I'm paying now, even when it nearly doubled what I thought it was going to be, is still WAY cheaper then if I wanted to fly to Hong Kong from America. We clicked on the hotel to book it but then ran into another road block. I can't pay with an American credit card, and I don't know how to transfer funds from my bank to the company. By that time it was 6 pm already. We'd been on the computer for over an hour. I ran upstairs to call Yuling (she's pro at booking trips) and she told me to give the phone to Steffanie and she'd tell her how to transfer the funds. I ran downstairs and Yuilng talked to Steffanie for a while. Joseph (Yuling's husband) had come to help lock up and so he also came into the room to help me out. The clock was ticking away and I was watching it because I have tutoring at 7pm that I have to bike to and so I like to leave around 6:50pm. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to Hong Kong on August 13th through August 15th. I had to run off to tutoring and so I gave Joseph my atm card so that he could go and make the transfer, but then tomorrow he needs to fax in the receipt of the transfer and also the itinerary. I'm a little worried because at one point in time when Joseph was on the computer, it said that there weren't tickets available for August 13th and 15th. But he told me that there was an agent who was going to help me get the tickets and so it was okay. I hope it is all okay. It's only 2 weekends away and so things need to fall into place pretty quickly. But really, if it happens---!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited/anxious/slightly nervous/and so much more.

I was really worried that I would be late for tutoring, but it turns out that I was a couple minutes early like usual, so they didn't even notice anything was different. Abby did so much better today. She was more focused. But after I had finished up with the two younger kids, Betty (the mom) came to talk to me to see how many more days I would be teaching because she knew I wanted to take the trip to Hong Kong. Good thing I had just solidified plans half an hour ago (honestly). We looked at the calendar and I only have three more times going over there. But tonight was one of them, so I only have two more times. Yikes, I come home pretty soon. It was kind of a sad thought. I really like their family and I haven't had that much time to spend with them so only having two more weeks is sad. After tutoring there wasn't dinner waiting on the table and so I thought that I was getting any and was about to turn away but then Betty asked me if I had time for dinner. I of course did have plenty of time and so I ate and we chatted while I did so. After dinner I went upstairs to play wii with Angelo. This time we played baseball. I'm much better at baseball then I am at tennis. Neither one of us scored, but at least I made it to first base. Okay, maybe I'm not actually better at baseball, it's just that Angelo sucks too.

I came home after that and as I went in the gate a man came up to me and started talking to me in Chinese. I told him I didn't understand (in Chinese) and he kept speaking Chinese to me. I told him (in Chinese) "I'm sorry, I don't speak Chinese" and he kept talking to me in Chinese. Over and over I told him "I'm sorry," "I don't understand," and I even told him a second time "I don't speak Chinese." Eventually I figured out that he had two live chickens tied onto the back of his bike. We've had someone bring live chickens before for Yuling (she has to have special meals when she's inside for that first month with the baby and chickens have something to do with it), but usually they bring them earlier in the day. So I let him in and pointed to where he could put them. He opened the bag just to show me there were two of them. Yeah, I'd gotten that already. He put them down and as he walked away he told me his name. I couldn't tell you what it is, it's a Chinese name. I was proud of myself for understanding some of the things he told me. I guess I should have said "Wo jiao Brooke" so that he knew that I knew he was telling me his name, but he kept talking and I lost him after he told me his name so I didn't know if it was appropriate any more. I went upstairs laughing and Natalie and Beth were on the porch. I asked if Yuling had called at all, like some kind of warning like, "yeah, so my brother is going to stop by with some chickens, don't even worry about it, he'll just drop them off in the yard." Nope, she had done no such thing. I ran inside and called her to let her know they were there. Seeing as it's Friday night, I didn't want Teacher Jane to come to school Monday morning and find two dead chickens tied in a bag (I'm not going to feed them). Yuling said that she would have Joseph pick them up in the morning and she just hoped no hungry dogs break in and eat them tonight.

When I came up, Natalie let me know that Director Tsai had called earlier and is going to pick us up at 8:30am tomorrow so that we can do the art camp with the kids. I guess Natalie and Beth are coming too, so we're all going- Luke, Kaylene, Beth, Natalie, and I. I already knew to expect an all day thing, but at least Director Tsai mentioned it to Natalie this time. I guess they're picking us up at 8:30 am and expect it to go until 8:30 pm. And this camp is going to be a little different because it's with elementary school kids instead of high school kids and the elementary school kids don't speak English. I'm not sure at all what we'll be doing. I haven't been over to Tzu Chi since the last camp because they haven't been doing the Thursday lunch meetings since it's now summer break. Director Tsai mentioned to Natalie that she wanted me to do the recycling thing again. I don't know how I feel about that. I was bored out of my mind the first time, but not only that, the kids don't speak English so how am I supposed to teach them to recycle plastic and tin and aluminum and iron and glass and etc.? I guess we'll just have to see. I was supposed to get paid last time (but I haven't yet) I wonder if I'm getting paid this time. I'm doing it either way, but it'd be sweet to get paid for it. But, the main reason I wonder is because Beth and Natalie are a recent new addition and I don't know if they would be able to get paid or not. Again, we'll just have to see how things go.

I guess I had a pretty exciting day after all. Well, at least exciting enough for me to sit and write a lengthy blog. I should force myself to go to bed because I need to wake up early enough to do a morning workout and shower before Tzu Chi.