What an eventful birthday! Definitely unique and one that I will remember forever! It started off with a lovely Skype conversation with the family, then heading to school for my LAST DAY of teaching! In retrospect, I cannot believe it is over already! It seemed so tedious but now it's just a blur! Anyways, I had my final observation first period. I was very worried because this is the final day of assessment week for the students in their Chinese courses. In other words, working hard for me on my last day here when they were already burned out would be a challenge, so I was worried! However, needlessly so! My students were wonderful and participated and asked great questions.
When I told the students it was my last day here, three of my four blocks were very sad and told me they would miss me, etc....the "challenging" class, however, had less nice things to say. I am sort of glad I couldn't make out the Chinese. Sort of a dissapointment, but I can only do so much if they are not willing to meet me halfway. Anyhow, I took pictures of each of my classes at the end of the period. Whereas this would be a big deal in the US and require a plethora of paperwork, taking pictures of students and classrooms is ok in Taiwan. Also, many students asked for my email address and facebook information. In the US, I would never, EVER consider being facebook friends with a student, it's a big "no no" for teachers, in my opinion. However, in Taiwan it is culturally acceptable and all of my collegues are friends with the students on facebook. So I ended up giving my contact information to a few students who wanted to send me emails, etc...good English practice for them, at least!
At lunchtime, someone came to my desk and said, "The principal wants to see you!" So Alaina and I were escorted downstairs, where we were met by many people saying "Happy Birthday!" Everyone was speaking in Chinese and I was SO confused...I didn't even know half the people and thought it was strange they would be having a birthday celebration of this calibur for me. Finally, I spotted the cake with a "65" candle and realized it was also the superintendant's birthday! Before long, I was being coaxed iutno a picture with the superintendant and also another teacher whose birthday was today! They had these very, VERY long Taiwanese noodles and pig's feet in bowls. It is a traditional Taiwanese birthday meal, and the noodles represent longevity, so you're not allowed to bite them. Since my chopstick skills are still very bad, I was once again embarassed to eat a difficult meal in front of twenty plus people. But I'm getting used to it now! A very fun celebration!
After finishing up our teaching day, my mentor teacher told me she needed to meet with me in the teacher's lounge, so down we went, and sat there for about ten minutes until another teacher came and told us we were wanted in my supervisor's office. My mentor's mistake...she had the wrong location! So up we went and there were many of the teachers with a BEAUTIFUL birthday cake! I will definitely miss the sweets in Taiwan, because they are much LESS sweet, but have more different pieces and parts, which I enjoy.
Then, tonight, Harriet and Alaina planned a lovely birthday dinner at Grazie Cafe, a nice italian restaurant down the street! Several teachers and administrators from the school joined us, and it was so much fun! Harriet brought Dan-Dan, the dog...and another lady brought her two adorable toddlers. Between the three of them, we were easily entertained for a few hours!
All in all, it was a wonderful birthday! I am reminded once again of the wonderful people I have met while in Taiwan, and even though I am SO ready to come home, I will miss them!
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