Week 11: Sports Day and Spooky Things

Happy almost-Halloween! Going back to teach this week, it definitely felt like I'd come back from the dead. My students all seemed happy to see me (or at least pleasantly surprised), and my first graders even learned to say, "I miss you," in English for me!

My favorite part of the day was definitely the lunch break excursion that the other Little K ETAs and I took. We went to a fort by Shang Chi Elementary, then went down to the beach. It was a stunning day; the sky was bright and cloudless, and everything glittered in the sun. Although our shoes got wet, I had fun exploring the beach and running around the cliffs when the tide pulled back. There was a section of the beach with some trees that had washed up, another with pieces of an old fort scattered around, a flat rocky tide pool-ish area, and also a part with a stone that looked like a heart.

I think I've been having a good enough time here on the island so far, but just those twenty or thirty minutes on that beach were probably some of my favorite. There was nowhere to be, nothing else to do. Just good company to enjoy and a beach to explore.

After the rest of the school day, I went to Chinese class and we had a debate (in Chinese) about whether or not parents should let their children play videogames. Key arguments included that not letting their children play video games would be communism and that both myself and another ETA are cautionary tales of what you turn out to be when you let children play video games. As you can tell, this was an incredibly serious, high stakes debate.

My side (anti-video games; sorry Pokémon) ended up winning, then our class went to get ice cream at a nearby FamilyMart. As always, it was a good time hanging out with everyone!

Tuesday was pretty typical. I had solo teaching, then went to the community college to practice scooting while some other ETAs had their classes. I did get to meet the mother of Jhou Huan's principal at the community college ink painting class though! She told me she saw me at taro digging at the Taro Festival on Saturday.

On Wednesday, we had a practice run (literally) for the upcoming relay race. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were the Kinmen-wide sports day, which included events for both students and faculty at every school across the entire island. I was signed up as number 10 for the twelve person relay race.

We only ran around the track at the school (which was quite small, only about 150m around instead of 400m), but I was definitely still winded. The kids from several classes, including sixth grade and the lower kindergarten students, gathered to watch us run, and they seemed excited to cheer us on. For the rest of the day, students kept coming up to me and telling me that I ran really fast, which was sweet.

Back at the apartment, we learned we had a roof that we had access to, which was cool! We wished we'd known about it earlier; it's getting a bit cold and windy to hang out up there consistently. The rest of the day was spent going to a Fulbright workshop, then getting dinner with a local friend.

Speaking of learning about new spaces, I also finally checked out the music room at JHES on Thursday. I also wished that I'd checked it out sooner; there was a piano, a mirror, and a ballet barre! I spent probably about an hour in there playing the piano, dancing, and stretching. The only full song I can seem to remember how to play is "River Flows in You" by Yiruma, but hopefully I can re-learn some more songs once I start playing more regularly.

Once classes ended, I went to Big K with my coworkers for the opening ceremony of the sports festival (also known as The Games 2022). The vibes? Incredible. It was giving Olympics, mostly, but also parade—the way the kids were bored out of their minds and playing little games with each other while they waited reminded me of the other girls in my dance troupe and I waiting to perform in a parade. I liked the opportunity to just hang out with my coworkers and my kids though! I got to chat, joke around, and teach the kids some games.

The ceremony itself was incredibly lively; there were torchbearers and a giant torch, lasers, fireworks, and EDM. All the schools paraded around the track, then made double file rows behind their respective flags while we listened to the ceremony. Although we all got a little antsy listening to the announcers, I liked chatting with everyone, including some of the Xi Kou Elementary people who were next to us in line.

After the ceremony, lots of us ETAs got dinner together, then vibed at the Jincheng apartment. Topics of the evening included the coolness of the Xi Kou windbreakers (which had Naruto vibes) and the presence of an oyster mascot.

On Friday, I took my scooter exam again. On the downside, I failed again (scooter size issues). On the upside, I had a conversation with one of the other Little K ETAs and we're dating now! After the rest of EV, I just ran some chores with him, had dinner with him and another ETA, then worked on my Halloween costume.

Saturday didn't quite go as planned. I slept poorly, then the rest of Mr. Hong House (the six of us in the Jincheng apartment) and I ran some errands as we scrambled to get the house ready for the evening's Halloween party. I didn't get to eat or drink much, but I did get to take a nap before the big relay race. Unfortunately, said nap made me late to the relay race (which started a full hour before I was told it would). I made it though! I don't think I ran super well; I never broke into a full sprint, and I started seeing black spots after I stopped running. I was also running in Vans.

I had fun though, and Jhou Huan tried its best! Our best, unfortunately, only got 11th place out of 16, but we got gift cards to a local café chain, which was nice. I also got to spend more time hanging out with my coworkers and the students. It turns out fifth and sixth graders still enjoy bottle flipping when they're bored.

After watching the closing ceremony, I went with my boyfriend to run some errands for the party, then we came back and helped do last minute party prep. The party itself went great! In addition to the rest of our cohort, some of our LETs and other local friends came, and we played various drinking games and bobbed for apples. A couple of the night's memorable costumes include a wind lion, two gym rats, and a goth moth. I went as a piece of taro. Even though I was exhausted the next day from staying up until 2:30am, I had a wonderful time just hanging out and having fun.

Sunday was definitely a recovery day for everyone. When I finally woke up, I went upstairs and vibed with everyone who stayed over from the night before. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to Chinese dance, but I did get to go fruit shopping and walk around a bit later.

The most momentous part of the day was when the bridge between Big K and Little K, which has been twenty years in the planning and ten in the building, finally opened! Myself and the majority of Mr. Hong House drove over the bridge, and it was a beautiful view. We could see both Jinning and Jincheng on one side, then Lieyu on the other, then Xiamen in the distance. It was pretty windy, but we had a good time.

It's definitely been a full week, and I still don't know how much I've been able to process everything that's happened: sports day, the bridge, and a new relationship. I'm still in disbelief that I'm dating another ETA. I think it's not terribly surprising, but it's crazy to think that in the two months, one week, and one day since I'd arrived in Kinmen I ended up with a partner. It's very cute though, and I'm incredibly happy!

Until next week!

Writer's Note: This post was originally written on Thursday, November 3rd.