Week 22: First Semester Finished

What. A. Week. I've been fighting off burnout and general illness, but I made it to the end of the semester! I still can't believe that the grant's half over.

On Monday, I taught and lesson planned, as usual. It was my last day of the semester teaching first grade, which was a shame since they're so sweet. During lunch, the other Little K ETAs and I had our last lunchtime hang of the semester. It was pretty chill, but I think we all needed something lowkey.

Tuesday was a tough teaching day. It seems like both the students and myself are at the ends of our ropes. There was some frustration and exhaustion, but at least we made it through the rest of the review material. There were also jujubes at lunch, which cheered me up a bit.

Wednesday was a bit better. After teaching, I got boba and headed to EV with two other Mr. Hong House ETAs. At EV, we did prepwork for the rest of the semester, plus also received red envelopes from our LETs. Each red envelope had a one yuan coin inside and a laminated fake hundred yuan bill with a photo of my partner's face photoshopped onto it.

I also got my hair cut with another ETA at a salon in Jincheng. Mine was shorter than expected, but I like it! Afterwards, we went to dinner with a few other ETAs at a nearby barbecue place, then I went home and chatted with a couple other Mr. Hong House ETAs. I also called my mom, and she met my boyfriend over the phone, which went well!

Thursday was the first day of finals, and my last day of the semester at Jhou Huan. I spent the day proctoring exams, then at lunch, I wandered around Little K with my partner. We checked out the top of a nearby mountain, then visited a temple by the pier.

Back at school, I spent the rest of the day giving candy to the kids. They were disappointed that I wasn't going to be there for the week after finals, and a couple were afraid I wasn't going to be there the next semester (including a girl who used Google Translate to ask if I was coming back). They were, however, pretty pleased with the candy at least.

At the apartment, I just spent the evening doing productive things and attending a panel hosted by Fulbright Taiwan's DEI committee. The panel was fascinating; it discussed language revitalization efforts for the Kaxabu language, which is spoken by one of the Indigenous groups not yet recognized by the Taiwanese government. The guest speaker described her process creating a picture book and an after school club for the language.

Friday was our last day of work for the semester! I went to EV, but the day was spent doing prep for next semester and other miscellaneous things. One of the day's biggest accomplishments was that after about half an hour of struggling at the post office, I finally mailed a box of gifts for Lunar New Year to my family.

After school, I rushed back to the apartment, grabbed my luggage, and my partner and I headed to the airport, where we barely made it to Taipei.

On Saturday, my boyfriend and I took a day trip to Taoyuan to meet up with one of my friends from college. Once we met up with her, we got some excellent douhua (豆花), which is a sweet tofu dessert, on our way to Daxi (大溪). It was a little hotter than expected, but the weather was great. We visited a historical house called Li Teng Fang Mansion, then walked around Yuemei Wetland Ecology Park together before renting some YouBikes and checking out the Daxi Night Market.

Later, we also visited some historic Japanese museums, crossed the Daxi Bridge, and went to the Zhongli Night Market. Among other snacks, I tried a butterfly pea flower jelly popsicle and a strawberry wrapped in dragon's beard candy. I also found a keychain with my Chinese surname on it, which was surprising given how uncommon it is. Even though the day was a little tiring, I liked catching up with someone from home.

Sunday was our last day in Taipei before our midyear conference. I woke up late, then my partner and I went to IKEA with some other Kinmen ETAs. It was a bit of a hike, but I think it was worth it for the ice cream alone. The ice cream was only $10 NTD/cone ($0.33 USD/cone), but it was amazingly rich and light. We also visited Costco, but none of us had our membership cards on us, so we couldn't buy anything.

For dinner, we went to an Indian restaurant, then walked around Ximending with some other ETAs. It was a nice end to the week.

It's been a tough semester, but I'm gonna miss my kids over break! I hope they enjoy their Lunar New Year and get to spend lots of time with their families. I'm a little bummed I can't see mine for the new year, but I'm looking forward to spending the holiday exploring Taiwan. Happy (early) Lunar New Year!

Writer's Note: This post was originally written on Sunday, January 15th, 2023.