Week 36: April Showers

This week, we had midterms, rain, and a county-wide English Day for Earth Day. It wasn't the worst week, but I did receive some difficult news during the weekend.

On Monday, I taught my morning classes, then went to Yanghugongchengsuoyangshan Park (養護工程所陽山公園) (try saying that three times fast) with the other Little K ETAs during lunch. It was a cute park, and it had lots of stone tables and barbecue areas. In spite of the cobwebs, we forged our way to the top of the park, where there was a pavilion, a stele, and a historical statue. From the top of the park, we could see most of the rest of Little K, including some of our schools. It was a beautiful day out! Since it was so lovely, I also bought some tea-flavored ice cream on my way back to school.

The rest of the day went ok. During Chinese class, we watched 75% of the movie "Cape No. 7", which was largely in Taiwanese Hokkien but included some Mandarin and Japanese, and which only had Chinese subtitles (and ridiculously quiet audio). Needless to say, our comprehension of the movie wasn't particularly good.

Tuesday was all rain all day. It was also the first day of midterms, so most of my classes were spent either proctoring exams or helping students review. One of the highlights of my day was being handed a pack of Blackpink Oreos by one of my sixth graders after I did some of the dance to "Flower" by Jisoo (one of the Blackpink members).

Admittedly, the rest of the day wasn't super great either. While one of my roommates and I were taking out the trash, not only did we not only had to contend with the rain, but also swarms of flying ants (which I initially mistook for mayflies). Eugh.

Wednesday was exhausting! More midterms, more proctoring, and more work. Although it was a half day, I spent all my free time working on a poster and a slideshow for Saturday's English Day. In honor of Earth Day, every elementary and middle school in the county spent half of Saturday teaching about the UN's SDGs (sustainable development goals), and each school had a booth and a theme. Jhou Huan's theme was sustainable cities, so we prepared different paper crafts so the kids could learn more about different elements of sustainable city. Unfortunately, it probably wasn't super eco-friendly to print out that many pieces of paper.

While I was working, one of my sixth graders handed me a little pink invitation. It was adorable—inside, there was a little drawing of a chibi girl with a cat hat and a note inviting me to see them take their graduation photos the next day. I got to see more of my sixth graders later during Chinese folk dance, during which I helped teach the younger girls some of the moves to their Monglian dance. I also got to see the older girls practice their Xinjiang dance, which is coming along well.

Despite the recent rain, the weather on Thursday was beautiful. I went down to the basketball courts to see not only my sixth graders but also my kindergarteners take their grad photos. They were adorable, especially the kindergarteners, who had cute little caps and gowns on! Each class had their photos together, then we had several faculty photos with the kids.

Classes went relatively smoothly. After school, I also went with my partner to Qilinshan Forest Park to look out over the rest of Kinmen and parts of Xiamen. The rain had cleared up a lot of the air pollution, so not only could we see Big K more clearly than before, but also different parts of Xiamen. We got Vietnamese food for dinner, then went to movie night with the rest of the cohort to watch Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior. Excellent movie, no notes.

On Friday, we didn't have kids at EV, so we spent the day getting other work done. In the afternoon, we helped set up for English Day, and I got to see the rest of the cohort as they came to set up with their LETs. After we got everything set up, a couple of us played catch, I picked up my partner's custom embroidered keychain (which was finally ready), then I went to a café. It was wonderfully peaceful just sitting there with my partner and gazing out across the fields.

I then went to the Shamei Night Market in Jinsha (which was just the vendors from the Carrefour Night Market in a different location). I liked seeing the other ETAs and some of their students, but I received some difficult family news while I was there. Seeing one of the other ETA's students and her incredibly fat pug made me feel a little better though.

After processing for a bit, I went to a bar with the other ETAs to cheer up a little. Apparently, a couple ETAs got locked in one of the Jinhu apartments, but they managed to escape from the roof and hang out with us. According to them, the route wasn't as dangerous as it sounded.

Saturday was just spent processing and crying. I didn't go to the Earth Day English event, but at least I saw some photos of the Jhou Huan booth.

I felt a bit better on Sunday, so I went to folk dance class at the community college in Jincheng with two other ETAs. It was fun having other people learn Mongolian folk dance with me. After dance, I got lunch at a cool upscale burger place in Jinhu with two other ETAs, then we went on a "gorilla hunt" with one of our local friends, who showed us a gorilla statue at an abandoned military fort in Jinsha. It was a little buggy out, but seeing the different forts, tunnels, overlooks, and monuments was interesting.

Later, I went to the Jinning Oyster Festival with the rest of the cohort, and we wandered around and got snacks. There were live performances, carnival rides, oyster art, and oyster digging, and the event was so full, it seemed like the whole county came to visit. They very well might have; although all of us ETAs teach in different schools across the different townships, all each saw some of our students.

Emotionally, I had a tough week. It started out okay (minus the rain), but this weekend, I spent a lot of time processing. And crying. So, so much crying. Even so, I'm grateful for all the support I've received this week.

The cohort's been incredibly kind and supportive; one ETA offered to get me a snack from Seven, another shared stories with me, and after weekly hotpot, I even received a stuffed cat plush. As a cohort, we also had a group cry at one point, which was wonderfully therapeutic. I couldn't imagine going through a loss abroad without having such a strong support network.

Although the week's been tough, I feel better knowing I have others to rely on. Hopefully, the next week is a little better.

Writer's Note: This post was originally written on Wednesday, April 26th, 2023.