Week 44: 畢業快樂 (Happy Graduation)!

Happy graduation, 601! This week, (almost) all of the sixth graders in Kinmen had their graduation ceremonies. I also fell sick this week right after graduation, so I spent the rest of my time locked in my room. Very fun.

On Monday, I gave my gifts to 601. When I was leaving the house in the morning, I also had an enormous spider (very large, very meaty) scurry out from under my scooter, which was absolutely terrifying. Besides that, the morning commute was uneventful.

In the 601 classroom, I let the kids pick their keychains (in order of whose name was drawn first), and they seemed pretty excited. As expected, the Blinks of 601 (four girls who love Blackpink) chose the Blackpink keychains, and the Mamamoo fan chose the Mamamoo keychain. As for the basketball lovers, they definitely preferred the Golden State Warriors ones to the Lakers ones, but they still liked their keychains well enough. I also gave the kids jelly sticks, chips, and letters (each of which had their English names written on them). They seemed excited!

After getting shaved ice with my partner during lunch, I played a little basketball with some of my sixth graders. Did I do poorly? Absolutely. But was it fun? Sure. That day was our last dance practice, too, so I helped the dance club as they practiced "Solo" by Jennie for graduation. Then in the afternoon, I played a little more basketball with a couple more kids (and did just as poorly).

Then, I headed to the beach by the Triangle Fort Café to watch the sunset. It was calming to walk along the shore and watch the waves ebb and flow, and I found a couple pretty shells along the way. Later, I went to dinner with my partner at Mike's Quiches, then we found the giant spider from earlier hanging out right above the door to our apartment. Yikes!

Tuesday was relatively spiderless (minus the huge spider still chilling above our door). I had the sixth graders sign my yearbook, and they asked me to sign their green writing mats in turn. Classes went well. I also got to watch the sixth graders rehearse part of their graduation performance in the auditorium, and unfortunately, I teared up a little watching them.

I was so upset about the sixth grade graduation that later that evening, I decided to make individual roses for each student. It took almost three hours, but it felt good to channel my emotions into making something nice for them.

The next day was graduation day itself. We had a bunch of speeches, formal things, etc., then the second half of the ceremony was all performances. The fifth graders, 小班, second graders, fourth graders, sixth graders, and the 中班 all performed, and they did a great job! The second graders did a dance to a Jolin Tsai song, then the fourth graders performed to "Airplanes" by B.o.B. While the sixth graders performed, they played the flute, the recorder, and sang, then four of them (three Blinks and the Mamamoo fan) danced to "Forever Young" by Blackpink. As during rehearsal, I teared up during the part where all the sixth graders ran into the audience and danced, but I didn't actually cry in front of the kids (thank god).

The last part of the graduation ceremony, which was only for the graduates (both the kindergarteners and the sixth graders), was the prize raffle. The Kinmen county government and the Jhuo Huan PTA had donated a bunch of prizes for the kids that ranged from free movie vouchers to electric fans. Understandably, the sixth grader that won the electric toothbrush was a little less enthused than the ones that won new bikes. They all eventually won something fun, though.

During lunch, I ate with my fellow teachers, and the sixth graders came around giving toasts. It was sweet hearing them thank us, and I'll miss them dearly. Before I left, a couple of them asked for hugs, and they promised to message me on Messenger.

The rest of the day (and the rest of the week), I curled up in bed and was ill. So, so ill. I woke up on Thursday with a 100.4°F fever, then just watched TV and laid around. I binge watched season six of Black Mirror at least. Friday wasn't too different. I laid around and read. Also got dinner with my partner. One of my roommates also brought me free goodies provided by next week's dragon boat race organizers. Most of them were from previous events and years, including a marathon tee shirt from 2015 and a towel from 2001.

Saturday was our last make up workday of the year. I tried to go to EV to do work, but I only lasted for, like, an hour before I was banished home to rest up. I spent the rest of the day being terribly bored (and sad) without the rest of the cohort. In the last couple weeks of the grant period, I wasted 3.5 days locked in my room. Doing nothing. We had a couple people test positive for COVID, so they probably felt similarly as they were locked in their rooms. One of my roommates brought me paintbrushes, though, so at least I could paint a little.

My first day of freedom was Sunday. I headed to dragon boat practice with everyone, and while I couldn't yell, I could still drum for everyone. There was also a random shu shu (old Taiwanese uncle) on a jetski, then in a dinghy, shouting unsolicited advice at us. Some of it was helpful. Some of it was not.

Afterwards, I picked up the embroidered cohort keychains, then went to hotpot for dinner. At dinner, I also learned more about a recent controversy at my school, which I had vaguely heard about but hadn't actually learned the details of (oh dear).

This week, I definitely felt the crunch of the end of the grant period thanks to graduation and illness isolation. There're only two weeks left now, and I wasted half of one being sick. I still don't feel like I've done enough to spend time with my kids and the cohort, and I wish I could have another month or two with them. I also haven't started packing, buying souvenirs, or doing anything else to get ready to leave.

I think the worst part of being locked in my room was that I could feel the minutes passing me by, and I knew I wasn't well enough to do anything about them. I couldn't explore or revisit different parts of Kinmen, start packing or cleaning, or hang out with anyone. I could only sit in my room and watch everyone else's BeReals.

I'm worried I won't get well enough fast enough for Dragon Boat Festival next week. Or fast enough to spend time with everyone. Next weekend's our final weekend together (it's a four day weekend), and the last one one of our cohort members will have since she leaves the Tuesday afterwards. Am I a little panicked? Absolutely. Hopefully, I can spend the rest of the grant period with the people I care about. Here's to getting better soon.

Important Writer's Note: As of posting this, it is June 27th, 2023, and there are only three days left in the grant period. The next couple of blog posts will be posted several weeks late. Thank you for being patient!