School so far

(alternatively titled: Abbie vs. Public Transportation and hint I win)

       So after waking up far earlier than I would have back home, Kiky drove me to the university. I had to go and find out what my class assignment was and it turns out that I was all the way across campus. Walking with purpose I made it to class. There are about 13 of us total in my class. My teacher seemed very kind and helpful. We spent the three hours going over pronunciation of Chinese phonetics, which sounds awful but it wasn't too bad with the inclusion of what turned into a violent death match of the three boys against the ten girls in a game where we had to match sounds to letters. 

       After class Kiky picked me up again and we drove to my school. I have to go and sign in at the library each day for reasons that are still unclear to me. My arrival on campus was well timed with the beginning of lunch. I entered just as they were all struggling to escape. My mom and one of the school workers talked to some of the girls in rapid Mandarin and suddenly I my own personal helper in the class. Then the adults were gone and I was surrounded. People started asking me questions and I did my best to answer. I was even able to ask a few (read: one) question(s) in Mandarin. And I'm apologizing right now to my wonderful classmates because I'm horrible with names so most will be identified incorrectly. But I ate while answering and then people started stacking their chairs on their desks. The semi-circle around me excused themselves, they had to help clean the classroom. I watched, trying to imagine if one could get a bunch of Americans to clean their class so efficiently. After cleaning we have a "dim the lights and nap or at least do something quietly" period for about 20 minutes. I went over my Mandarin stuff while the vast majority of my class enjoyed their cat nap. And did I mention this is all without a teacher in the room directing any of this? After nap time we had art class which we actually switch classrooms for. I have no idea what was happening in the class because 1. Mandarin and 2. The girls who have taken pity on me and let me follow them around kept talking and asking me questions. But I did eventually get a breakdown in English on what we were supposed to be doing. Next was music. Having never played an instrument I'd be anxious in a normal music class, let alone this one. But it was fine, we listened to a song, people sang along, and then  we watched Pocahontas and went over Colors of the Wind. So all in all ok. Last was math, which I was able to pick out some information from my previous math classes, but I still dont know what's happening. 

       After school I was supposed to take the MRT, then a bus home...AND I DID. The MRT never posed a problem, it's the bus. So while I may get lost in parking lots at home, I can navigate around a city. And then I had to do it all again today.

       Today was my first full day, meaning 7:30 to 4:10. Which by Taiwanese standards is a late start. First class was Chinese so I just sat there. Next was math where I could sort of follow along. Then a two hour block of chemistry, where the teacher acknowledged me. (it's not that I'm sure the other teachers didn't notice the foreigner who was not in uniform, they just didn't say anything about it). But I was told I could read a book or work on some other stuff. So I did. And I'm sure all were staring at me in jealousy as I was told multiple times by multiple people that chemistry was extremely boring. Then lunch finally! I went down to get food with some girls, and let me just say that getting the food at my high school may have been the inspiration for The Hunger Games. There's this small booth shoved in way back and what I'm sure most have been millions of teenagers jostling their way up to the counter. Two girls volunteered as sacrificial lambs to go into the chaos and bring us back food. I am happy to report that they made it out alive and returned baring great gifts of tea, dumplings, and chicken. 

    Lunch came to an end and we kicked off what I'm told was health class. But I'm not entirely sure if that's the actual class because the teacher had written Freud up on the board...But anyways English was after in a two hour block. My English teacher is great, very nice and seems like she wants to involve me in class. She made the students prepare some questions for me in English and ask me and I answered in English, but one time when I threw in a Mandarin word I got applauded by the class. Hard work does indeed pay off :)

School again for the rest of the week, but this Saturday I've been invited to hang out with some of the aforementioned girls in my class.

Abbie