For Kids Who Don't Read Good

I need new flip-flops.

Ones that aren't intent on killing me, or think it's funny when I totally biff face-first on the ground. Just some good, simple, sturdy rubba-slippas would be nice.

I tried running in the rain last night (to get OUT of the rain) with my current flip-flops on (which, apparently they didn't like), and there was a bit of a power struggle. There was me, with my firm belief to stand upright, and my rubba slippas, with their intent to take me down by any means possible. This meant my arms flapping uselessly while I tried to regain my balance, and my slippas probably thinking it was the funniest thing they ever saw (if slippas could laugh, they would have).

Anyway. The rain was caused by a typhoon passing by. We got out of watching The Dark Knight last night (which was amazing, btw), and the rain had already started to fall. Most of us had already bought ponchos (because even without a typhoon, Taiwan never seems to stop raining), however, they didn't seem to help. I guess it's just a continual feeling of "wet" here. ^_^

Oh! They have awesome shirts here with "Chinglish," random English words or phrases (most of them spelled incorrectly) strung together. It's pretty cool, but I just realized that Chinglish is very similar to Pidgin (no articles such as "a" and "the," or English with Chinese words, etc). It's part English, and part Chinese, and since I spent a little time on Maui, and because mom and dad grew up on the islands, most of the time I totally don't realize my kids are speaking incorrect English because I just revert to understanding Pidgin, which seems totally natural to me. At least I catch it when they write. It's a little easier to recognize Pidgin when you see it (ie rubba slippas).

So sometimes I feel as if, instead of molding young minds for the future, I'm destroying their chances of sounding like a native. Well, they could always come to the islands and fit right in.

On a side note: School was cancelled today because of the storm. Hallelujah! I feel like I kid on a snow day...but this time I'm the teacher and it's a typhoon. Some things never change. ^_^