Acupuncture, Graduation & Diversity Week

This might be long. Well, mostly because of pictures from various times around Taiwan ^_^ All these photos are from last semester. I wanted to post them, but for some reason or another, time got away from me.

Acupuncture
Erin, her mom and I went to an Acupuncturist a few months ago. Erin's mom had a bad leg. Erin wanted to relieve some tension in her upper back, and I wanted to see if acupuncture could help my eczema. This is a picture of Erin's back.
Next, the heat is applied! Nice and tingle-y.
Then the hot suction cups, to draw out the bad impurities. Or something.The aftermath. You can always tell who has been to a traditional Chinese Doctor by the scrap marks or the suction cup marks on their neck or their back.For me, he put some pins in my hands...And my legs. After he removed the pins, my left hand had trouble moving. But after an hour or so, all the feeling came back. ^_^Not too bad. We were supposed to keep going back, at least twice a week (I think), but we kinda forgot about it. It takes a while to do, and so, when you're busy, things get in the way. But here, it's very cheap. A return visit costs less than $2 USD.


Diversity WeekHere in Taiwan, there's a bit of a race problem. Like many Asian countries, the darker you are, the less attractive you are, and the ruder you're treated (sometimes). To avoid becoming darker (in other words "tan"), a ton of skin whitening creams are available, people wear hats, arm guards, a massive amount of sunscreen, and carry around umbrellas to block out the sun. I had a friend tell me that if I got too dark, I'd look like a homeless person.

This line of thought is due to the historical idea that if you're poor, you'll have to spend all day out working in the fields, and thus, your skin will become darker. So if you have a life of privilege, you'll be naturally fair and white. Rarely do people want to look like they aren't privileged.

In Afternoon Kindergarten last semester, we had to set the record straight after a few students told us that, "all black people are bad," and "all black people are poor." We made rainbows and talked about the different colors, how not everyone likes the same color, so it doesn't mean that certain colors are "good" and other colors are "bad." Then we tried to apply it to people and races. I hoped it worked.

(Cynthia (hiding), Eve, Carol, Betty)
I was very proud of our bulletin board in Afternoon Kindergarten. The kids worked very hard on it all semester. ^_^ So cute. I'm very sad that I don't get to teach these kids any more. They're in Miss Lindsay's Basic Reading class now.(Eve, Betty, Carol, Cynthia)

Graduation: June 26, 2009

Ah, graduation. The theme for graduation was Pirates. This was Mr. Joseph's Basic Reading Class (soon to be my Summer 1st grade class) after they finished singing their song, "Shiver Me Timbers."
(Dawson, Rex, Jack, Keith, Tim || Hebe and Amy in the front)
The kids from Mr. Dane's class were totally embarrassed to be shirtless, having to perform the Limbo in front of everyone. lol. I love this picture. (John and Jerry)
Morning Kindergarten also got to participate, and were adorable as usual. We had to teach them a song/dance, but they did great! The boys were Captian Jacks and the girls were Princess Pats. We teachers had to make our own props, and it turned out to be a lot of fun.
Another picture of Mr. Dane's class. ^_^ Poor naked boys. lol.(Yvonne9, Jammy, me, Yvonne10, Ivy)
The Graduates! These were the kids that actually graduated during the semester. I taught them as 5th graders, and after their 6th grade year, they graduated from the program. Some students want to go on to the Writing Class we have for high school aged kids, but most of them just leave the program.

And this last picture is one of the Teaching Group from January 2009 to June 2009. They were all over achievers, and very motivated. I miss them. At the beginning of the semester, Molly made an anime character of each teacher. The bulletin board on the 4th floor was always fun to look at.
(Left to Right: Me, Dane, Derrick, Holly (with Pirates' hat), Molly, Joseph, Jaimie, Kristina, Arwyn and Erin) The only one not pictured was Jenny. I'm sure I have a picture of her anime character somewhere. Hopefully I'll find it.