Miss Laws, Miss Laws, Miss Laws

I started the semester teaching a class of nine rambunctious 2nd graders. I wasn't sure I was going to make it the first few weeks. They wore me out in the first 3 minutes of class. I had to blow my whistle every 30 seconds. But over the past month we've all adapted and now just picking up the whistle causes everyone to cover their ears and be quite. We even managed to have fun the last couple of weeks.


Then about a week ago, as I walked into class, I was greeted by my class yelling "Miss Laws, Miss Laws we have a new student". I was surprised but figured it worked. Now we had an even number of boys and girls, prefect for group work. Joleen (the new girl) was quite and I did wondered and was a little worried about her ability to survive our crazy class.

Then this Wednesday I walk into class and was meet once again with a chorus of "Miss Laws, Miss Laws we have a new student." Okay. . . now we have 11 kids and not enough desks. We managed to round up the needed desk. Charlie (the new guy) was a returning student and all his classmates seemed happy he was back. So I wasn't to worried and figured we would quickly settle back into our routine. Guess what happened on Friday.

Yup, now I have 12 students in my rambunctious class of 2nd graders. New student number 3 is also a returning student Cindy L. Go figure, now I have a Cindy H., a Cindy L. and a Sandy. I've already told them to accept the fact that I will miss up their names. Alice was extremely comforting and started laughing. No doubt she remembers the first few weeks of school when I couldn't keep Cindy and Sandy straight. It going to be a bad semester for names. Once again we didn't have enough chairs or desks. After finding the right number of desks and chairs we started classes.

It was back to the first week of school behavior. Thank goodness I had my whistle. 12 kids who are excited to be with each other do not want to be quite. In fact, it maybe physical impossible for them to be quite. Even Joleen was talking and fliriting with the boys! I have no idea what I am going to do with this group. It was a crazy Friday in Miss Laws' class. As I stood (my chair was given to a student due to the chair shortage) in front of my class I made a discover. Don't tell, but 12 crazy kids is a ton more fun then 9 crazy kids. Who knew?!?! The more the merrier. . . I guess. Still on Monday I would rather not hear, "Miss Laws, Miss Laws, we have a new student."

Chinese New Year

What did I do for Chinese New Year? What ever I felt like, whenever I felt like doing it and if I didn't want to I didn't do it! I think I've been one to many group vacations where you have to be nice, compromise, do what other people want to do. (As a disclaimer, I love group vacation and I love everyone I've been on a group vacation with BUT I do think we can all agree that there is such a thing as to much group vacations. End of disclaimer) Because of my bad and I do realize very selfish attitude I was excited to spend Chinese New Year in Feng Yuan. I needed some me time and I was glad to get. Of course I wasn't completely anti-social. I managed to get out of the school and had a lot of fun during my lazy vacation.


DAY ONE: Hot Springs!
I love Hot Springs.
Sain told me to look tough and then she pull this silly grin. I do not understand that girl! We spent the day with one of her Asian friends.
We went hiking, ate good food, and then soaked in the hot tubes it was a great day. Can't you tell by our relaxed faces?

DAY TWO: Play Date
Early on day two one of my student called and invited me to go and play with her mom and brother. I agreed and of all random, they took me to a dairy farm. I thought Asian were lactose intolerant. Instead I seemed to be the only one concerned about the large amount of dairy we ate that day. My favorite part of the day was feeding the cow. It was also the most stressful part of the day because the cow sucked the nipple off the bottle and then tried to eat it. I thought she (or he) was going to choke to death. Don't worry she didn't choke and managed to spit the nipple out. Later one of the cow tried to eat my scarf. It may have been an act of revenge.


Day 3 and 4 Finally I Was Lazy
I was finally able to be lazy and hang around that apartment. It was blissful laziness and I stopped taking pictures. Destiny and her mom showed up and we all pigged out on American chocolate. We managed to finish a box of See's chocolate and a package of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Sain did some serious shopping and bought a lot of really cute clothes. Then Saturday night we made Mexican food and learned how to play Taiwaness Card games. We also managed to eat a batch of cookie dough. I never want to eat sugar again!

DAY 5 SUNDAY
We only had one hour of church this week. Then the teacher, who were not lazy bums and went a traveling, came home! It was back to Berhan craziness, which I admit I like and missed during the break. Then Jean, a lady from the local Chinese ward, invited Sain and I to dinner. I love being invited to dinner. It is the only way to get good Chinese Food.

DAY 6 THE LAST DAY
All good thing come to an end and it is the last day of vacation. It was my favorite day of vacation because the internet came back on and I got the following email from my mom. . .

Guess who is going to Willamette??????????????
Yep it's you!!!! Your acceptance letter came today.

I'm going to grad school!
GO ME!!!

Afternoon Kindergarten: My "Borrowed" Class

There has been request for pictures of the cute kids in afternoon kindergarten aka AK. Their old teachers miss them and I am starting to understand why. They are my "borrowed" class because in theory once the school gets the current licensing issues resolved they will go back to their original teacher and I will get my kindergarten basic reading (KBR) class back. I haven't officially decided how I feel about switching again. I really liked my KBR kid but I am really starting to like the AK kids. I wish I could teach both classes but they meet at the same time. . . don't see how that will work.

Tape Measures, Ping Pong Balls, an Empty Hall and Second Graders

Today I was trying once again to finish a ping-pong ball activity in my second grade class. We started the activity 2 weeks ago. I planned on it only lasting a week. Today started week three. It is a simple activity were they flick a ping-pong ball and then we measure how far their ball went. I wanted each student to have two turns so we could figure out the average.

Unfortunately, my kids are oblivious to my planning and we have never managed for the whole class to have two turns. I complain but deep down I have found the whole process hilarious. Here is picture of our latest attempt at the "ping-pong" activity.

As you can see we were having a good time. I have decided to consider it a success. . . the fights can be counted on one hand, I only gave out two "official" warning, only had to use my whistle once and only one student managed to draw blood when goofing off with the tape measure. If you are think to yourself that isn't a success then you have never taught children.

One of the girls, Claudia, got hold of my camera and took picture of her classmate. She didn't get the whole crew but here is a good chunk of my 2nd grade class.

Up first is the adorable and amazingly quite Sandy. I adore her because I never had to tell her to raise her hand to talk, instead I have to call on her if I want to hear her voice. I just can't be happy either I think they are to loud or I think they are to quite.


Next in the line up is Benson. This kid is funny and wants to be good but it hard when all your friends, who are little hellions, are having so much fun being obnoxious. He always has something to add to class and never let a minute pass in silence.

Cindy, her name is Cindy, and I keep calling her Sandy. I struggle with names it is a bit ridiculous. No, it is ridiculous. Cindy is quite but she won't put up with any of the crap the boys try to pull. She is not going to do their work and if they are working in partners and not pulling their weight she lets me know. I love it.

Alice wants to learn English. Her hand is the first one up and she is alway trying to say something. It is usually contains large amounts of Chinglish but at least she is trying and she talks about something beside poop. A common topic for the males in the class. I am glad that at least on of my girls is a talker.

Jerry would be the sweetheart of the class. The kid is always trying to pay attention and he does what I ask!!! Plus he has the talent of being one of the boys without getting into trouble like the rest. He gets along with everyone. Thank goodness for the peacemakers in the world. He doesn't like having his picture taken. . . I'm sure you noticed.

There are four more kids in the class Claudia, the photographer, Jon, he was absent today, Rick and Jack. Rick and Jack are the bane of my existence. They are the reason teachers do not last long in the teaching profession. They are hyperactive, loud and can not remember to raise their hands. They are also hilarious and carry all the conversations in class. I will admit that things were rough the first week but I think we are all settling in and I think we will have a blast this semester. I am all ready falling for these second graders.

No I am not a 41 and Yes I am 27.

It seems appropriate that my first blog would address one, of the unfortunately many, issues in my life that I allow to drive me crazy. No one, no one believes how old I am. One time I had to pull out my drivers license to prove my age. And it wasn't because I was trying to buy alcohol or get into a bar. It was simply a conversation were someone refused to believe my age. Who lies about being older then they are?

Since we have a new groups of teachers we have been going through the getting to know routine. This commonly leads to the how old are you question. There has been the typical "Katie I didn't realize how old you are" or "Someone told me how old you were and I couldn't believe it" and the all time favorite "you can't be that old." Which, as you know, I despise. What is the correct response to these statements. "You're right. I am a lair." What! do I look like a dishonest person. Do people look at me and say "Oh, there is a girl, a very young girl, who lies. Do not believe a single thing she says. Lair, lair pant of fire."

I should not have to convince people that yes I am old and no, I am not lying about my age. I am 27 years-old. I am not old, I am not young, I am just 27 years-old. Once again, why would I or anyone else (over the age of 21) lie about being older. Sigh! Rant! and Rave!

Luckily, my most recent run in with the age question was quite hilarious. I have found that aside from ranting about the age issue, laughter is the best solution. It was a typical getting to know you moment. I was eating lunch with two of the new teachers and Destiny (a second semester teacher). Destiny is going on a mission and the rest of us had served a mission. Which lead to mission talk. Turns out that one of the guys and I were both in the mission training center for thanksgiving. Which prompted the question "Wait, were you there at the same time?" What follow is my new all time favorite remark about my age. "No because she would have to be 27 and (turning towards me) you are not even close to 27." Destiny and I made eye contact, the amusement in our eyes was priceless. I admit it was with great joy that I responded, "Actually, that is exactly how old I am." Then the conversation quickly died into the typical how old are you lines. But for one beautiful moment it was funny, different and I love it.

My name if Katie Laws and I am twenty seven.

But I do not wear a European shoe size 41. I wear a size 38. A sweet Taiwanese person gave me shoes for Chinese New Year and they are way to big, two sizes to big. I am devastated. (It was more devastating then the disbelief about my age.) For some reason I can not get over it. I have an unhealthy fixation with shoes. I love them, they make me happy. Free shoes is my personal nirvana. Then to find out that they are clown shoes on my feet . . . the sadness, the darkness, the melodrama I am creating over a pair shoes. I need to move on.

My name is Katie Laws. I am twenty seven. I will buy a new pair of shoes this weekend.

Before I going home Cambodia

I want to put up pictures from all of the trip. Unfortunately, by the time I got to Cambodia I had run out of space on my camera. So I don't have very many pictures and most of them are of the cute kids that were all over the place. I am a sucker for cute kids.

Of course most people go to Siam Reap to see Angkor Watt and not the adorable kids. I went to see the ruins as well and I was impressed. We hired a tour guide for one of the days and he took us all over the ruins and told us about the history. Still, I would have to admit my favorite part was the kids. It was nice to see kids just being kids after Bangkok. In Bangkok all the kids on the street were begging and demanding that you buy something. The scene in Cambodia was similar but less desperate. They were still trying to get you to buy something but once you said no they would run off and play. Little kids should be playing, don't you think?

Next Stop Thailand

Vacation number two was spent in Thailand with Dawn, Chelsea and Andrew. Andrew was amazing, not a single complaint about hanging out with all us girl. We had a great time and were all serious about seeing Thailand. It was a vacation of seeing as much as possible. We managed to see everything that we wanted and more.
The first day was spent going up and down the river stopping to see various temples and sights. My favorite was the first temple named after the dawn. It was beautiful. You could climb the stairs to the top. The stairs were steep, very steep. Everyone was clutching onto the side of the stairs terrified they would plumage to the bottom. I was a little worried but honestly it wasn't bad. We started showing off and went up and down them a couple of times. Cocky Americans!

HAPPY NEW YEARS FROM BANGKOK

The next day in Taiwan was New Years. We spent the day shopping because Bangkok is famous for shopping. I manged to spend a little bit of change while I was in Thailand. We also were looking for a suit for Andrew. But we hadn't planned on everyone being closed for the holiday. In Taiwan the Lunar New Year is the big holiday, so we didn't worry about thing being closed. Bangkok isn't China and every where we went we heard, "No, no we closed. You know because of Happy New Years." That darn Happy New Year holiday was causing us trouble. It became an on going joke. "You know Happy New Year, thats why." Happy "HAPPY NEW YEARS."

On our third day in Thailand we headed out of Bangkok and went to the Old Capital. The main attraction there was the ruins of the old capital. It was an attraction worth seeing. The details in the building is beyond my ability to describe. It was, as they say, a work of art. There was one ruin that you could climb up and then you could go down inside the building. All the other ruins that we saw weren't safe to go inside of or were falling apart. It was one more great day.


Our last day in Thailand. . . it went so fast! For the last day we went to Kanchanaburi. In Kanchanaburi we went on an Elephant trek were I got to ride on the NECK of an ELEPHANT! I felt like an Indian Princess. I don't have any of the pictures (DAWN you need to send them to me!) but trust me I was riding on the neck of an elephant. At first I did think I was going to fall off and die. Then it started to click and I was the Indian Princess waving to her subjects. It was great. Not only did I ride an elephant but I petted a TIGER. The one thing I was most excited to do in Thailand was pet a tiger.I was not disappointed.