Argh so much to talk about.
The closing ceremony was crazy. It was a rollercoaster of emotions. My kids performed a skit, song, and dance to Bad Day by Daniel Powter, and it was not their best performance because they were so nervous being on stage. It was just really awesome seeing all the classes perform - Class F (the youngest kids) were so damn cute. Feng, Sam, and Kevin acted their hearts out, sang like no other. And then we did our I gotta feeling flashmob. It was pure awesome - except for the fact that in a closing sentimental video the guy who filmed all of us put up in the closing video (right before our dance) footage of us practicing the dance, so the surprise was kind of ruined. But the energy of that last dance was awesome - during our go crazy scream out-loud part, I think I experienced a glimpse of what "pure joy" feels like. It was just one huge surge of pure joy, excitement when we all screamed. And then there was spontaneous singing, all of us shouting out that tonight was going to be a good night, even those who didn't know English too much.
After the closing ceremony, it was time to say goodbye. The kids were crying, almost all the teachers were crying. I was hugging each of my kids and telling them to practice English and keep working hard, and to study hard. And then Yo-yo, one my kid, was saying bye, and then I said, "I'll see you in the US, and we can practice English." And then I just started to straight up bawl. It just hit me, my chin shook a little, and then the floods came lol. I guess I just measured my impact here not in terms of the English that they learned, in their inspiration in their desire to learn English. A lot of them hated learning English before this camp, and were often forced by their parents to come here. And I'm like 100% sure that all of my students are now motivated to learn English, see English as fun, and see going to school as potentially a fun thing. A lot of kids from this aboriginal part of Taiwan hate going to school, and the school systems here suck. So when I told Yo-Yo that I would see him in the US and practice English with him, it was like I imagined seeing him, or any of my students, years from now fluent in English and me being able to show him the US. And I think that's why I was so emotional.
That night we had dinner at our favorite seafood restaurant in Taitung. It was a pretty depressing night, even though it was a time to celebrate the end of camp. It was just emotional in general for everyone, saying goodbye to the kids. Here's my opinion of my kids as this camp ends:
Ruby: A really sweet girl, even though she looks like a thug. Probably one of my hardest working kids of my "naughty kids." Love her.
Liz: Apparently my class hottie. Some guys in my class (like Andrew) and guys in other classes have crushes on her. This is kind of depressing because Andrew in our class skit proposes to her and she turns him down. And we practiced our skit so many times, ahd she turned him down everytime. But yeah, she's really awesome, she loves learning English, works hard, always smiles, and is very cute girl. And during my closing ceremony, learned that she dances hip-hop. Crazy, because I had always thought her to be the quiet reserved little girl who likes Elmo. Now she's the crazy, outgoing, cool kid class sweetheart that likes Elmo. LOL
Sora: I like her a lot still, but I kind of regret not talking enough English with her. Her English was a lot more advanced than I thought, but she never really showed this. She was kind of shy about speaking English, and only talked to me screaming out, "No NO No!!!" or "Yeah yeah yeah!!!" LOL. But I love her, a very cute girl nonetheless.
Fanny: Still a crazy funny, slightly funny awkward little girl. :D
Dora: Apparently a Jennifer Tran lookalike? Very sweet, and she told me I made her love learning English. <3
Kevin: A little sad that he was losing focus on English (but I later learned out that it was because he was pining for this girl in Class D who recently got a boyfriend...oh teen angst lol). He still had really good attitudes about learning English and is such an awesome guy in general.
Jay: I'm kind of most proud of him in my class. He went from complete class jerk (beating up kids in Class C), to so eager to learn English, to impress me. I really hope this turns around his schooling direction back in his normal school.
Jenny: oh, she's a complicated one. She had kind of a lot of attitude in class, but at the closing ceremony, I saw her absolutely sobbing that it was over. She gave me a card that said she would really miss me, that she loved English camp, and that she's cried all the way home from English camp. I didn't really understand how much this camp meant to her until the last day I think.
Jane: A sweet, funny girl. A kinder girl than I thought - she took a while to open up to me, but when she did, all she did was make fun of me and laugh, and say hi to me everytime I saw her lol. ps. She's going out with Jay. lol
Judy: Still one of the sweetest, most considerate girls I've met. I only wish her the best in life - she seems so innocent, sweet, and easily hurt I'm a little worried about her. But I know she works so hard, has such a good attitude about life, and does things with such love that I know she'll be successful.
Jennifer: Oh Jennifer. Saying bye to her was a little hard. She was my star student. She loved English so much, worked hard from the first day to the last, was mother to all the little kids, is smart, intelligent, kind-hearted, is amazing. I'll miss her a lot. I hope one day to see her in the States. She'll make an awesome teachiner some day.
Kelly: Crazy, crazy, crazy. Will be an amazing English teacher one day. I love her personality.
Bob: I found out he had a crush on one my TAs Mandy!!! LOL. So cute. DIdn't have the best attitude, but still worked nonetheless. I'll miss him, and his crazy laugh.
Michael: Still the sweetest little guy. A little lazy, but still, very sweet.
Ava: Didn't get a really good chance to meet her, such a smiley girl. :D
Julie: Same as I knew her - smart, quiet, nice.
Mandy (my TA): I've never met anyone like her before. So sweet, so chill, I feel like if she were in the US, she would be a really, really, really close friend. So hard-working, so selfless, so true. So intelligent, sentimental. I'll miss her a lot. I'm so glad she lives in Taipei so this weekend when we go there we can hang out, eat food, and go clubbbbbbbing!!! :D
Jodie (my other TA): A very sweet girl. I love her a lot - I'm trying to think of who she reminds me of: kind of a mix between a very nice (and not naughty) Katy Brecht and Joanne Song (without the sarcasm lol!!!!).
Basically, it was really hard to leave my kids.
Saturday: Akemi and I didn't go white water rafting so we stayed behind. I uploaded pictures! And then that night we went to an aboriginal restaurant for food, and then an aboriginal music concert. It was really good, hen hao ting!!!
Sunday: We went to climb trees in a forest. Literally. It was super hardcore, we then went to Stanley Yen's apartment and went to the beach, and then went to a top of a mountain to eat some fresh food self-cooked.
Monday: Today we are in Hualien, at Colorful Taiwan!!!! A really beautiful hostel, pictures on facebook very soon. We played large-scale Chinese checkers in our hostel with an Czech-American guy named Martin, and then went to the night market.
OK. Will blog again soon. Hualien, especially our hostel, is beautiful, although very sweaty and hot. Dragging our luggage for a twenty minute walk from the train station to here was a huge pain.
Our group:
Agnes and Joanne left for Taipei, so it's just Kim, Jeanette, Jocelyn, Akemi, and me. I love our group!!! I hope we continue to hang out after this trip. I think we just mesh really well together; it's been fun being with them. Excited to go on this mini-adventure up the east coast of Taiwan, and to go to Taipei and go clubbing and karaoking with them and our TAs!!!!!!!
miss you all
Brian
