Crying, Crying and More Crying

That's what happens when two and a half year olds are abandoned by their parents for the first time in a strange place, with a teacher who can't understand a word they're saying.

I'm exagerrating a little. The kid with "severe separation anxiety" only cried for fifteen minutes after his mother left. He's fine. However, I came to school to find a note on my door saying that I had a new student. This little boy cried for basically the entire two and a half hours. He cried so hard that he threw up. Twice. Another little boy was fine for the first two hours and then cried the last thirty minutes. I don't even know how many kids wet their pants. At least five. And four of my twelve kids are still in diapers, which needed changing.

Only one of my kids speaks any English beyond "Hello." So, trying to comfort them or reassure them that their parents would be coming back was a little futile. Luckily, at various points throughout the day, four other staff members came in to help. Good thing, because no one had any idea what we were doing.

Our basic schedule is: The kids arrive sometime between 8:30-9am. They take off their bags and jackets, and change into their indoor shoes. We have to go through their bag to see if they have a snack, or if they've brought anything that we need to be aware of (like extra diapers). From 9-9:30 we go to the recess room. Then they're all supposed to go potty and wash their hands before snack time (which is optional). Afterwards, they play in the class until group time at 11:10. At 11:25 we change their shoes, get their coats and bags on and take them to the front school door for pick-up.

Needless to say, everytime there was a transition, it was absolute chaos. We had no idea who was wearing what shoes, they had no idea how to line up to go anywhere, they can't go potty or wash hands by themselves, etc... Within two weeks, they'll be old pros, but today we spent most of the time running after one or another kid trying to escape, changing wet pants and comforting kids screaming for their parents. It didn't help that I could hear Michael screaming down the hall a few times as well.

I was pretty glad to see them go, but didn't think that it had gone all that badly, considering. But everyone else in the school seemed to feel that I would need reassurance because they all came up to me at some point and offered their condolences and asked if I was okay. I just laughed and said it had actually gone better than I expected. Maybe they were remembering my first day of school my first year here when I had burst into tears at lunch time (outside of my class of course) because I felt so incompetent amid the chaos.

As today is Wednesday, I had a full day at school, so I made sure that Michael wouldn't catch a glimpse of me when I went out to get lunch - the steamed dumplings that Robert and I have been missing for the past four years. Actually, it's not even the dumplings so much as the hot sauce they make. I love it.

Then I was off to assist the Kindergarten class. What a difference. They all speak fluent English, most can even read well in English, and they are completely independent. I felt kind of superfluous, but I hope that I'll be able to find a way to contribute somehow.

Michael was very happy to see me after that, and I took him on a walk to go buy milk at the nearby supermarket. Which no longer exists. So, we walked around the neighborhood so I could see what was still there and what wasn't (mostly what wasn't) and found two playgrounds for Michael to play on, so he was happy. I also found him some Thomas the Tank Engine chopsticks in a little case. They were a little pricey, but I couldn't resist. He wasn't very happy when I dropped him back in school after an hour and a half because it was time for me to assist the grade three class.

These grade threes were children that I had in my Nursery class my first year in Taiwan. It was amazing to see how much they've grown (and how little they've changed!). In this class, I basically just help the teacher correct the kids work every time they finish one of their practice pages. So, a little more helpful than in the Kindergarten class, but not by much. I'm glad I only do this twice a week.

Then back on the bus (this time in the dark!) to go to our "Taiwan house" as Michael calls it.