First week of teaching — Maddie Houts

Hi all,

I am excited to announce that I survived my first week of teaching. No one cried or died, and there was only one fist fight! I co-teach 18 classes a week with the most wonderful teacher Rita. The students and staff were very welcoming to me and I appreciate their kindness so much.

Great moments from the first week:

On the first day at Nang Wang I was introduced to the whole school. We did a sentence of the week which was "Hi Teacher Maddie! Nice to meet you. I'm ___." Then a school director spoke a bit about me and the students gasped and said "WOAH!" It turns out she told them that I can ride a scooter. That is the only appropriate reaction to hearing that I can ride a scooter from here on out.
There was a minor fist fight in 6th grade. 30 minutes later the two students walk into the teacher office holding hands ready to get their punishment. They had to write "I will be good in English class" all over a piece of paper.
I named two third graders Scott and Sally (shout out to my parents Scott and Sally), and unknowingly condemned them to a life of English mockery. Sally sounds too similar to "sorry," which will be a joke soon I am sure. For some reason the kids all thought that Scott was just a hilariously unpleasant name. I have no idea why, and neither do my Chinese speaking friends.
Great kid names: Dino, Essence, and Yo-yo

There are a million other hilarious things that happened at school this week, and I cannot wait to see what is in store for the rest of the year.

Other great moments:

For our culture event the Fulbright Taitung group reunited in Luye, Taitung to visit the Forest Museum. The big attraction is a "walking tree" that is basically one giant tree that shoots off a bunch of roots from its branches to keep growing outward. It was hard because the whole tour was in Chinese, but I still learned a lot about the community up there. We also ate wild boar and went on a hike through the mountain.
The school nurse at Nang Wang was deeply concerned about my weekend plans being empty so she took me around on Saturday. We went all over Taitung and it was so nice! She shared the Puyuma village she grew up in and other fun places in the county.
My parents favorite: A cashier at 7-11 called me beautiful. Which has actually been happening a lot (mostly students) and isn't a big deal, though appreciated. But then, after a great deal of guessing and miming she said "You look like Princess Snow White!" Yes, my paleness is a huge selling point here. Being pale is actually considered a beauty standard in Taiwan, and stores will sell lotions and other products with bleach in them. Fortunately I didn't have to adjust to meet the paleness standard at all!

Survival Chinese (taught to me by school director): meiwèi - Means "delicious"! I am always trying new foods here and it is important to compliment it!