green solar eclipse.comes around once every 51 years.

highlight of the day: i saw a solar eclipse at 9:45 in the morning.: ) i was looking at it through one of those electrical construction masks (the kind that has a tiny glass slit for the eyes). this person on the street let all of the TAs use it.the kids all lined up to peek through it.

my first reaction was: "wow it's green."
ricky's first reaction was:"wow! it's green!"

haha i love how we said the same exact thing.i'm really going to miss that kid come august. he's not going to the august camp so...i have exactly 4 more days left as his teacher.: |

currently caught up in a lot of decoration work. i perfected the cover and table of contents page for their worksheet workbook. finished the posters and name tags. have to make one set of the name tags 3D for table decoration. mm. i'll do that tomorrow. just need to breathe non-work air right now. i've been feeling a bit suffocated these past two days because of the multitude of tasks and deadlines - i feel like a robot when i'm not hanging out with the kids. which reminds me - i should go find some string for tomorrows Arts and Crafts. i'm teaching them how to make dream catchers. snap. i should have started cutting up the plastic bottle rims. i should also learn how to make an actual dream catcher in case the sink netting doesn't turn out right.

speaking of netting, i am quite frustrated and annoyed at the dress code for next mondays presentation day. apparently, the teachers (3 of the 4 are guys) decided that the girl TAs should wear netting leggings and be "sexy pirates." i find that very disturbing and am very uncomfortable about the whole idea. when they first told us that we were supposed to dress as pirates, i was okay with it because i've done it before for x-dress day back in high school (dressed up as Johnny Depp) so i was teaching the rest of the TAs how to dress for it. now they want the girls to wear netting leggings. THE CRAP. i refuse. i'm going to try to negotiate - but i have a feeling the two other TAs will be too obedient to try to go against the idea. i tried to talk to them about it today; they just think it's inappropriate for the parents to see us wearing that. one of the teachers said:" yeah it's very sexist." i agree but i don't think he'll tell the staff to change the dress code. i'm just infuriated at the staff for agreeing to the teachers' decision. no one seems to have a mind of their own at the workplace; they just work.

yang luh duoh ice and an unsettled mind

我還是想不通為甚麼我臉的狀況一直沒辦法好. ||-.-||

I've tried and done everything I can
But just from looking at my appearance
Others can't possibly understand
I am persistent and I do value cleanliness
But how come all my efforts seem in vain?
It has become a real pain
to look into the mirror and see no progress
It makes me wonder if I'll ever have a clear complexion
and what will happen if I continue as I am
the pimples may never fade
their scars i will wear with shame
because everywhere i go people ask me
why is it that my skin is so bad?
what's worse is they try to compliment how beautiful i am
but unfortunately, your facial skin kills your chances
what chances? why does a person's face weigh so heavily in the world?
i feel like a prisoner, trapped behind a blemished wall
i pound and chip, i try to make it fall
but it just stands there, strong and determined
to keep me discontent and exhausted
from trying too hard.

HAHAHAHA.: )

dorothy's family portrait.ROFL.

I love this candid shot. kids being kids.

the mother and father. hahahahha.
friends again. God does discipline those He loves. It's always for our good.: )

One of the really baller things that happened today was when i carrying the mini mountains for the Neverland model down to the office. I realized that "with faith even as small as a mustard seed you can move mountains." it wasn't a coincidence that i happened to be "moving mountains" and witnessing good teamwork among my students during arts and crafts time. i enjoy working with them so much on my own. it gets really tiring but i wouldn't want it any other way. maybe cut out the C.C. letters and morning exercise time (yeah joyce, one of the main staff members, complained that i made them dance too much. i prepared a game of charades but i was too lazy to switch from dancing to a game so haha. it requires changing positions for the kids which takes them around a whole minute). yeah i'm getting quite annoyed at all the complaints that the staff members give me but i'll just cope with it because i'm only a T.A., not a full-time teacher.humbling down and taking orders is something i need to learn.

jealousy, patience and overreacting.

there's this kid called Jonathan who keeps bullying Ricky. It irks me like crazy because i don't like punishing both of them for "fighting" but i don't want to be overly biased towards Ricky (he's the much better kid in my opinion). But the next time i see him punching him, I'm going to send him to the office. seriously - i hate how bigger kids bully others. they single them out and prevent other kids from playing with him. why does anyone have the power to do that? it's so hard to discipline one child with so many others trying to get my attention.

this bullying is definitely stemming from jealousy. ricky has way better english because he spent two years in singapore. he's also two years younger and is more of a teacher's pet than jonathan is. i guess it may also be because i pay more attention to him because he's more loveable. they used to sit together and take pictures together on field trips; now they just hate each other. : |

i'm also having my own issues with jealousy of this future co-worker at A.E. she spends the whoel day in the office even though she's not working yet. she'll be a T.A. in august so i'll be seeing her for the rest of the summer. i better get this jealousy out of my heart or else i'm going to be very miserable come August. i guess i have a hard time liking her because for one, she has a clear complexion; secondly, she's the same height as me, around the same size, has long curly hair, is super girly and quiet. i know she's really smart because she's going to tai dah and she translated "charlotte's web" when she was in 5th grade (means she's very famous and probably popular among her peers). i don't know her very well but somehow, she irks me. her presence at work ticks me off for no reason. she happened to be using the computer i was using today when i was trying to print the pictures for the Communication Corner letters (weekly behavior reports.my least favorite thing about work) and i nearly blew up when i went into the computer lab. i was already flustered because of the malfunctioning printer and all the time i was wasting and seeing her there was just...yikes. it was quite tense when i told her to get off the computer for a moment. hm. anger management.

patience is dying; i really want to punch something at times. i can't control my tongue; i just want to take control and force everything to go my way. it's very immature and selfish but i find myself doing it so much at work. i can't stand being governed by the staff members for very long without giving them a hard time with my vague answers and forgetfulness. oh dear.

there's a kid called patrick who keeps touching me (more than he should.seriously). it irks me that he's seems so young but is actually more mature in his thinking (or emotional development). i'm trying to keep my distance - if it continues, i'm going to tell teacher joe or ask for someone's advice. i don't understand why this is happening but it might be because he lacks physical touch at home and is very needy of it. i guess it just bothers me because he's a boy and i'm 10 years older than he is.

third and last outing for july.

we went to...taipei (surprise surprise haha) today. it was right next to the place we went to last week. time for puppet-making.

i told my kids to bring their sunglasses.: )

naughty and angelic.reversal of roles.

he made a vampire for his puppet. dang what a coincidence.: ) vampire studies haha.

cutest girl in my class. she sat on my lap for the group picture.: )

dude ricky is so cute.

cuteness.: )

the girls having lunch.

oh man. this is hilarious.

front side of robot statue.chained prisoner.

haha i had no idea i looked that confused when helping the kids tie the puppet strings. thanks kenny.

playing in a robot statue band. haha i wish i could actually play saxophone.

kenny and i got really bored during the museum tour so we were playing around with the puppets.

so concentrated.haha.

I really love my class and am going to miss them next month.i wish i could teach them for another month but i have to switch with kenny.: |

work continues on a happy beat.

picture of the day.this is jonatha's movie report for the movie Enchanted.

I would post some more pictures from today but I was using one of the staff members camera because I left my memory card at home. Which reminds me - I better go put it in my bag right now or else I'll be dead meat - outing tomorrow again.

The next two weeks are picking up speed - the final production and exhibition is on the 27th (12 more work days). for now i need to:

-pick out colors for 5 posters (actually only using 3)
-think of something else to do along with making hats for next weeks arts and crafts
-make a cover for their workbooks

then for later on:
-decorate and finish the exhibition posters
-actually make the crafts and keep them in good condition until exhibition day
-print out 10 or so copies of the cover after getting approval from the TA manager

so this is what work is like. haha many deadlines and a huge responsibility - it's not even about the fear of getting fired; it's about making sure you don't get slaughtered by the parents of the kids.

a snippet of what the kids have been practicing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-aE8NXJHI8

this is by far my favorite part in the play.: ) love the narrator.

(these two cute kiddies were practicing how to be the evil duo in the play. i present to you the wicked witch of the east and her flying monkey)

I experienced a pinch of jealousy today...for a girl I only met briefly. It was by far the weirdest case of jealousy I've ever felt - first of all, I don't even know her that well. second of all, she is in no way an offensive person or obnoxious by any change. it's weird. I'm finding it hard to explain but I do believe God is using this encounter with her as a test for my maturity. I know that come fall, many new people will be on campus. There will be many chances where I may be tempted to fall into jealousy - I finally understand why the sophomore girls in AIV were quite cold towards me and some of the other freshman girls in the beginning of the year. some of it has to be attributed to jealousy. too much attention poured onto the new people can make the old members bitter from jealousy. I'll really have to watch out for this during next year.
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Jolin as Dorothy.: )

one of my favorite shots of the day. they were playing"freeze" where you have to do a certain pose when the music stops. this is just hilarious.: )

spelling bee champions of the day. daniel nailed this one though.: )

oh jonathan.as the brainless scarecrow. he didn't get to have a snack today because he kept bullying the smaller boys.

new haircut.

short hair does emphasize my eyes a lot more. i guess it's a good change since i consider my eyes as my best feature.

so this is what i'm going to look like for a good two months (my hair grows pretty slowly). i'm planning on cutting it even shorter before i leave taiwan in september. i love how summer is long enough for me to experiment with different looks and hobbies. yeah so far i have 5 pages down of fiction. woot woot.

T.G.I.F. : )

5-day work week is over...for this week.: ) It's weird - I find it more difficult to deal with the teacher than the students. The Language Arts teacher doesn't have his heart in his work and it really shows. Constant complaining, swearing and making negative comments gets very irritating. It doesn't help that I have a pretty bad impression of him when I went to the second day of work training - he overslept and came in looking like he wanted to be somewhere else, far away. He hates Michigan (he spent a year studying in Grand Rapids) but I wore my Michigan shirt to work today anyway.
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My favorite time of day is lunch hour and 5-5:30 (chinese hw time) because I get to spend time with the kids alone. Since I brought speakers for morning exercise today, I turned on my ipod and told them we were having a "secret party." They really enjoyed themselves; the naughtiest boy Jonathan was actually dancing to the music. Yeah I'm definitely trying to make them feel like the "cool" class since they're the oldest in the whole summer camp. Yeah, I have to keep things hyped up or else they're going to be bored out of their minds. It is their summer break - I want them to have fun as well as learn English.
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There are too many funny things that happen during the week; I manage to jot down some of them in my notebook but a lot of the times I just take time to laugh and enjoy the moment. I finally understand what true "infectious laughter" is now - a child's innocence in action. Haha through my reflections on how my "like" is slowly developing into love for these kids, I wonder if this is just my "maternal" side coming out. I like to think of it as getting a greater glimpse of God's love through my role of disciplining (or babysitting). I'm starting to understand how much trouble I've put my parents through my rebelliousness and constant blabbering about nonsense (haha I mean, kids just spit out the most random stories and they don't wait for others to finish first - they just talk).
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I have a piano prodigy in my class.: ) He's a cute kid called Daniel. He left the school for an hour today to compete in a piano contest and took home second place. woot woot.: ) so proud of him - piano is one of the things i gave up at the early age of 11. i hope he can persist through and master that beautiful instrument. He's the kind of boy who will hold the door for others and walk last in line, get chopsticks for me and other people who don't regularly bring chopsticks, throw the trash bag away at the end of the day, participate in every activity, laugh a lot about everything and say some of the funniest things.

there's another kid called Ian who is very smart and kind as well. he's a good kid - he's only going to be here for another week though.: | yeah i hate how my students come and go - but there are those who are always there. all the boys in my class are pretty lighthearted and energetic. they keep the classroom atmosphere upbeat and happy.

i find it a bit harder to mesh with the girls on a personal level because two of them are a bit reserved. for example, this one girl Joanne never wants to go play on the playground during recess. it's very hot on the roof but the other kids don't seem to mind as much as she does. she likes hanging around with the teachers - this is a sign that she might not have many friends her own age in the camp. so hopefully she'll learn how to play with other kids her own age - she's an only child so this might be more of a problem for her since she's not used to seeing kids in her own home.

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meet Jolin: )

this cute kiddie is only going to 3rd grade but she's in the 4th grade level class. i love her to bits - she's playing Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz play at the end of july and she's a great actress. Super cute and photogenic. She's the same height as Ricky (119 cm.seriously. i'm taller than him when i'm sitting down. it's hilarious). it's the cutest thing when they play together. she's been absent for two days already - i hope she comes back on Monday haha.: )

"If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness." - 2 Cor. 11:30

"To keep me from being conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." -2 Cor. 12:7-10

Weakness. Something I would rather never mention to anyone because I hate being vulnerable. I hate the feeling that I'm getting tossed around by others because I don't have enough courage or wit to fend for myself. I'm scared of showing my worst side because I know human love cannot cover the multitude of sins I have. It makes sense that weakness is the strongest catalyst in helping us get back to God after some spiritual-straying.

However, I find myself boasting not of my weakness...or of Jesus. When people compliment me on something I've done or still continue to do, I usually thank them humbly, sometimes embarassingly, or modestly tell them to not perceive me so highly. Whatever I end up doing, I never boast about my weakness. I mean, I can laugh at myself in retrospect about stupid and careless things I've done (believe me, there are so many I feel a bit embarassed now that I'm on the subject) but I'm mostly "boasting" about it to show others what I've been through and hopefully gain attention, sympathy or affection. My intentions are twisted - I definitely don't boast of my weaknesses for the sake of Christ.

i had a good day: )

One of my best students Joy is leaving tomorow for Italy. This just makes me want to study abroad even more.: ) She's going for vacation - I'm happy for her but I wish she was staying because she's the class president.


She gave a whole lesson on "the different ways to sleep" today during lunch hour. The rest of the class enjoyed it thoroughly and guess what - they actually took naps today...on the table. Yes, it seems a bit unconventional but I don't see why not. Good thing the T.A. manager Tom didn't see us. That would have been bad.-.0




During recess, Joy kept acting like a duck in front of Kenny and me. we dubbed her as "quack quack."she continued to act silly and i decided to start giving her topics to act out. the funniest one was "meatball" because she hesitated for a split second before turning around in a circle then stopping with a fob hand sign and saying: "i'm a meatball." It was hilarious.: ) She made the heat on the roof playground bearable.

Needless to say, I'm going to miss having Joy discipline my class. She gave teacher Joe, me, Ricky and Amy cards in small red envelopes. On the note it said:

"Dear Teacher Tiffany,
Thank you for teaching me.

Your kid,
Joy.

I am so touched by the last line. It's funny because when I'm in charge of the kids when the teacher isn't around, i call them "my kiddies." but when i'm talking with kenny or other "adults," i say "the kids in my class." it's weird how i don't want to seem attached to them but i actually am. i think it's because most people hate or somewhat find the job of a teaching assistant SUPER annoying and tiring but...i love it. It kind of quirks me a little bit because i always saw teaching part-time as something easy and time-killing to do during the summer. however, these teaching experiences have proven to be rewarding in every sense. I'm really curious as to what God wants me to do with my future.

it's hard not to have favorites.but there's a reason why we do.

meet ricky.: )

(on the playground during recess)
ricky:"teacher, what can't jam eat?"

before i have time to ask what, ricky goes: "traffic. because of traffic jam!"

this kid is so cute. partly because he's from singapore and he has the accent and also because he laughs so much. i really like kids who laugh a lot; it's just so heart-lifting. yeah it's weird how much i'm getting attached to these kids. it's only been three days but i've spent so much time with them already.



this morning, before morning exercise time ( i had to lead the kids in warm-up stretches and random dance moves, such as the "macrena"), i read a book to three of the kids in my class. in order to get them to read an English book, I had them all take turns reading. it worked pretty well and i'm glad my kids don't hate me haha. sometimes (well most of the time) it's hard to pay attention to all ten kids at once but i'm glad they trust me enough to ask me. multi-tasking is the skill i'm honing through this summer job. i have to remember to do so many things it's kind of insane but i'm getting by pretty well.

during "do the emotion on the page" activity.the emotion was "enraged."

yeah i'm starting to like this job. hopefully God will give me the persistence and a joyful heart for this job for the next couple of weeks (all the way till 8/25). less than two months. but it really isn't a bad place to be.


plus, it's nice to delegate orders (haha boss others around) now after being the one being ordered around all the time. so this is what it feels like to have a younger sibling. totally enjoying it while it lasts. i'm just thankful it's friday and i have tomorrow morning to sleep in.

i look like an elf but ricky is cute.

daily hilarity

"pimples hold grudges. you pop them, they multiply."- me

kids can be so cute.
(during drama class facial expression acting activity)
teacher joe: "so imagine that you're at the beach. how do you feel? very relaxed right? like you're so cool."
student joy: "yeah when you go to the beach, you feel very relaxed.but when you come back, you feel worried because - you're black."

(both joe and i crack up and keep laughing for a good 10 seconds)
joe is laughing because he finds it funny how taiwanese people (esp. girls) are super afraid of becoming tan while caucasian people love getting tan. i'm laughing because it's funny how she says "you're black" as in "tanning" and not referring to a race. she definitely can't say that in the states but i think she's pretty safe here.