July 25, 2012 Blogpost by Ray

I don't have a cute title for this post, Kailin's the cute one.

It's hard to believe that we've already been in Taiwan for a month. It is going by incredibly fast, pretty soon we'll be hopping on a plane to head home (wherever that is).

On to the stories:

It rains here fairly often, and when it starts I tell my students, "Oh man, I forgot my boat. Looks like I'll be swimming home tonight." Usually it's just intense rain lasting only 10-15 minutes, and if we wait it out we can avoid getting soaked. It's a good plan, except for last night, when the rain won the waiting game and we had to ride our bikes home in the deluge.

It was about halfway into the 10 minute ride home that I started feeling like I was drowning. Maybe it was the water streaming down my face from my somehow saturated poncho, or maybe it was the waves washing over us as cars passed by. More than likely however, it was a both of these things added to the weight of Kailin's purse hanging from my neck, underneath my poncho, feeling heavier and heavier.

But when we turned into the back alley leading to our apartment the deafening explosion of the rain pounding the brick and metal buildings all around us and echoing down the the narrow row was a beautiful sound. Kailin says she had never been on a bike ride like that before, but I imagine it won't be our last during our time here.

 



Today I named my first child.

In Taiwan, people who learn English have an English name in addition to their Chinese name. (Ever heard of "Jackie" Chan before?) I've asked my students how they chose their names and the ones whose parents speak English often choose a name, but if their parents don't speak English, it seems their first English teacher chooses the name. What an incredible and terrifying responsibility I thought. Choosing the name by which this person will be known for the rest of their English lives. It seemed to me too much to believe.

So when I walked into class this morning and one of the school administers introduced me to a new student and her mother, I wasn't expecting the answer to "what's her name?" to be "She doesn't have one." It was my job to give the little girl an English name right there on the spot. I would have preferred to have taken some time to get to know the family, walk them through a few name books, and maybe let the girl choose a name she felt appropriate to her personality. But I wasn't so lucky. So instead, a dozen names flashed through my head and I felt overwhelmed.

But when I looked at the child I was happy with the name that stuck in my mind. Kira. Everyone thought it was a beautiful name (and easy to spell) and the mother was very pleased. The administrator later told us that she wants to name a daughter Kira.

Kira

As I mentioned earlier we have been here a month already and I think a conversation Kailin had while Skyping her mother sums up my feelings pretty well. Her mother asked her how I was enjoying the experience and Kailin said, "We get to spend all of our time together, so I think he is happy." And that is the truth. It turns out that for me, home is wherever I'm with her.