Mother's Day in Taiwan

In Taiwan, and Korea as well, most English schools can be found within a five minute walking distance of the big public schools. My school is no different. We are located about 100 meters from the main entrance to Bie Hu Elementary School. Most of our students come from Bie Hu. As soon as the public school finishes, they walk right on over to Auntie Ma School for English and Math classes.

Sunday is also Mother's Day in Taiwan. So today, Saturday, Bie Hu school had a Mother's Day celebration. My boss thought it would be a good idea to hand out fliers to all the parents who attended the festival. Oh ya, did I forget to mention that my friend Erik Miller, the guy I graduated with and went to Korea with is in Taipei for a visit. Erik still lives in Korea. So, needless to say, last night we were out and about until about 6:00 AM, and I had to wake up at about 7:30 to head to work. As I'm writing this, I am feeling pretty tired...and hungry.

So anyway, the festival was pretty interesting. The layout of the school is different than most schools in the states. As you can see, it has a central courtyard where the sports "fields" are, surrounded by the school itself. The tents had assorted snacks and games to play, mostly made by the kids so the quality wasn't exactly top notch. My favorite part of the day was the water balloons. Basically, you buy some pre filled water balloons, and throw them at the students, who more or less line up along a wall. Two of my students were participating in this, so I spent about $10 for at least 100 balloons. By the time I was finished they were pretty wet. As usual, I hav eposted some pictures here, but if you want to see more, just click here