The Allen's Online Blog

Imagine the grand finale of the most amazing fireworks you have ever seen. Now, imagine that the finale lasts for hours, filling the night sky with magnificent hues of red, blue, white, and orange. Take your eyes just a bit further, and see the flame-filled red lanterns floating through the heights, adding romance to the festive aura. Come back down to earth, and see the bright lights and colors of fire-breathing dragons parading by, dancing to the rhythm of banging drums and cymbals. Feel the vibration of the music, the rhythm, the fireworks, and the excitement of the crowd. Smell the smoke as it wafts through the tightly packed crowd... smell the shampoo of the guy standing in front of you. I really cannot even begin to describe the lantern festival celebration. All I know is these people really know how to party. We had front row seats to an incredible fireworks display. The only downside being the ball of fire that fell from the sky and hit my leg, burning my pants. You'll never get a seat like that in Lititz!

Labels: Holidays

At the end of the day, I was sending the students home for the weekend when one of my first graders told me he was going to America tomorrow. I was taken aback, and thought maybe he was leaving for good, so I asked when he was coming back. He responded with, "I don't know. I think I'll be back for school on Monday." I told him that it takes that long just to fly to America and back. He wouldn't even have time to get off the plane. He told me, "I know. That's why we're taking the train. It's faster." You would think that I would have given up on reasoning with first graders by this point in the year, but no, I tried to tell him that you can't take a train to America because America is across the ocean and trains drive on land. His best friend saw through my excuse and quickly responded, "Yes they can, if the train can fly!" So, my student is flying in a High Speed Train to America for the weekend.
Actually, because I was concerned at this last minute trip to America, and the boy had no idea why he was going, I thought it must be a funeral or something serious. So, I asked at the office if they knew what was going on. The secretary was surprised too, so she immediately called his parents. Strangely enough, they were surprised too! After reflecting for a moment, his mom told us that they were going to see Disney on Ice. He must have thought they were going to Florida because they were going to Disney. No train to America after all.

Labels: School

Did you forget that it's the New Year? It is, here, you know. The fireworks are incredible, legal, and never-ending. They have literally been going non-stop for well over a week now. It's festive during the day, but frustrating when we're trying to sleep.
We had a week off for the holiday, with which we did very little. We went to the hot springs in Taipei on Monday. I failed to read the sign written in English warning not to stay in one pool for more than 15 minutes. I blacked out. Oops. We spent the day with a couple of our foreigner friends (that's us here) and had a lovely day.
The rest of the week was spent resting, which was needed. We did, however, take a break from our nothingness to put on a grand performance at the city celebration to welcome in the new year. We sang, and Phillip did acrobatics, to "Webtastic," a cheesy song from the children's Christmas musical. Our school is invited every year to join several big name groups, singers, and other entertainers in the important celebration. I think we're the comic relief, or the opportunity to laugh at a bunch of foreigners making fools of themselves. It was a fun time anyway.
We're back at school now, but the holiday will go on for another week. The fireworks continue to go off all day, but I don't think the students are nearly as distracted by them as I am. Today one went off surprisingly close to our outside wall, I pretended I was shot, but the kids are too used to their New Year's celebrations to be fooled.

Labels: Holidays