Kids Curiousity

Today was an interesting day. I forgot to plan something for the 20 minutes of flex time that I have between lunch and my students first special on Day 6. Its only 20 minutes and half of my kids are in and out of the room going to the bathroom so its nothing big. I usually allow them to start their homework or finish assignments from this morning but they had nothing to do from the morning today. I had decided as I went to pick up my kids from lunch that I would just review with them place value and rounding since they have a math test on Monday. (Yes, I'm one of those horrible teachers that gives tests on Monday). Anyway, as the students came in the room a few of them decided at lunch that I am now Miss Peanut Butter Sandwich because they think I only eat peanut butter sandwiches. I understand that I did have a peanut butter sandwich every day this week for lunch and that is why they believe this but it really isn't true. So I tried to tell the students that even though I really do love peanut butter sandwiches that I don't always eat them. I told them that I was still adjusting to the food here and it was nice to have something simple to fix and something of home to eat. They then wanted to know what my favorites foods in America were. The next 20 minutes went by as they asked me about things from America. It was interesting to compare the two places with them. I told them my favorite foods were collard greens, black eye peas, fried yellow squash, fried okra, cornbread. Most of these things they didn't have a clue what is was. It was so interesting to see their expresssions. A lot of students acted like they didn't like the food but they really don't know what it was. It made me laugh. Its funny because I have students that share with me part of their snacks each day and don't realize that I have never had those before. I did have a student bring a homemade muffin in the other day with pineapple in it. I don't know what kind it was but it was wonderful. However that is off topic. We moved from my favorite foods to types of transportation and fast food restaurants. They wanted to know if I liked hamburgers and why I just didn't eat at McDonald's all the time. I tried to explain that the sizes hear are smaller than in America and its kinda of expensive after a while. To which Caleb told me that an ice cream cone at McDonald's was less than 30 cents US. He is right but its still seems to add up especially since their mediums are our smalls. The students were also surprised to know that McDonald's in America didn't sell fresh corn cups or the Korean flatbread or grilled chicken flatbread meals. They also wanted to know if I ate at KFC (which I love but more about that later). During our conversation about fast food restaurants Jonathan asked me if I liked Taco Bell. Most of my students were so confused. Only 3 of my 24 students knew had heard of Taco Bell and most didn't know what tacos were. There really are not a lot of Mexican restaurants here (most are in Central and the Mid-Levels on Hong Kong Island). Its so crazy to think about. Needless to say the students also did not know about Chik-Fil-A's, Zaxby's, Wendy's, Sonic's, or other fast food restaurants. They only know about Burger King, McDonald's, and KFC. Another one of my students has been to America before and talked about drive-thrus. The students just didn't know what to think. They don't have drive-thrus here because most people don't drive their own cars. Oh what a conversation we had.

Food was not the only topic of our 20 minute conversation though. They also wanted to know about transportation and how people get around. I told them mainly by driving and they wanted to know if we had trains like the KCR and MTR. I told them that the big cities did but were usually referred to as subways which confused them. Here subways are walkways underneath the roads. I tried to explain that their system was a really good system and not all systems in America were like that. They wanted to know how you would get from state to state then. Here I can take the KCR into China. I told the students that I have driven from state to state. They were very amazed. They wanted to know how long it would take which they don't understand depends on where you are and where you are going. It was fun and really helped me see a lot of things that are different here.

I have gotten used to taking a bus and the subway home from school or to Shatin and a taxi to school. I really haven't thought about how I am used to getting from place to place and how our towns and cities are set around people driving. No drive-thrus, I hadn't thought about that. The students were so interested in my life in America and what I would eat there and what's different. I really enjoyed it. The student's didn't ask me any questions on the first day of school and today I couldn't get them to stop asking questions as we lined up for PE. They really are a good group of kids, talkative but good.

Oh yeah, about KFC. I have realized that I like KFC a lot because it takes like home, I can get corn on the cob and their honey biscuits are incredible. I went there tonight before coming home. I was in Shatin to pay my cell phone bill and stopped by there before leaving. It is really good. Oh yeah about biscuits, here crackers and cookies both tend to be called biscuits. I tried to explain to the students that biscuits to me are like biscuits at KFC, fluffy. I also had some crackers that I told them I called crackers. It was funny. They even have a different vocabulary for some things in English so it was fun to think about and talk about the differences. Well this post is long. Tomorrow should be a good day. I'm refusing to go to school (I'll go on Sunday afternoon). I'm sleeping in and I'm going to the movies with Patti and David tomorrow. We are going to try and see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Oh yeah I'm probably, finally, buying a lamp for my room. Yeah tomorrow's Saturday and I'm very excited that it is!