McDonald's Super Student Night [October]

Every month a student is chosen from each class to be the "super student". This is a student that has been exceptional that month from both a behavioral standpoint as well as improving academically. It's an honor that the kids get excited about but eventually they will all get their turn. Every quarter we take the last 3 months worth of super students out to McDonald's. McDonald's Super Student night serves many purposes. It allows the parents of the students to see their children interacting with their teacher outside of the classroom and observe that relationship. It provides an opportunity for the parents to get to know the teacher of their children on a more personal level since there aren't many chances for that. It also works as an advertising campaign too since many families are there eating and they can see that we are representing a school so parents sometimes approach the secretaries or Sherry to see what organization we are from and how to get more information.




Technically the very first super student night that we participated in was the second day that  we were in Taiwan, butt that was only because we were tagging along with the last super student night that belonged to the previous teachers. October was the first super student of the semester and we had a lot of fun. Neither of the students from my older 4-1 class showed up (Johnny or William) but all 3 students from my 2A class came (Jill, Kerry, and Maggie). Amber and Yara, from the younger SPE classes, were also put at my table. I ordered chicken nuggets, corn soup as my beverage, and an Oreo shake as my side. The kids sat at my table and the fun began.

Amber and Yara

We are adorable but my arm looks like a big noodle.

Augustine was doing questionable things with his french fries.

I hopped over to the basic reading table to say hello to Jenny.

My Maggie.

She's the youngest in my class but she is so bright and sweet.

She has opened up so much since I became her teacher.

Jill is so done with Kerry and his crap.

It's funny; when the secretaries come and take an official photo, the kids clam up. Also, let's appreciate Josh's face in the corner here. Golden.

Josh had Augustine and Joe for the SPE kids at his table and his was next to mine.

Teacher Josh's table.

Megan had Grace and Yi-Jia from SPEs.

Amber and Bowen (Sister and Brother)

Basic Reading table. Bottom left going clockwise: Victor, Chris, Toku, and Jenny.

I crashed my bike into an adolescent on the way home.

Now that I have said it in as dramatic of a way as possible, let me tell the story. That night we had our last typhoon of the season. The kicker is that the typhoon came about 7 hours early. It wasn't supposed to hit the island until the wee hours of the next morning but it decided to make a dramatic entrance and come early. When did it come? While we were at McDonald's. The storm didn't even hit while we were teaching so that people would allow us to go home and get coats first if we needed them. It decided to wait until after we were already at super student night and we could do nothing about it.

During typhoon season, I got into the habit of keeping my raincoat rolled up in my backpack so that if an unexpected storm ever rolled in I wasn't caught unprepared but I had gone to Carrefour a couple of days earlier and I had left my raincoat at home to have that extra bit of space since, you know, we have to literally carry everything we buy on our backs or in our bike baskets. Anyway, the point is that I forgot to put the raincoat back into my bag and as I watched the typhoon rains drench the world I knew that I had absolutely nothing to protect me on the long bike ride home.

It came time for everyone to say goodbye and as the parents saw that we didn't have the proper clothing for the storm some of them grew concerned. We informed them that we didn't have our raincoats with us and they informed us that we could buy ponchos from 7-11 convenience stores. While the sentiment was kind, this information was already known to us and also there was no 7-11 close by, so by the time we located a 7-11 we would be wet anyway. April, Yara's mom, was very distressed at the thought that we would have to ride home and kept insisting that she drive us home. This was very nice of her as well but then we would be stranded because our bikes would be left at the McDonald's and we would have to come back the next day, in the rain (because the typhoon wouldn't stop raining by then) to retrieve our bikes but we would have to walk. So our only option really was to just ride home in the typhoon acid rain.

Kim had 2 jackets and was kind enough to let me borrow her bomber for the ride back so I had some kind of sleeves, which was nice. Megan went home on her own so it was just the three of us who went home together. We rode single file with Josh up front, Kim in the middle, and I kept the rear. For a myriad of reasons that I won't list this was the safest configuration, or it should have been if what happened didn't happen.

I am wearing open toed sandals. This fact is important for the story.

Also keep in mind that visibility is poor. The winds are really strong. It's hard to hear anything through the rain/wind/traffic noises. Water is dripping into your eyes. It's nighttime so everything is dark too. It's just all very chaotic.

We are waiting at this red light and it turns green so we all begin to go but my foot slips off of the pedal because it's wet. Everything is freaking wet stupid typhoon When I put my foot back on the pedal my sandal gets stuck because it actually gets wedged in the pedal, so I can't move/pedal. This means that I need to not be moving so that I can unwedge my shoe from the pedal, but I am already moving....this means that I am going to crash. It all happens very fast and I know that I am going to crash. Kim is in front of me and I am already going down, I just don't want to take her with me so I turn my wheel to the right at the sharpest angle that I can. I still clip the back of her wheel but it is enough because she stays up. As I am going down this figure from the darkness appears to my right and I collide with a person who was not there mere seconds before. This preteen had been trying to pass me on the right I guess and chose the wrong (or right) moment to do it because my bike went right into his. We both managed to rely on our youth and quick reaction times to save us so neither of us actually went to the ground, we just got a couple of minor scrapes from the pedals on our calves.  As I was composing myself to ask how he was, he asked me immediately (in English) if I was okay. I told him that I was and asked him the same question. His response? "I am okay. I am going to go home now!" And then without pause he hops back on his bike and flies into the night like some secret hero or something. Had he not been there I would've undoubtedly hit the gravel hard, so he totally saved me.

Since I had clipped Kim's bike she had pulled off up ahead and stopped to see what was going on. We met up, I told her what happened, we laughed, and then proceeded to ride slowly home together. She had called out to Josh to stop when she pulled off before but he hadn't heard her through all of the noise, so when we finally arrived home he was all concerned wondering where we were and what had happened.

We all made it and no one got hurt, which was incredibly lucky. That kid was the hero of the night. We were absolutely drenched though. Like, sopping. We were dripping water through the house as we walked. It was ridiculous. Hopefully the next super student in December is full of cute fun kids still but without the death defying ride home. And please, no rain this time? The last two times have had rain. Let's not have that next time.

I survived but I am drenched.