Teaching at the Deaf School

This past week, N and I had an opportunity to help teach at a school for Deaf students. We were both really nervous and unsure at first since our sign language skills are still very elementary, but we really had a lot of fun with the kids. It was their last day of (reading/writing) English class, so after their exam, we taught them a vocabulary game. Here are some pictures of how it all went:


This is the whole class. They range in age from 9 years to 18 years -- all in one class.


This is my favorite picture :) He was so happy when he got the word right.


It is so easy to fall in love with these kids. They are such happy kids, and they love to meet foreigners, especially those that know their language!


This is to anyone that has ever been a school teacher -- don't you wish that your students would behave this well?! It just amazed me how good their behavior was. It may not be that way every day, but it sure was that day.


This is us teaching the game.


This just amazed me. They have a cafeteria, but some time ago, some students broke some of the chairs (or something, I'm not sure) so from then on, they had to eat outside, rain, sun, snow, or heat. Made me feel so blessed for the schools that I had the opportunity to go to.


This is the lunch line. Everyone got the same thing -- rice and veggies...and no drink. Drinks are not necessary at meals in this country. You would think they would be so dehydrated...


These students are all amazing artists. It all just amazed me. This one student found some of her artwork and gave it to us to have. I think I will frame it and put it up somewhere in our apartment :)

FOOD!

Thought you might like a "taste" of our everyday eating!


Well, this picture is not a taste of our everyday eating, but I find it funny. You see, we don't go to nice restaurants too often, but this time we did, and N ordered the "salmon salad"...and only that. This is what he got...he went for noodles afterwards :)


This is siwawa. You get about ten tiny thin "torilla" wraps and pick whatever vegetables from these many plates to fill the wraps. Then, if you want, you dip it in pepper sauce, which I usually pass.


Pig feet and knuckles. There is no meat here, just skin, but it is very popular with the locals. They even were so nice as to order it for us, in which we had to eat it. Not bad, but chewing on skin is just not for me.


Pai Cai -- spicy sour vegetables. N likes, I don't. I don't really recommend anyone eat it.


Noodle dishes -- it was actually our Easter meal! It was either that or pizza...and if you know us, we will go for the noodles.


This is a tasty dish. It is (sometimes fried)rice topped with vegetables and/or meat, then wrapped in a lotus leaf. You don't eat the leaf.

MORE FOOD!

This is even more unusual food we have here :)


Fish is a very popular dish here. As you can see, it is the whole fish with bones and everything. I actually got a large fish bone stuck in my throat a few weeks ago and had to gag it out...since then, I have vowed never to eat fish again.


This is one of our favorite meals. You have a boiling pot of soup then you pick out whatever meats, veggies, tofu you want and add them in. You get super full and it is very cheap. For the two of us, we usually spend less than $5.


For those that like man's best friend...move on to the next picture...


These are some desserts we got in Hong Kong. The bowl is red and green bean porridge (sweet -- red bean is a used in a lot of sweet dishes here) and something like black glutinous rice with mangoes wrapped in something I can't remember...


This is one of our favorite dishes -- claypot rice! The cook the rice in a small claypot, then add toppings of meat and/or vegetables. The rice stays super hot and creates a crispy layer on the bottom which is N's favorite part. Give me the dark vinegar and I'm all set!


Ok, a very popular food item in a little town south of us. It is spicy pepper chicken pieces soaked in pepper oil. I tried it...probably won't try it again.


This is after a meal of stir-fried dishes. We probably had about 10 people at our table. You just eat off whatever plates you want. It's nice to share!