1st day of school

Today was Ben's first day of school in Taiwan. I had a very difficult time sleeping last night, spending countless hours wondering if moving to Taiwan would truly help our kids. Questions kept sounding in my brain about whether the kids would adapt, if a bilingual environment is best and if I am a terrible mom. My kids are the minority. Will this challenge ahead of them make them shine like the diamonds that I know that they are, or will it just scratch the luster off of the surface, leaving them dull and tarnished?

As we left Lizzie at the kindergarten today she cried. Not her normal drop-off cry, but still complete with tears and screams of "I'll miss you Ben." It doesn't matter how much the two of them argue, they are great friends. Ben on the other hand could not be happier about leaving his sister, as it meant that he finally could leave the "Kindy" and move into the Primary School grade 1. Finally, some big kids!

I do have to admit that up until today has really been a challenge with the kids. Ben was placed into Kindy with much younger kids (like Lizzie's age), but he and two other "minority" children were often given special "activities" (read: they were too disruptive in class, so they were put together away from the others). If you put three kids in a room together for an extended period of time, well, things don't always go well. Add to that Lizzie doesn't want to be in class when her brother and friends are playing somewhere much cooler and a mess arises. Lizzie spent many times trying to sneak out to see Ben.

So back to today. We meet Ben's teacher at the classroom and watch as Ben is instructed how to take off his shoes, where to put them, and when to put on the house shoes. He is genuinely excited about being in a classroom. He is also happy because one of the boys from the kindy (one that he did not get in trouble with) is in his class. I saw Ben a couple of times during the day-- twice on the stairs, in the cafeteria, in the auditorium. Each time, he looked completely happy.

We picked both kids up this afternoon and found two completely different children from the ones we had picked up yesterday. BOTH were smiling. BOTH had gleaming reports. BOTH had a great day at school. Such a relief!

What's really neat is the change that I have seen in Ben just today. Until today, he was rather resistant to speaking Chinese. Instead of saying "Xiexie" (read: shay shay) he would say "Mayonnaisse". But tonight, he has not stopped with the Chinese. The children in his class speak both English and Chinese. The only common language for all of them is English, but Chinese is the mother tongue and therefore has its place. Today, speaking Chinese went from being "weird" to being "normal".

Isn't that what learning is? In science, we learn a new language filled with complex vocabulary and Latin. In math, we learn to communicate using both numbers and letters. When things are presented as normal, we are more apt to learn, because, well, it's normal. So today my son embraced Chinese. My daughter "taught" her teacher how to count to ten in Chinese. Both of my kids are growing in confidence and becoming world citizens. They are learning that there is more than one "right" way and that differences are part of who we are. They have learned a bit about ghosts (it's Ghost Month) and how to use chopsticks.

No, moving here was not a mistake. I have not hurt my kids. Instead, I have given them a great opportunity that they are starting to embrace. It truly is wonderful!