13: My Oxymoron

Every time I start to think, "Hmm, yeah they speak a different language, but really things aren't that different from home," some small thing is seen or heard that causes me to realize that many things are very different at their root and just appear similar most of the time.
Good examples from past updates are pubs, traffic, and the kitchen/bathroom in my apartment. Along this line of thought, I want to relate a couple of other occurrences I have witnessed, two I have noticed throughout my stay, the other an event that happened in class.
The first has to do with school here. First of all, everybody wears uniforms from middle school through high school. It doesn't appear that elementary school children wear them. My experience with uniforms and school is the opposite. Only a select few (an unfortunate few, in my mind) are required to wear uniforms at Canadian schools. You all know that. Everybody does here. It has nothing to do with going to a private or religious school, it's just how things are done. As well, kids never stop going to school throughout the day. Once public school is over, kids go on to extra classes their parents signed them up for, be that English, Taekwondo, math, or anything else extra study is needed for. From early morning until midnight in some cases, kids are at school. They go to public school on Saturday for half a day, then on to extra classes. Sunday is the only day off of public school, but extra classes are there to take up that time, too. It's pretty scary. I'm sure not every child goes to school seven days a week, but there are many that do.
The second observation is that friends hold hands wherever they go. It is not uncommon to see two fifteen year old boys walking through town hand in hand. Same goes for girls, or friends of the opposite sex. How great! There's nothing more positive than seeing an open declaration of friendship. It's something not seen in Canada, at least not very often.
The third one was a bit odd. I went to class yesterday, the day was pretty normal. When I got to the class of kids, there was the sound of a bird chirping. I figured one of the kids brought some sort of bird toy. It was no toy (but ironically, the boy who had the bird decided the week before that his English name would be Toy). In a small plastic bag was a baby chick, wrapped in newspaper. In itself, this was not too strange. Kids like animals and sometimes will bring one to class. The fact that it was a baby chick and not a puppy, or some other more pet-like animal, was a little a bit odd to me, but not beyond my capacity to deal with. However, the fact that this bird was a bright hot pink really confused me. Is it normal for a baby bird, and I'm pretty sure it was a chicken, duck, or some other kind of future poultry, to be this colour? I suppressed my confusion, taught the kids the words "bird", "baby", and "pink" and got on with my alphabet lesson.

Anyway, despite the above things, or more accurately, regardless of them, this week has been my most comfortable one yet here. I feel far better about my classes and my ability to instruct. I am more comfortable with my surroundings, with the fact that I am going to stick out wherever I go and with the mutual lack of understanding when talking to people. As well, I am especially pleased with a small change in my teaching schedule. My night class (9:30-10:30) is now shared among three of us and we've set it up so that every third night one of us teaches it and the other two get the evening off. I like that. And the class itself is good, too. So teaching a full hour of it is no problem.

Ok, I've rambled long enough. You'll likely hear from me again on the weekend.
Steave