The things I do when I leave my apartment in the morning seem to be so ritualistic that they begin to be more humorous. Rather than taking the elevator down from the sixth floor I walk but of course the people who live on nearly every floor seem to believe that they can do whatever they want with the space around their doors and even he stairs near their doors they feel they can leave their shoes and other personal possessions. So how am I supposed to walk down stairs? First of all kick the shoes out of my way to clear a pathway. I have noticed that the area around the elevator is always clear, which seems to me that no one walks and everyone takes the elevator. Rained the whole weekend and it seems to be continue today and probably most of the week. Like rain the shoe clearing ritual continues.

I have been here nearly a year now and I am sure it is just another bribery tactic to get children to learn English. At first I never really paid too much attention to it but I soon realized quickly that the point cards in 1, 2 and 5 denominations are sort of treated as if they are money and the children are just driven by competition to get more for themselves. I have taught in Japan, China and children of all ages from Korea and Vietnam and Taiwan children are by far the worst. I always thought Chinese children were bad but they are not as bad as Taiwan children whom are extremely competitive. I wonder what drives them?