School and Snot

Josiah has been back in school for 2 weeks now. And though he has only cried a little one day, he is usually resistant to going in the classroom every morning. Thankfully, it is nothing like last year, but still frustrating/annoying/sad/discouraging, depending on my mood and his behavior that morning. 

Though we have solved the snack problem, I know some of his discomfort at school is a language/culture issue. The teachers speak plenty of English, and Josiah knows that, but I think he tends to tune out any lessons that are fully in Cantonese. Understandable. 

While talking with friends at the playground this afternoon, I was reminded of some of the cultural issues Josiah encounters as well. One of Josiah's friends and classmates, K, is Canadian. His family has lived in Mui Wo for about 10 years and he has two older sisters at the local primary school. The oldest sister, S, is in P6 - an impressive feat really. Though her family only speaks English at home, she is now fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin and does quite well in school. C is in P3 and is a bit more of a free spirit than her older high achieving sister. 

I asked C about her day at school and she shared that she had gotten in trouble. A teacher was checking her desk and because she has her notebook and folder side-by-side inside her desk, instead of stacked on top of each other, she had to stand up for 5 minutes. Other kids had to stand for 10 minutes for related offenses. And easy, yet embarrassing, punishment. 

While Josiah ran and played this afternoon, Daniel crawled around on the rubberized playground floor. He was a bit dirty, of course. Oldest sister, S, was appalled. When Daniel put his dirty hands in his mouth, she was beside herself. S's mom did not think it strange or troubling that Daniel was on the ground and commented of her blonde daughter, "she's so Chinese." 

And then there is Josiah. He sneezed tonight at dinner and snot flew everywhere. (He has a bit of a cold  right now.) I asked him to go wash his hands and he eventually complied. However, when he returned to the table, the hand with the most snot on it had not been washed. I pointed this out to him and he promptly wiped his hand in his hair. 

At this point, I think Josiah might be standing for all of P1. 

Thankfully that is still a few years away.