June 30th marked the last day of the spring semester for all elementary schools in Taiwan.
This time marks the beginning of most teachers’ summer vacation and is marked by a mass exodus of teachers to go and enjoy their well-deserved time off.
It also happens to be a half-day of school.
At Syuejia Elementary School, to mark both this occasion and the farewell to the Academic Director, Sean Chiang, all teachers were invited on an outing for the afternoon.
I had no clue what the actual plan was for the day, but was told that we had the afternoon off and that I’d be whisked off for some social time. All good, I say.
We headed out from school at around one in the afternoon and headed off towards the hills of Tainan. We got to more and more remote places until we pulled off the main road onto a single-wehicle width lane.
I knew we were in for a treat.
The pottery museum is located in the Baihe District of Tainan.
I was expecting to just go somewhere to eat. The sort of big hotel that you can see packing the hills near Guan-zi-ling.
Very much to my relief it was nothing like I had imagined. Turns out Sean has been here a number of times in the past and apart from enjoying the place itself has been very much inspired by the artist who started the place.
The teacher believes very much in the inherent talent of everyone. He sees the school system as rather crushing to the full potential of youngsters as they are strangled into performing very well in a very limited set of subjects.
Before going in and looking around I was curious to see what there was to be seen outside.
Around the left side of the structure there are a few rooms that are for clay and pottery. A number of large kilns are also housed in this area. Works of art is various stages of their production can be seen on the shelves and tables.
The lotus garden around the back, although in need of a bit of trimming and general care, was quite exquisite. The spot the photo above was taken from is under a rood similar to the one on the other side. I can’t shake the feeling that this is all very Japanese-inspired, but I didn’t get a chance to ask. Just in front is a large pond with lotus plants and other plants. Must be a nice place to pass the days away.
Above is the main gallery. All the artist’s works are on display here. There are multiple paintings and pottery pieces. It’s quite something to see. His workshop is upstairs where he can get some piece from the crowds of people who come by.
All the artwork here was created by the man you see above. From quite a young age he studied art and has taken his skills and talent and created this place.
Before we started out own arts and crafts, the teacher gave us a talk on the lotus flower. His question was “What does a lotus flower look like?” He ten proceeded to go through the whole life cycle of the lotus plant from the time it first appears to the time it give s off its seeds and then finally dies. His main point was to show that life if life. The most important things in life are people and our each person’s greatest gift to others is to share their talents with them. The other thing was that people are still more important than all those talents, people first. This is my rather brief summary of this 30 minute or so talk. I especially liked his “Sorry for the long talk, but you guys paid to be here, so I give you a talk.” Haha, yep.
Despite all his great words of wisdom, we weren’t about to try and create spectacular works of art, but simply fill-in-the-blanks.
I was treated to doing two T-shirts for my kids, and after just one I started to lose my patience and just wanted to get it over and done with. From the hustle and bustle of everyone about me, it sounded like everyone was having a good time. I was happy to get it over and done with.
I took a shot of this piece that was propped up against a wall. I assume it was drawn by the teacher.
I took another stroll around the garden out back. There was this pond. I simply stood out there for a while. Everyone else was still inside chatting a talking so I took the chance for a bit of time out. There was another smaller pond with a low bridge, but the dead fish stopped me from taking a picture of that one.
It was time to head off.
I had been keeping my eye out for a place to eat here. But it was quite clear there was no small restaurant hiding in the back, so we were heading to somewhere else.
We separately headed out and made out way to the next destination.
I think everyone was looking forward to chowing down on some grub.
As it turns out we were the last ones there so very shortly after we sat down we started to eat.
Well, it was my lucky day because at our table there were only three men, two of whom had the vegetarian dishes. So between myself and the women at the table we finished off the rest. I’d have to guess I ate about half of the food at the table. Need to remember this strategy for next time.
Once we were done, it was time to head home. It had been a long day, but a good one.
One of the best things about being at a small school is just how much the whole school goes out of their way to make me feel at home. I know it’s probably a bit much at times, but getting the chance to join in all the activities just like the rest of the teachers in the school is quite a treat.
And so… the holiday begins.
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