Elementary schools of Yilan County: the Grand Tour

This week we went on a whirlwind tour of 25 Elementary schools all over Yilan County in preparation for filling out our school preference forms. According to one of our guides (who works for the county government and therefore probably knows what she's talking about), even the minister of Education isn't crazy enough to try and visit that many schools in two days!

Walking to Dong Ao Elementary

On Wednesday afternoon, we took the train out to Nan-ao, a township in southern Yilan, to visit the four schools in the aboriginal area. It was absolutely beautiful out there! It was a bit too secluded for my taste, but Terry and Ari fit right in:

Terry and Ari tried on some traditional Hakka clothing

On Thursday, we took the whole day visiting schools in Luodong, Yilan, Toucheng, and Zhuangwei (basically all the towns in central Yilan). It was really fun getting to see all the different types of schools and getting a better look at the county itself. And, of course, everyone was super friendly! 

Some of the schools had exciting art:

Samurai cow mosaic 

We saw this display and had to ask what it was. Student anti-sexual harassment artwork. No joke.

Some schools had amusing signs:

And others had what can only be described as breathtaking views:

Students at Daxi Elementary have surfing lessons during PE

And one school had a very unusual extracurricular:

Unicycle club!!! Those kids had skills. 

So of course we all had to try to ride one too:

Group photo! The kids were less than impressed with our unicycle skills.
That's right, we got schooled by a bunch of 5th graders.

All in all, it was a fun (if hectic and tiring) few days. I had to fill out my preference form about which schools I would prefer to be place at for the year on Thursday night. I'll be finding out where I'm going on Monday afternoon. Here's to a weekend of nervous anticipation!