April 1, 2016   校長的話 / Principal's Notes, 每週通訊 / Weekly Messages

NWCS Weekly Newsletter – 4/2

Dear NWCS families, 
 
This Saturday, April 2nd, Briarcliff is planning a 2K race/walk starting from Todd Elementary School and ending at the Briarcliff High School/Middle School campus. We are asking you to arrive school a little earlier to avoid the traffic. Please park in the rear parking lot and enter the school building from the back entrance. The “Bears Run the Manor” event will begin around 9:30AM.  The section of Pleasantville Road between the 2 schools will be closed down to one lane.
 
Spring academic contest on April 9 to nominate students for regional and East Coast Chinese School competition
For the fourth grade and above, both A and B tracks, we are conducting the Spring academic contest on April 9 so we can enter our students to the regional and East Coast Chinese school competition. Please work with your children to prepare for the contest following instructions from your teacher. We will nominate the finalists based on judges’ recommendation. For each contest item, we are allowed to enter one team for age 9 to 12 and one team for age 13 and above. B track students will shine in own speech contest. The only exception is Karaoke OK, which allows a team of up to eight age 5 and above. Any singers? For the lower grades, we intend to hold the contest on April 30. 
 
Breakfast Club news
Our famous and most popular Breakfast Club is planning yet another two events for the rest of the semester, and would like to invite parents/teachers to volunteer and contribute.  Please stop by the cafeteria this Saturday to sign up for volunteering.
June 4th: bakery sale, and contributions (cookies, cupcakes, etc.) are welcome.  It is also the day of our NWCS open house for perspective students and families.  Let’s showcase our talents, enthusiasms and friendly atmosphere together.
June 11th: year end picnic/BBQ, and we will need volunteers for food preparation and serving.
 
Feature story from former principal Ms. Eileen Lee 
I for one, miss Eileen’s writing so I invited her to write a story for us. As usual, she didn’t disappoint! Thanks Eileen!
 
So one of my twins was sent home because he was not feeling well.  It is a rare occasion that I have this alone time with one of my kids.  While I was making him congee, he asked me “Mommy, you said when I hurt, you are hurt too …. Do you really feel hurt when I am hurt or you are just pretending ….” I told him that it was definitely not pretending.  I told him that in Chinese we describe the parents and their children are like bone and flesh (骨Gǔ肉ròu).  It is bone and flesh because the parents care about their children so much that when their children hurt, they feel the hurt too.  I found myself with tears in my eyes as I was telling him, but he did not see me because he was more interested in the food. 
 
When he was eating, I continued to tell him that for siblings (more so in brothers), Chinese describe the relationship as hands and feet (手Shǒu足zú).  Two important parts of the body which imply the close relationship of the brothers.  For once he was listening, without giving me his usual sighing and rolling his eyes.  
 
Later when my other twin came home, he asked about his sick brother.  I was very touched.   
 
 “Hey, you feeling better?”  
 
“Yeah, a little bit.  Did you pick up my homework?”  
 
“Yup!  So you slept the whole day? ” 
 
“No, mommy cooked me that Chinese thingie and we watched TV … and she was teaching me Chinese of course … ”  I heard them chuckle. 
 
I thought it was such a precious moment to hear my two boys talking like grownups … and before I could finish my thought, my sick son apparently miraculously recovered because he was running from his brother screaming “Yeah I am the hands so I can slap you and you are the feet because you stink like SHI*&^^!!!”  
 
I yelled “Watch your language! ….” As my other son was running past me, I asked “What is going on?”
 
He turned around without stopping “Oh nothing, he is just teaching me how to say brothers in Chinese”.
Your principal,
Yuan-Chi Chang 張元極