Although some of their classmates are allowed to walk or bike to school on their own, Anna and Michael live a bit too far away and typically get driven to school by scooter or car.
When they aren't eating lunch at school or home, they typically will eat out at a restaurant. Anna loves both sushi and hot pot, while Michael’s favorite foods are dumplings and french fries (hopefully not at the same time...).
Although they also learn Taiwanese and English in school and can sometimes hear their teachers speaking Taiwanese to each other, Michael and Anna usually speak Mandarin Chinese at school. “Hello” in Mandarin is “你好 Nǐ hǎo”, but in the mornings you will typically hear students greeting their teachers with “Good Morning” which is “早上好 Zǎoshang hǎo” or “早安 Zǎo ān”.
Like many students learning English in Taiwan, Anna and Michael have both a legal Chinese name and an English name given by their parents or English teacher. Chinese names are given based on meaning, with words associated with good luck or fortune. Many of their classmates have popular Chinese surnames like 吴 Wú, 曾 Zéng, 陈 Chén, 林 Lín, 李 Lǐ, or 尤 Yóu. In Chinese, the surname or family name is usually said first; For example, my Chinese name is 李瑞娜 Lǐ Ruìnà, given to me by my Chinese teacher back when I first started learning the language.
