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I personally think rain boots are possibly one of the smartest inventions ever for rainy weather.  Especially because even if you have the biggest umbrella in the world, your feet will still get wet and your pants, inevitably, will also get soaked in a thunderstorm. And at Vanderbilt, wearing rain boots all-day to class, work, and home is totally acceptable—perhaps, as long as you have the right name brand.

So, I was pretty used to wearing rain boots to class, since you have to walk to class in college. So, when I came to Yilan, the rainiest city in Taiwan (seriously) and possibly the rainiest city in the world (no joke), I knew I needed to get some rain boots.  Plus, we scooter around everywhere here. And if you don’t know what that equates to, it basically means if its raining, you get completely soaked unless you are wearing your rain gear.  Strangely enough, rain gear here does not equate to rain boots; just a gigantic rain jacket, gloves, and possibly rain pants. Anyway, I decided I didn’t care what other people were doing and heck I wanted to wear my rain boots and keep my feet dry and warm.

But, for some reason, every time I wear my rain boots to school, my students, without fail, laugh at me. The minute they enter our classroom for English class, they stop, point, laugh, and scream, “yu xie!” (which means rain boots).  My LET explained that this was because only little kids or fishermen wear rain boots so it is very strange for them to see adults wearing them.

I’m used to the kids laughing at me now and I really don’t mind anymore. It just still boggles my mind why more people don’t wear them. If it’s just a fashion thing, that’s silly. Because, seriously, rain boots are so useful here.

What made my day today, however, was that it was bright and sunny outside without a hint of rain coming and one of my fifth graders, Ryan, wore rain boots today.  He came up to me after class, pointed to his boots, said ‘yu xie!’ and then smiled. LOVE IT.