I’m hoping to come back to the States this winter, but I may be interested in studying Chinese for another semester after that.  Last winter, I came at the worst time, and barely saw anyone during their breaks.  This coming winter, a lot of people will be working, and I’ll have to make more of an effort.

I have come to regret all the missed opportunities in life, but I’ve been quite content with the choices I’ve made.  My real regrets have come from being afraid to try something new.  I want to always be in motion, always living, and never afraid of trying new things.

How about all of you?  Do you find that you reget willing yourself to do something, or do you find yourself regretting what you haven’t done but wanted to?  Mistakes are mistakes, but at least you learn from them.  Not trying something, well, it’s not allowing yourself to make mistakes - of being afraid at being ridiculous.

Too many adults are afraid of being ridiculous.  But it’s the only way.  The only way to learn a new language.  The only way to be a lover of life, the only way to keep yourself moving.

My Chinese is getting much better, but my vocabulary and pronunciation still stink.  Still, I’m a thousand miles from where I started out last..May, was it?  May 2007.  Back then my Chinese was pretty unintelligible.  Now, being understood by Chinese people, well, that’s what it’s all about.

Despite a disastrous year full of earthquakes, corruption, and blizzards, the year is looking up for China.  The Olympics are going to be the biggest thing for China in the last fifty years.  There has been an endless tide of information about the Olympics, Gold Medalist Winners, and Chinese athletes that you think the tv set is just going to be replaced with ALL OLYMPICS 24 / 7 news.  Which, of course, stands in sharp contrast to the real news, which is almost never aired in China.  As a side note, natural disasters are usually covered in great depth and in an unusual amount of acrimony, due to not only the horrifying effects of Mother Nature, but also to the reporter’s knowledge that the real disaster is the government’s inability to effectively respond.  It’s easy to blame the elements, it’s suicide to blame the government.

I’ve got another ten months left in China, according to my timetable.  After that, and I should be going to college, or finding a job.  Just where will my Chinese be by then, I wonder.  But, enough of that, no one wants to hear that learning Chinese is really quite hard.

Let me tell you a quick story.  Two nights ago, Ji Shi and I were returning from a dinner party with a bunch of my classmates (Thai, Japanese, Koreans, and Russian all attending), when we got into line for the bus back home.  In front of us was a loud couple, a man in khakis and a polo, and a woman wearing a very fashionable red dress, heels, and lipstick (unusual but increasingly common in China, lipstick is sometimes associated with “bad girls”).  The woman was yelling and shoving the man, saying how she didn’t want to go with him.  The man basically forced her on the bus against her will.  In China, domestic quarrels are NOBODY’s business.  To have them in public is particularly shameful.

The bus was packed, and it wasn’t long after boarding that we heard the first scream.  Our noted violent boyfriend had started fighting another man on the bus, and he had his hands almost completely around his neck, strangling him for everyone to see.  No one did anything to help, but nearly everyone yelled at them, “Do you want face?”  (meaning, are you or are you not a shameless wretch?)  The bus driver, in all of his wisdom, decided that this quarrel wasn’t a big deal, so he decided to close the doors and drive onto the next bus stop.  For the next three minutes the men quarreled, the girl screamed, and then they suddenly regained their composure.  Instead of getting off the bus and getting the next one, as this has got to be a pretty shameful event to go through in China, the couple impatiently waited for fifteen minutes, and three stops later, when they finally got off the bus!

Now, don’t get me wrong, Chinese people are surely some of the most friendly and warm-hearted people in the whole world.  But we in the West get the impression that Chinese people are all law-abiding, upstanding citizens.  When in fact, some Chinese people view each other as sheer animals, driven only by evil and cruel impulses.  They always say, “but China is so big, finding jobs is like living in a jungle.  There are no rules, just survival.”  Or, “but China’s problems are so large, there is nothing that any of us can do about them.  What matters is what I can get.”  There’s a shady, money-grubbing underbelly in China, especially in the cities.  It all stands in sharp contrast to the people in the countryside, who would present an elaborate banquet to welcome a guest into their home.

That under-belly is especially clear from an almost unrelated consequence of the quarrel - Ji Shi’s cell phone was stolen from us during the bus ride.  Amid all of the yelling, an enterprising lad from Xinjiang (a large, Western province in China) stole the phone and promptly called his friends back home, long distance.  In a country of the have and the have nots, of the have nots who live honest lives, and the haves who are paid big money to sit behind a desk and drink tea all day, there’s a growing disconnect, and discontent, over where China’s development is headed.

And me, well, I’m right in the middle of things.

“Why some Western media wage ‘asymmetric warfare’ on China”

People’s Daily Online Wednesday released an interview between Song Luzheng (hereinafter will be Song) and his French boss Bastien, trying to figure out why some Western media entities have long-held a biased, even hostile attitude towards China; and why a few of them showed blatant discrimination towards China and went out of their way to slander China, as seen and heard following the Lhasa Riot and on the global tour of the Beijing Olympic torch relay.

Song: What remains confusing to us Chinese, including the overseas Chinese, is why the French government, as well as the people, are so actively –overzealously – and desperately involved in attacks and clampdowns on China. Some French media carried articles and editorials with evident anti-China sentiment which can be detected by just glancing at the titles: “Olympic flame suffered a disastrous defeat in Paris,” and “A slap to China.” To my knowledge, the Chinese-French relationship remains sound and without any substantial conflict or confrontation. China has never done anything to offend French interests; and in particular, the two sides recently concluded a deal with a bulky order worth over 20 billion euros. Why would France opt to risk losing such a big and promising market like China?

Bastien: (pondering for a while) For human rights.

Song: Human rights? But why has the French government continuously offered aid and even sent protective troops to those African countries whose human rights records are even worse?

Bastien: You are quite right, but…

Song: Let’s get down to Tibet. As a part of China’s territory, Tibet takes the lead in the country for tax exemptions; and is also exempt from family planning restrictions. The per capita GDP in Tibet exceeds 10,000 yuan. Compared with parts of China’s mainland, Tibet enjoys the most preferential treatment as far as human rights are concerned. Why won’t the French authorities shift their attention to other matters equally as important as human rights; and why do they, instead, always pin their focus on Tibet?

Bastien: It is still different because of the Dalai Lama.

Song: When you mention the Dalai Lama, I wonder how much you know about Tibet.

Bastien: I don’t know very much about it.

Song: Then how much knowledge do you have about the Lama Buddhism?

Bastien: I’m sorry, I don’t know very much about it.

Song: It is unbelievable that your government can easily pick a side to join that is opposed to China, when it remains ignorant of the Dalai Lama and Tibet. The Dalai clique is a bloc mixing religion and politics. Mixing religion with politics is forbidden in Western Europe, including France; and it is considered illegal.

Bastien: I’m not quite sure about this, as nobody has told me about this.

Song : But the Dalai Lama has kept very close ties with the Aum Shinrikyo ( Supreme Truth) cult.

Bastien: That’s impossible.

Song: But it’s a fact. The Dalai formed a tutor-pupil relationship with the Aum cult guru, Shoko Asahara; and even worse, he accepted a 100,000-dollar offer from the Aum cult. In return, he granted the cult a certificate which gave the cult a religious status in Japan. It was because of the Dalai Lama who persistently supported and trumpeted Shoko Asahara that the Aum cult could acquire “tax exemption” privileges and accumulated funds to bankroll his cruel evil doing against the Japanese people.

Bastien: (suspiciously) Did it really happen that way?

Song: You can find it on the Internet, and you can also find a group of photos with the both of them.

Bastien (reticent)…

Song: Then do you know what the Tibetan social structure was like before 1959, when the so-called “uprising” was foiled by the central government?

Bastien: Democratic society, of course.

Song: (astonished) What? Democratic society! Come on, that was serfdom! It is incredible how you French could call it democracy.

Bastien: What?

Song: Do you know why the Chinese were irate and outraged this time? It is simply because your media fabricated news and made slanted reporting.

Bastien: (excited) Certainly impossible.

Song: The Chinese people both at home and abroad are still protesting this. RTF even fabricated a story saying the Chinese Embassy apologized to the French media.

Bastien: But was that true?

Song: It was crafted news. China’s Foreign Ministry has straightened it out at the weekly press conference, stating that no such apology ever happened.

Bastien: Oh! I didn’t know that.

Song: When the armed rebellion erupted in Tibet in 1959, the two brothers of the Dalai Lama were both working for the US’s CIA, as the U.S then tried to cultivate Tibetan rebellious groups and airdropped them into Tibet to launch and organize the riots.

Bastien: Are you sure about this?

Song: Yes, this is history.

Bastien: As far as I know, the Dalai Lama has all along been seeking greater autonomy, not independence.

Song: But I wonder if you really know about the true nature of this “autonomy.” What is behind the “autonomy” he preaches are his unspoken political ambitions: first, he attempts to smash the existing social system in Tibet, and rebuild a Tibetan society by mixing religion and politics. Second, he attempts to force the central government to pull troops out of Tibet. And third, he attempts to establish the “greater Tibet” which covers Tibet Autonomous Region and neighboring provinces which have never belonged to Tibet; and making up a quarter of China’s territory. He even attempts to carry out “ethnic cleansing” by driving the Han Chinese out of Tibet. Do you really believe Tibetans would enjoy more human rights under the leadership of such a political Lama?

Bastien: Why has the Chinese side never explained this to other people?

Song: We have. The Chinese government, embassy and the overseas scholars keep informing others of the truth. Unfortunately, you are selectively blind to the facts and turn a deaf ear to the calls for justice.

Song: There is still one thing I personally can’t understand: why did the French government sent such a hostile message to China this time? You must have done this for a reason, right? For instance, France strongly opposed to the U.S invasion of Iraq because of oil. More than a decade ago, the French government finished a deal with Taiwan on arms sales, which aroused great indignation from the Chinese and poisoned relations between the two countries. But we all knew, even then, it was driven by profit. But this time, for what? Who will want to deal with such an unreliable and unpredictable friend in future?

Bastien: (silent) I really didn’t know about this before.

As we continued talking, I suddenly realized that Bastien is a French person with limited information and knowledge about Tibet and the Dalai Lama and fed by the media’s selective or even manipulative reports. I can not help but think of a military term – asymmetric warfare – which originally refers to war between two or more players or groups whose relative military power differs significantly. But today, “asymmetric warfare” can describe a conflict in which the resources of two opposing sides differ; and during the struggle, each side interacts and attempt to exploit each other’s characteristic weaknesses. Some biased foreign media is launching pseudo- asymmetric warfare on China.

By People’s Daily Online

First, the earthquake in Sichuan Province was 7.8 on the Richter Scale, which is quite high if you didn’t know.  The earthquake happened a few weeks ago, but the news has not stopped.  Living in China, you can simply not avoid running into this news.  On my daily commute to school (to teach English or to study Chinese) I see quite graphic images of maimed bodies, grieving families, and levelled cities.  Most of this is recycled footage from the first few days, but they continue the news footage for two reasons: 1) to encourage people to donate more money to the estimated 240,000 who are now homeless and 2) to remind everyone that the government selflessly aided and rescued millions of Chinese people.  Right now the government is pretty popular in China, believe it or not.  Despite the fact that there is a big scandal brewing over the use of substandard building materials for schools.  There are cities where every building is standing, EXCEPT for the public schools, which simply collapsed under the strain.  Despite all of the massive corruption and power struggles, the government is doing pretty well right now.

It’s also interesting that this disaster has provoked a massive outpouring of donations to charities in China.  It’s been an unusual moment for a country that has been quite materialistic these last few decades - people who used to worry about the brand name of their purses greeted their friends with a new greeting, “Have you donated money today?”  It’s a big change for China, take my word on it.  By the way, I donated 100 RMB, or $14 to our school charity, only to have my headmaster criticize our teachers for not “caring more.”  Thankfully we’ve gotten past all that!

Now, the interesting part - girlfriends.  Let me tell you straight out, it’s NO piece of cake having a Chinese girlfriend.  It’s not at all uncommon for me to tell her, “Huh?  Could you say that again?  I don’t understand.”  Or, “Is that Chinese or English?” But, it’s also really cool.  She understands everything I say, even my most heavily accented Chinese, and I understand most of what she says too.  I even sometimes criticize her Chinese, because she forgets what is Putonghua and what is Dongbeihua.  Needless to say, having a foreigner criticize how you say your native language stings the pride!  We’re quite relaxed together, and we’re both very easygoing.  We study together, go on walks, watch movies, and treat each other to dinners.  Despite the cultural and language differences, we get along pretty swimmingly.

However, quite a few people have other ideas.  There are two extreme camps when it comes to Chinese perceptions of white guys dating Chinese girls, and I find them both very unpleasant. The first is outright hatred - some bitter Chinese men have scolded both Ji Shi and me for dating, but they’re usually either drunk or homeless.  It’s irrational, and it comes from people who’ve not benefitted at all from China’s massive economic progress, so I could understand if they felt pretty bitter.

The second camp is larger, too large I find.  It’s not from the homeless, but from well-educated and well-to-do families.  It’s the expectation that foreigners are wild sexual animals who are used to having multiple girlfriends.  They honestly think foreign men are all like this, and that it’s just a cultural or biological difference between Eastern and Western people.  What’s even more interesting is that I already know a handful of foreign men who ARE that way, but only after they come to China!  In ancient China, it was not at all unusual to have a wife and several mistresses.  Wives were for money and family connections, but mistresses were for “love.”  It was also customary for Chinese men to leave their mistresses next to nothing in their wills, but to give most everything to their wives.  Fairness takes many forms.

When a woman is interested in dating you in America, it’s polite to tell her that you already have a girlfriend.  However, as has been pointed out to me in China, that’s not enough in China.  It needs to be clear that I’m not interested in having _her_ as a girlfriend, because she could always become #2.   This is all a little too much to handle for a boy from conservative America.  Needless to say, I’m not interested in furthering this stereotype any further.

As for when I’ll be home, I’m coming home next winter for a month.  But, I’m 90% sure that I want to come home for good Summer 09.  How does that sound, everybody?  I miss you all so much, and it does stink being in China when the rest of you are, well living ;)  Keep in touch!

Our Headmaster, who is quite charismatic when he’s not being the worst possible boss, isn’t exactly known for his smart business dealings.  We sometimes spend more on transportation expenses than our contracts are worth, lol.  He spent about four hours on the phone with our teacher, trying to get everyone he knew to convince Tina, our teacher, to go to the Middle School the next day.  That she was notified less than a day in advance, when she had already made plans, was beside the point for our Headmaster.  When she said no, he said reconsider or you’re fired.  She thought he was bluffing.  Turns out he wasn’t!

When it became apparent that our school would be losing a THIRD of our customers because of her departure, our Headmaster sagaciously decided to rehire her.  Friends, only in China!  Anything is possible here.  What’s even more amusing is that this episode has convinced Tina of the need to quit later this month, lol.  Teaching English in China may be trying at times, but it’s never got a dull day!

Now, with exactly one month left of my contract, I’ve fully switched gears.  I’ve decided not to continue with my current school, and that I want to be a full-time student.  It’s a lot more fun, and the company is even better.  Let me paint you a picture of the diversity.

You’re placed randomly in the classroom, as I am.  There’s a Japanese woman in front of you, a Korean woman in the front left, a Thai woman to your left, a second Japanese woman behind you, and a second Thai behind you.  Looking around, you can see several Russians, North Koreans, a woman from Gabon (Africa), and you’re on a campus flooded with Chinese from all over China.  There are twice as many women as men, which makes for a rather entertaining class!

Since we all speak different languages, almost everyone chooses to speak Chinese.  I’ve determined that a plurality of students in the class speak near fluent English, but I’ve made it clear that I’m not there to practice my English.  I tell everyone that I don’t have an English name, and that it’s better if we just speak Chinese, lol.

Since I’m also the only American in the entire school, I confess to rather enjoying the feeling of being special.  There are so many countries represented, and people who speak English are always treated more favorably because everyone wants to practice their English.  Reverse language prejudice?  Who knows?

Now that I’ve joined a college language program, I’m kind of curious how long I’m going to stay in.  Six months?  One year?  It could take a while before I really get the language down, but I’m pretty confident that I will be home next winter break.  I might be coming a little later, say around the 20th of December, and not leaving until later.  Now that I’m a college student, and not a contractual worker, I have a little more freedom (but a super cool visa that lets me do anything!).

So, yeah, it feels pretty awesome to be studying Chinese for what amounts to peanuts in US dollars.  The classes are wonderful, and I’m just in a much better place right now than I was a few months ago.  No more feeling like I’m killing time, or wasting time, because now I feel like I’m really alive.  Pushing my vocabulary to the limits, pushing my reading speed, pushing my oral Chinese, it’s all golden!

Expect more posts as my contract begins to wind up.  I expect there to be some rather interesting developments, especially when the Headmaster realizes he’s losing ALL of his foreign teachers in the same week, lol.  Sayonara!

When I arrived, Dalian EF was a pretty awesome school.  Six full-time foreign teachers, and one regular part-time guy.  It was pretty diverse, too: two Australians, one Brit, one Zambian, one Dane, one Canadian, and one American.  In October, our two Aussies’ contracts finished, and they left for another school.  Also in October, our Zambian returned home, only to renegotiate another year’s contract in November.   In December, Alan, our second Brit arrived.  In January, Dave, our third Brit, also arrived, only to be fired in February for theft, excessive absences, and other “shady” dealings.  Also in February, our Director of Studies, the first Brit, decided not to sign on for a second year and went for a great job in Beijing. Our Dane’s contract finishes in three weeks, and mine finishes in six.  With no new teachers coming, and with it increasingly unlikely that anyone wants to join a sinking ship, it looks pretty bad.  How good is your Math?

We’ve now got no foreign boss, a bad situation, believe me.  Made worse by having only two full-time teachers in six weeks time!  Some pretty drastic staff changes is normal in a private English school in China, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m leaving at just the right time.  The teachers who are here are already applying for jobs with other schools, and have actively discouraged potential students from going to our school.

When I arrived at this school, I was euphoric.  Now, I find myself looking at the calendar more and more, counting those days until my contract expires.  And, I can collect a nice bonus then, too!  I still love teaching, and I don’t regret anything I’ve done.  I’ve gained loads of experience and perspective, and I’ve saved up more than enough money for my Chinese language program.

I think I might stay on as a part-time teacher, in part because I really just love teaching English.  I’ve worked hard, and I’ve been very patient, and now I’ve seen many students improve their English in my short time.  It’s really quite remarkable.  It’s given me some inspiration to study Chinese, too.  If these kids can learn so much from a few hours a week, why can’t I progress more in an intensive program?

Either way, the next step of my education is about to begin.  I take a test on Friday to place me in a Chinese language course, and I’ll be starting classes on Monday.  Full-time student and full-time job are about to collide head on!  These six weeks might feel like much longer, but I’m simply thrilled at the opportunity.  I never thought it would be possible to be a college student again in such a short time, and NOT to be burdened with crazy college loans.

Even so, this intensive course is going to be pretty demanding.  Please wish me luck, as I’ve got a feeling that I’m going to need every ounce of encouragement to get the most out of my experience.

I’ve got some exciting news to report - I just took a three day trip to Shenzhen and Hong Kong.  Another teacher at our school, Alan (English), and I took an all expense paid trip to the city for the purpose of getting a Foreign Expert Visa from the Hong Kong visa office.  Needless to say, Hong Kong is a VERY exciting and interesting city, and I think I learned a lot from my short time there.

First off, I need to set out the pre-trip expectations.  I was told that everybody on the island of Hong Kong speaks near fluent English, and that my few choice phrases of Cantonese and my limited Mandarin ability would be of no value whatsoever.  Basically, English wasn’t just expected, it was REQUIRED.  Apart from that, Alan and I were bracing for a VERY expensive trip, since we weren’t getting reimbursed until after we returned to Dalian (which I now have, by the way).  The hotel was reserved, but Alan and I were expecting that if our Chinese boss paid for it, it has got to be the swankiest hotel in all of Hong Kong!

Turns out, all of those expectations were dead wrong.

As far as languages go, Hong Kong was dizzingly diverse.  If you walked down a busy street for ten minutes, you would AT LEAST hear ten different languages.  I stopped counting it became so disorienting.  I can tell when I hear Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, French, German, Russian, and Urdu.  My friend Alan could distinguish a host of Middle Eastern, Eastern European, and others.  I have NEVER heard so many different languages in such a short period of time.  The same waitresses in restaurants would switch between four languages like they were switching gears on a bike - effortlessly.  Talk about diversity!  Hong Kong is crazy!

You can take my word on that, I went to at least twenty different restaurants over three days, lol.  Alan and I kept moving from food stand to restaurant to food stand, eating samples of weird food from all over the world.  I’ve added a few new ones to my list - curry cow’s tongue, pig’s neck on a stick, squid balls, Turkish salad, Turkish tea, an Atomic Hot Dog (even better than it sounds), beef macaroni soup (not exactly a winner), hot pepper prawns (not shrimp, mind you, even though I still find them identical, lol).  I’m sure there were more, but I kind of lost track of the joy after all

And, yes, Hong Kong is significantly more expensive than Mainland China.  But compared to the US?  It’s nothing.  Five dollars for a delicious and filling dish, with unlimited free tea?  It’s incredible!  Considering how much higher the salaries are over there, and the relative affordability, I’d say it’s still a bargain.  That explains why there are so many foreigners there - they’re under the mistaken impression that they’ve found the most affordable place to live.  When, in fact, that’s Mainland China, lol.

Our hotel wasn’t palacial, but it wasn’t bad, either.  Nice view, modest accomodations, hot water, flush toilet, and it was fairly clean, too.  Nearly fluent staff, not bad at all.

But, the most surprising thing, at least for me, was how utterly useless English is for genuine communication.  Hong Kong was occupied by the Brits for ninety nine years, and in all that time, they’ve only forced restaurant owners to create bilingual menus.  Taxi drivers know place names and some basic English, but it’s really nothing to write home about.  In the bulk of restaurants, there might be one waiter or waitress who speaks English, but they’re usually off that day.  Whenever I wanted to order something, I just used Mandarin Chinese.  And repeatedly, Mandarin was more easily understood and appreciated than speaking English.  If I added a “Please,” (M goh) or “Thank You” (Doh Ze)  in Cantonese, well, that just made their day!  (I take it it’s quite rare to hear white people speak Cantonese, not unlike Mandarin in China)

In all actuality, their Mandarin was even better than the average Mainlander.  Ever notice how people who’ve learned English as a second language tend to speak it more formally than people who speak it as their native language?  Well apparently that works for Mandarin too.  The average Southern accent of Mandarin sounds like monkey talk to me, but the Mandarin of these Cantonese was just music to the ears.
So, besides getting our much needed visas, we squeezed Hong Kong (or Xiang Gang in Mandarin) for all that three days were worth.  My only regret was that we chose to visit the world’s longest escalator over The Peak.  Turns out the world’s longest escalator isn’t even continuous, and half the time they’re performing maintenance.  But, I’ll do that the next time I visit Hong Kong.  :)  If I ever decide to teach in China again, I’ll have to go back.

This fun trip has made me even more excited about the trips that are on the horizon - Moscow in late May?  Europe in June and July?  Then I’ll be back in China come August.  2008 looks pretty exciting, folks, at least if my body doesn’t just give up due to excessive jet lag.  I try not to think about my carbon footprint when I’m flying.

Let me know what you think!

Good question! Thanks for asking.  The answer: tomorrow.  Hurray!  And not just anywhere, but Hong Kong.  Heh heh heh!

The best part is that my boss is paying for it.  Flight, buses, taxis, hotel, everything except for food (which will still be expensive).  I’m not really there for pure recreation, I’m also getting exactly what I’ve wanted since last May - a foreigner’s expert certificate.  With that, I’ll be able to stay in China for a full year, multiple entry, visa.  Heh heh, that’s the ticket!  No more of this get it renewed every three months nonsense!

But, what can a person really do in three days in Hong Kong?  Not a whole lot, right?  Well, with taxis being free, we’re going to go crazy!  Night life, ahoy!  Eh, minus the crazy prices, but I guess we’ll have to get used to that for three days, now won’t we?

To preserve these memories and stories, I’m going to go picture crazy, something I’m loathe to do because I’m not a big fan of having my picture taken.  But since I’m not really planning to REvisit Hong Kong, ever, this is going to be it.  My one and only chance to see these major sites.  So, you better believe if I’m going to try to do the best I can!

I’ll let you guys know how it goes in a few days.  Wish me luck!

Chris

Tina suffers from an overabundance of personality, and an insufficient amount of self-control.  She loves to sing (in Chinese, of course), dance,  tell jokes, be the center of everyone’s attention, and manipulate her parents into giving her whatever she wants.  She’s really quite gifted, actually, but her frequent outbursts mean she’s nothing but trouble in my class.  She has an infant’s vocabulary, basically, meaning she knows fruit, classroom objects, some family names, colors, numbers, and verbs like run, jump, draw, and write.  When I had a chance to make a joke in class, I leapt on it.

On  my attendance sheet, it says that Tina is six years old.  When I was asking everyone how old they are, Tina told me she was nine.  Of course, my sheet was wrong, as there are no 6 year olds allowed in our course, but I said that Tina didn’t know how old she was.  When she started protesting in Chinese that she was NINE years old and NOT SIX, I said, “Sure, sure, sure” in a rather condescending way.  Then I winked at the class, and everyone laughed about how Tina was the youngest child.  Since then, I’ve heard a student make a comment about Tina’s age every week, until today.

Today I asked our class if they knew how old another teacher was at our school, who, unfortunately, shared the same name as Tina.  Before I knew what was happening, I saw that Tina had turned herself around in her seat and was facing the window (away from me).  During our break, I went over to Tina to see what was wrong (now breaking into my Chinese, which I’m still nervous using, as kids have no experience with foreigners speaking Chinese, and oftentimes confuse our meaning).  ”What’s wrong with you?” as the Chinese oftentimes say.

That’s when Tina broke out into a fit of tears, and sobbed heavily.  Now, I’ve seen enough kids cry that it isn’t a big deal anymore, but I had a feeling that this was somehow MY fault.   She told me that she was a big girl and she was nine years old, NOT six, and she was very angry at what I had said.

So I say, ”Oh, Tina, I’m sorry, I was only joking.  Tina, I know, you are NINE years old.”

She looks up at me, all teary eyed, and I can tell she understands.  She doesn’t talk, for the first time that I’ve known her.

At the end of class that day, I could hear Tina talk to another student in Chinese, ”Just ask the teacher, he knows, I am NINE years old!”  And like that she runs out of class, as if nothing had happened, yelling in super-exuberant Chinese to her mother outside.

I love teasing kids, as they take everything so literally.  They can be quite fun in some ways, but I’d never really felt like I understood them until Tina’s outburst.  The ones who like to act like the toughest are, oftentimes, the most vulnerable.  The smallest piece of status in a kid’s world, their age, makes all the difference to their childish identities.  As her teacher, I’m one of her main role models.

I’m not just her English teacher, I’m helping her to grow up.  For a three foot, maybe sixty pound weakling, she’s got a lot of  growing up to do.

For just one day, I feel even smaller than she does.   Maybe we both have some growing up to do.

Well, a lot of reasons.  We’ve got a new teacher coming in a few days, a retired English army officer.  After thirty years in the British army, I’m sure he’s got some good stories to tell.  Maybe he was even in Iraq or Afghanistan - I have loads of questions for him if so!  I just saw a former student of mine at a restaurant, we had a nice chat about her studies at college, and it was just one of those chance encounters that “locals” have.  Being such a foreigner, I can’t relate to you how good it feels to be a local, and see people outside of work every week or so.  I see students on buses,  in malls, at restaurants, all the time really.  For a city of six million, it happens a lot more than you might think!

I just discovered a great internet radio station, so I can relax while listening to some exciting jazz.  And I got a great email from an old friend of mine, so I feel connected both to people in Dalian, and to friends back in the States.  It’s amazing how I can travel halfway around the world, and still keep some strong relationships intact.  Then, in just over three weeks, I will be back home to my friends and family.  That’s pretty cool to think about, and it makes everything here that much more interesting.

Why am I so happy?  Because despite those things that life can throw at you, life is good to me.

So far ;)