Today was the beginning of what looks to be the CRAZIEST year of my life. So far so good, although teaching Kindergarteners is just plain nuts--bear in mind they don't speak English and I don't speak Chinese... so you can imagine the craziness that ensued, and looks to ensue on a daily basis. Thankfully I only made one boy cry. I asked him harmlessly (I thought), "What's your name?" Apparently he interpreted that as something very sinister and didn't appreciate my hostile advances. So he cried. A Chinese teacher in the room with me swooped in to the rescue, otherwise my feeble "Don't cry, it's ok" made have been interpreted as something even more worthy of a good cry. Sometimes, though, you just gotta let it out, ya know? Don't worry too much for me, though, most students speak more English than not, and they are all super cute--even when they're crying. Hopefully I'll have some pictures of the munchkins sooner than later.
By the way, I still don't know the boy's name :)
China, as you can see, is the Official Land of Unintentional Comedy. Everywhere you look there's some "Chinglish" gracing some sign somewhere that makes me chuckle. This is one of my favorites so far, found inside a grocery store that was trying to tell me they're open all the time. I got it, but it still made me sad.
Beijing so far is amazing. A dynamic, international city that is modernizing by leaps and bounds. Everything you could ever want is here... except maybe for three rivers, a couple of inclines, and Primanti Bros. Say hi to Pittsburgh for me, and I hope all is well.
2 comments:
We miss you Jon!
Have fun. I think almost every day about sitting in Lil' Joes next summer over a few beers and wings laughing till we cry about our experiences this year.
Almighty Dodd,
I can definitely relate about Geneva. I was back in BF last weekend and it was surreal. For one thing, I felt like that alumni who just couldn't leave. I got more than a few looks like "Haha, sucker, you failed a class and had to come back!"... Anyways, the campus is still standing and it looks like classes are still rolling right along without us, even if chapel isn't mandatory anymore.
Life is good in balmy New England. Matthew, Dean, Cory, and Kristin were out for the weekend so we caught the last rays of summer at the beach and got some great food in the Italian section downtown. The more things change, the more they stay the same -- the weekend still culminated in a two and a half hour game of Cities and Knights in which all 6 of us were a turn or two away from winning at the end.
Glad to see you're making an impression on your students. Keep the updates and pictures coming... we love reading them.
Peace, Dre
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