Tina & Tiger

One of the neatest things I did all year was spend my final free Saturday in China with two of my students and their families. That Saturday morning, Michelle and I were picked up by our student Tiger's family (himself, his mom and dad) in his dad's shiny new black BMW and we drove north to the Ming Tombs. We saw some of the country sights, talked about everything from speeding tickets to the Da Vinci Code (with the help of Michelle translating) and it was just awesome to see a great Chinese family interact. The folks own some sort of a business together, I never quite figure out what it was but I'm settling on architecture. Tiger is excited about 1st grade in a month or so now, and they were all afraid of big dogs. I'd say they're a pretty typical well-off middle class Chinese family, one son, a nice car, etc. They gave me a great album of some pictures from the day, but unfortunately it's not digital. Now that I'm home, though, ask to see it! Tiger's a riot of a kid. Really a little man. He's got this huge head, he chose the name Tiger, and he's a child TV star. I'm not quite sure how big, but Michelle tells me when he travels to another city people recognize him. I guess he's famous for talking like an adult on TV, enough so that he gets a paycheck from CCTV (sometime I hope to post on CCTV, as Chinese TV is one of the most ridiculous things on planet Earth). He's in love with Michelle (whom he calls Miss Gao) and yeah, funny kid.

Later that afternoon Michelle and I said goodbye to Tiger and his folks and headed to a student's place who lives near our school, a girl named Tina. Tiger, I'm guessing is 6 going on 7, wheras Tina is 5 going on 6. Which makes a difference. She's an adorably cute girl and that day it was just her and her mom at home. Her dad's often away and her mom, too, is a pretty serious businesswoman. Tina's apartment home was an ok-size in my estimation, but still small for American standards. It was easy to see the "Little Emporer" complex played out in Tina and Tiger, though they're both good kids, they're the center of the family. Tina's home was decorated with huge pictures of her in crazy outfits, everything from cowboys to butterflies, and her toys took up most of the place. Tina and I played together the whole night as her mom prepared a delicious seafood dinner. Her mother, like I said, is successful, but she never finished high school. As a result, she's really pushing Tina to do well in school... I'd say too much. Tina and I watched an English video together, we jump roped (inside, oops), we played Pictionary where she had to answer in English and me in Chinese, and lots of other fun games. She is generous with her stuff and candy, but she sure has a lot of it. Good kids both, and a very interesting and eye-opening day all around.

Me & Tina: