Thunder claps & rocket booms

Last night it rained for real. And then, when the real rain stopped, they made it rain.

At about 9 o clock p.m. it started. The sound of the falling rain on the windows was nice as I sat inside, but far too often it's come and gone in a matter of minutes here on the edge of the Gobi Desert (plus, Beijing is in the midst of a draught) and then you forget about it. But last night it really started pouring. There was thunder and there was lightning and it was definitely the realest storm we've had in Beijing this spring. It kept coming down for a decent while, and then it petered out and eventually, it stopped.

A little while later, sometime after 11 p.m. (as I'm trying to go to bed) there is a loud BOOM outside that was assuredly not thunder. Just after said boom, the rain started up again. What was this boom, you ask? Somewhere, some member of the People's Liberation Army pointed a rocket launcher of some sort at a cloud and shot rain-producing chemicals into the night sky. Most likely from the back of a jeep, cruising the streets of Beijing. Picture that.

As I drifted off to sleep, the artificial rain kept falling, i.e. the Beijing sky spat out whatever they just shot in it.

"His name is Mr. Jon"

I've been teaching "introducing others" this week. We've been working on "his" and "her" and "he" and "she" specifically, as in Chinese, the female and the male pronouns sound the same: "ta," but look different when written. A lot of Chinese people have a tough time with this then, calling a guy "she" or a girl "he" for example. My kids have done a good job with it (better than I expected) and today they produced this gem of a moment...

Little Jane is a jokester. We were on a field trip a few weeks back and we were passing the mic around the bus to let the kids tell a story or a joke or whatever. Jane got the mic and immediately started into a joke. I could understand the basics of it, a classic joke set-up; there was a Chinese person, a Japanese person and an American person, perhaps in a bar, having a conversation, and at the end the Japanese person said something and then the Chinese person said something that made everyone die laughing.

Anyway, in class today, as we were saying each other's names and we came to a boy who said he didn't have an English name. It ended up he didn't like his English name and wanted a new one. Class was relaxed today so we were all talking about it, and I asked if anyone had an idea for his name. Jane spoke up: "Mr. Jon." Everyone laughed and said, his name is Mr. Jon! They had the sentence we'd been learning down.

I'm laughing (a lot) but I say, "he can't be Mr. Jon, I'm Mr. Jon." And Jane says, "You are Mr. Jon, and he is Mr. Jon." I tell them that he can be Jon, but he can't be Mr. Jon. She recognizes the comedic value in this (as did I) and she picks it up later. We continue with class and eventually we come to some point where Jane has the oppurtunity to say his name: so she does. "Mr. Jon." I laugh... no, he's not Mr. Jon. He's talking later... "Mr. Jon, be quiet," Jane says. She keeps looking for a chance to say it, and everytime the class loves it. I give in and call him "Mr. Jon" once. They go nuts.

I weighed the benefits and the costs of really giving this kid the English name "Mr. Jon" and decide it has to go. After class I talk to them all and we decide on plain-and-simple Jon. The now-named Jon's cool with it, Jane's cool with it, and so's the real Mr. Jon (me). Then I say to Jane, you're one funny girl. "Thanks, Mr. Jon."

Canadian David

He's Chinese, of course, but he lived in Canada for a few years. He's also one of my newest students (post-May holiday) and he speaks some pretty fine English, which is really awesome (especially because I hear that Canadian accent in his "yahs" for example). I've been wanting a student all year I could talk to a bit, and it's great to have David. He's not a native speaker as his parents speak to him in Chinese, but living overseas has made his English way better than the rest of my kiddos. It cracks me up the answers he gives to my questions--normal kid answers--but a riot compared to his classmate's words or two (which are sometimes hilarious too). I'll try to get a picture and post some funny stuff he says in Canadian.

Today after class David asked me if I'd see him tomorrow. I told him no, since we don't have class, but when he seemed pretty disappointed, I said I'd see him Thursday. He asked if I could meet him tomorrow outside his class to say hi tomorrow, and I told him I'd look for him. Warmed my heart, it did, to know I have a little friend I can talk with. And as I stood there, thinking about David, this other kid Jake ran up to me, licked his finger, put it on my arm, pulled it off real fast while making a sizzling sound, shook it and said, "ooh, hot."

They're all special in their own way, ya know? Be it Canadian David or Smooth Jake. (And yes, I am teaching my kids ridiculous pick-up moves.)

Wo ai ni, Western food

My buddy just found a menu from Red Robin (an amazing burger place, if you somehow don't know), home of "Bottomless Steak Fries" and this great strawberry lemonade, and was reading off some of the burgers... my favorite is the one with egg and three strips of bacon... oh man.

We had neck of duck (and other various duck parts) in the cafeteria for lunch.

"OK"

The globalization of the word/phrase "OK" is something really amazing to me. I was talking to my buddy Dave tonight about it (he's travelled Europe a lot, and he's just smart) and he says it's not just in China, that everyone knows "OK."

But, the meaning's often pretty unclear. I'll get frustrated sometimes with a taxi driver, for instance, who responds to all my questions (I'm speaking the best I can in Chinese, keep in mind) with "OK." Wait, I asked if you understood what I said... "OK"... do you understand? "OK." Do you know the place I just asked you to take me to? "OK." Can you take me there? "OK." Okay, I say. And we go... did he understand? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

I might ask, are you from Beijing? "OK." Are you married? "OK." Got kids? "OK." You like robots? "OK." Do you understand anything I'm saying? "OK." Okay it is.

And then there are my students, who when I ask, "okay?" in class, they often respond with their classic negative reply: "nokay."

Okay? "Nokay." Okay...

"OK."