A few more selections from my students' writing exercises:
The revised, final draft of a limerick:
There was a nice guy from Georgia But now he is teaching in China He wore T-shirt in Winter He is our dear teacher I will miss him if he goes back to Atlanta
A few letters of apology:
Dear Brenda, I would like to express my apologies for sending you a rose last Sunday. You must misunderstand me that I'm a homosexual. On fact, I took that day as Fool Day and later my sister told me it was wrong. With many apologies, Rosalyn
Dear Christ, I'm writing to express my apologies for not being able to bring a lamb to you this time because it's forbidden to take animals on the train. Next time I'll put a lamb in a box when I get on the train and you'll see it by then. With many apologies, Cherry
Dear Saddam, I'm very sorry that my soldiers hanged you mercilessly. You know I didn't mean to do that. I'm quite sure a good man like you will go to the heaven. Sincerely, George W. Bush
And a thank-you letter:
Dear Mr. George, Thanks for your fighters, missiles, and bombs. I have never seen such kind of things for more than ten years. They are so interesting. But since there are ample of them, please no more. Sincerely, A young lady from a poor country
Well, lots and not much has happened since I returned from my vacation travels.
Though I still had three weeks left before classes were to begin, I had to come back to Weihai after traveling in Yunnan because I was out of money, and this gave me time to think about what I might want to do next year. When I got back, I made a list if places I'd like to work (China, Germany, Latin America, and America) and jobs I'd like to have (generally something involving education, travel, and/or international exchange). I then spent hours each day applying to jobs around the globe, using job sites and recommendations and references from friends, and left the rest to fate. During the process, though, I began to feel more and more like I'd really like to live near home, and since then I have focused my attention solely on Atlanta and Nashville. I have received a few offers from companies in San Francisco and Beijing, but I have a few possibilities for Atlanta and Nashville as well. Hopefully I'll know more soon. At this point, what keeps going through my mind is that I'd like to be "normal" for a year-- live in an English-speaking place rather than a foreign one where every aspect of life is more difficult than at home. I'd also like to continue on to grad school in Fall 2008 (it's too late to apply for this year), and it'd be nice to live near family and friends before I move away again, though I might end up back in Nashville, as there's a program there I'm really interested in. Depending on when the university allows me to leave for the year, I may join a Vanderbilt Fieldschool and research project in southern China during the month of July; this would greatly help my chances for grad school, though it will also depend on when I have to start whatever job I end up with. For now, though, keep your fingers crossed. I'm at a point where I'd be pretty disappointed if I couldn't find a job back near home, so hopefully something will work out.
That said, I'm still enjoying my time in China a lot. The weather hasn't been completely cooperative, though. A couple of weeks ago we had quite a storm, which brought some snow and strong winds--50+ mph--with it. It knocked out power for a night, which meant my apartment was freezing for a day, and also caused some damage along the beach.
A sign blown off a building during the storm:
These fences were not match for the wind, and the sand blew right past (and through) them onto the grass along the beach:
We decided not to walk out the pier that day:
Since then it hasn't warmed up too much, and that has been a little frustrating, as I'm eager to get out and enjoy the beach and play tennis after having been cooped up for much of the winter. This desire to get out and enjoy the outdoors has also made me a little less excited about planning lessons, and lately I feel like I've just been going through the motions of teaching, though I still feel like I'm doing a good job. I think the main problem is that I don't find the work intellectually stimulating, so I find I'm bored with it often. In terms of what I'm teaching, this semester is definitely an improvement over last semester, when I basically taught essay writing, as this semester I'm teaching more creative writing. Still, I have to start at a pretty basic level, and the discussions we have never really become too deep or thought-provoking simply because most of the students have never really developed or been given the chance to develop that ability.
Their writing still has the ability to amuse me, though. The following was wirrten following a lesson on advertisements:
"F-14 Tomcat - $1 Since the F-35 JSF Fighter hascome into service, the old Tomcat, which isstill modern and advanced, need to be kept well. Being short of money, US Air Force hopes some friendly countries can take them. The price is sure low. Any countries except China, North Korea, Iran, and Libya can take them for just $1."
And see if you can guess about whom this (really bad) limerick is written:
"There is a nice guy from Georgia But now he is in China. He wore t-shirt in winter He is our dear teacher And I wanna know if he like banana."
Simply exceptional.
The month of February also saw the coming and going of Chinese New Year. I had been prepared for the worst, as I had heard accounts of fireworks 24 hours a day for an entire week, but really there were only a few instance when the fireworks made it too loud to watch the television, and I was only hit by stray rockets and debris a couple of times. To celebrate the occasion, we, like every other person in China, shot off some of our own fireworks, and we also smashed a piñata. Of course, we had to improvise since it's not a Chinese tradition. First of all, our Kiwi friend pronounced it "pinata" (without the ~ on the ñ), and she also had never heard of the idea of using a blindfold and spinning around to make it more difficult). So, the first time we smashed a piñata, during a birthday party, she held it on the end of a broom and we tore at it with chopsticks, breaking three in the process. As you can see below, we eventually progressed up to plastic bats for other birthdays and Chinese New Year, though our Kiwi friend began to place more and more layers on the piñata, so that it took a long time to break, even hitting it with a bat without a blindfold. We also learned several more Kiwi birthday games, such as pass the parcel, and this one, which involved dressing up in wacky clothes and eating chocolate with gloves on. Oh what fun!
Fireworks on Chinese New Year:
The first experimentation with the piñata, tied onto the end of a broom and beaten with chopsticks without a blindfold:
Even the young ones get in on the fun:
Darren seemingly about to smash the (extra reinforced) piñata to smithereens, though he puts just a little dent in it:
Allyssa destroying a piñata during Chinese New Year:
Despair not, though! My social life has included more than just children's birthday parties! I've also come to love the art of karaoke and have had the pleasure of singling on three different occasions in the past two weeks: the first with some Asian friends, the second in front of all the English teachers at the school (definitely the most embarrassing), and then again with some Asian friends. During the process, I've probably sung most of Britney's hits, as well as songs from Madonna, Kanye, Outkast, Blondie, Mariah Carey, Van Morrison, Los Del Rio ("Macarena"!), and others. I don't think my singing has improved any, but hopefully everyone else's ears have become more tolerant. What makes karaoke more enjoyable in Asia is that you sing only in front of your friends (unless you're forced to sing at a banquet); each group has its own room and chooses songs as it wishes.
Below, a typical karaoke room:
You can even play the tambourine as others sing!
A video of some Chinese and Japanese friends singing karaoke. If you look closely, you can see that the video being played is probably not the original one; a Britney Spears song may be paired with a video of a boat sailing down a filthy river; Madonna might be accompanied by shots of downtown Weihai. The words are usually correct (though sometimes popular songs are translated into other languages but retain their general phonetic structure and resultingly sound a little funky), but the videos are definitely not:
Besides karaoke, I've also spent some time doing more typical, western "hangout" activities. On Saturday, St. Patrick's Day, some new friends from Missouri and Allyssa and I went to the Red Tomato Bar, which had imported Guinness just for the occasion. Normally they only have Chinese beer as well as a few other light imports, such as Corona, so this was not to be passed up. We then hit 2046, the dance club, which was especially good. Click on the "Welcome to the Zhongguo" link on the right for a video.
And I leave you with a hilarious sign some friends took of their daughter a few years ago. Again, further evidence that Chinese don't ask for assistance when translating into English:
And congrats to my cousins Paul and Betsy on the new addition to the family, Davis Grayson Smith! I look forward to seeing him at Christmas, or perhaps before!
