Monday, August 17

Monday, August 17

It happened today: before class, I was talking with a student who spells his last name “Lv” and I was asking if that was a typo. “No,” he said, “It is spelled El-wee in Pinyin.” “But,” I said, “Vee is not a vowel in English.” So he explains: “L-u spells loo, and my last name is lue, so to distinguish the sounds, we spell it L-V (el-wee).” So I say, “Oh, you mean ‘Lü” and he blushes and the two boys next to him start howling and howling with laughter. I say, “Did I say it wrong.” “No...” they stammer, “just say “Lü.” So I say it again and again peals of laughter. Finally, one of them said, “You’re calling him DONKEY!” This is Chinese for you. Lü (falling tone) means “last name.” Lü (questioning tone--which I was using because I was asking if I was pronouncing the word right) means DONKEY. It does not, I would like to clarify, mean “ASS” with all the American connotations--I asked. But it was werry werry funny to hear Teacher call Fei a DONKEY!

I asked why they don’t use the umlaut instead of a VEE, which IS NOT A VOWEL IN ENGLISH. “We do not have that symbol on our keyboard,” one of the kids explained.

Ying and Duo arrived around 10 AM pick Kacie up and get her to the airport in time to have her heavy luggage weighed and board her flight back to Boston. She had bought an extra suitcase and was still hoping she could get onto the plane with more than two carry-ons. She and Duo had a very funny story about buying that super-sized suitcase. They went to a regular store, not one of the tourist markets, and the clerk was a tiny, tiny woman who was intent upon making a sale. (Neither Duo nor Kacie could get beyond this point in the story before they were doubled over with laughter, tears running down their cheeks.) The pint-sized salesperson managed to pull the one Kacie eventually bought down from an upper shelf and then started kicking it, jumping on it, and heaving around the showroom to demonstrate its sturdiness. Kacie said even if it hadn’t been the right one for her, she would have paid the 300Y ($43) for the show.

So Kacie is on her way to America, and I will finish up the teaching responsibilities: three more days with this group of 60 and then six days (four teaching hours a day) with the last group, 20 sophomores. Boy, BCBUU is getting a lot of instructional time out of us! Ah well, here I am, supported in Beijing! The lesson planning is done, which is good. I am enjoying my foot and oil massages, which I feel are well earned.

I tried on my Dragon Lady qi pao today (black background with ecru stylized dragons.) Kath says, “So, Mum, there are realistic dragons?” Some of you might call the traditional Chinese dress (usually worn by very thin young Asian women) a “cheongsam,” but that’s if you speak Cantonese. The tailor will adjust some of the seams, add the frogs (butterflies) and, oh, make me another one...I couldn’t resist and chose some great blue and white silk for a shorter, less formal dress. Tea, anyone?

Going to Peking Opera twice this week (watch Farewell, My Concubine again if you forget what it’s like...screeching, banging, fabulous masks & costumes, acrobatics--I love it!) Once with Logan, from the first session’s Professors’ class, and then with Amelia Chung, my “niece” here in Beijing (she’s my sister Mary’s son Michael’s wife Jeanie’s first cousin.) Dear Amelia and I are also going to her favorite Chinese comfort food restaurant (dumplings), too--can’t wait!

Logan, an earnest and delightful young man, is headed to the University of Minnesota on August 24 for four months in the Twin Cities area. The college sends him but not his wife, and no other teachers from BCBUU are going. Do you know anyone who lives there? I would love to put him in touch with a friendly American who could show him where the supermarket is and advise him on buying a winter hat. The only person I know from Minneapolis is Mary Richards--wait, wait--that was a TV show and it was over 30 years ago. Drat.

More on Chinese: Duo tells me that the unbearably hot, humid weather we’ve been having (100+ temperature, so humid that if you step outside, instantly your hair is wet and your clothes stick to your body) is called “Autumn Tiger.” According to the traditional Chinese calendar, fall starts on August 7...And another fabulous one: “rainbow” in Mandarin is “seven-colored bridge.” Isn’t that one just lovely?

And in English. I think I told you that when we were doing the demo classes at the middle school intensive program last weekend, we found that many of the kids couldn’t give reasons for what they said, nor could they expand their answers. Most of them answered all questions: “I like to (read, play ball, play the piano, go to the beach) because it is interesting.” When we asked why something was interesting, they would stare blankly at us. So using the word “interesting” has become anathema. I am learning how often I use it--almost as often as “wonderful,” it seems. A student makes a comment and I say, “Interesting....” or explains an answer and I say, “Interesting....” Ying now sits in the back of the lecture hall, counting for me and giggling when my count gets interestingly HIGH. [Editor's note: Did this paragraph make anyone else think of Bugs Bunny as a beautician? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLdKU4JCYqg.]

The last part of today’s class was most INTERESTING! I am trying to get through the major points of our lessons, provide numerous opportunities for student discussion and debate, and answer students’ questions. I had fifteen minutes today to explain 1) why many Americans go to church, 2) what (who) God is, and 3) why there are so many different churches. So I did my best to sum up 5000 years of Western Civ in a quarter of an hour. Hmm, didn’t David Sedaris write an essay about this once?

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Chris