Monthly Archives: June 2006
Bing Kafei
When I was younger, I could tell when my mom had a deadline because she’d turn on the Greatful Dead and drink a latte. (Wow, did that just sum up my mom, or what?) My mom loves lattes but my … Continue reading
The Anti-China
My new boss, “Will,” is the anti-China. I don’t mean his dislikes our host country, but he takes responsibility in a land where no one knows anything about that and no one knows when someone who does know will be … Continue reading
L’chaim
After listening to Jason Zorro make Mandarin tones properly and effortlessly, David decided to take him down a peg and teach him to say “L’chaim”. After a few tries, it was still almost as bad as my Chinese. Ok, nothing’s … Continue reading
My Parents
I’ve already talked my sister into visting me in China in August. (This is a picture of her with her Chinese music ensemble at Wesleyan… guess which one is my sister!) Now I’m trying to convince my mom and my … Continue reading
You People
The other day I was crossing the street and I said “You people invented gunpowder and silk! Surely mastering a turn signal is nothing to that!” Usually shouting witticisms at my non-English speaking surroundings makes me feel better, but today … Continue reading
Jia Gei Wo Ba?
Ryan in Dalian, also known as The Humanaught, is engaged! Congratulations, Ryan and Maggie!
Six Years Later…
I’ve been corresponding with my old roommate, Ruth. She’s working in Washington, DC now, and she dropped words like “senator” and “security clearance” into her letters. She said something along the lines of “six years ago, if someone told us … Continue reading
Why Spelling Matters
Last night, Zorro (formerly known as Jason), David and I went to the Jazz Island Cafe. Like more of the “English” places around Yantai, Jazz Ialand has a few spelling errors in their signage. In some places, Jazz is spelled … Continue reading
Travel In China
Tonight I had my adult students. Now, I don’t really like teaching adults because they have all the idiosyncrasies of my middle school students (refusal to speak above a whisper, inability to separate “L” and “R” but an insistence that … Continue reading
Helen of Yantai
I tutor a little girl called Helen, and by “tutor” I mean we play Barbies and lots of clapping games. She is bright, sweet, funny and the picture to the left shows her dressed up for her school concert and … Continue reading
