Tag Archives: Eric
Long-Distance Call
Last night I realized that pictures of my kids are crowding out my pictures from home. It seemed symbolic and sad that class photos and favorite students are starting to cover my pictures of Stick. Actually, most of my bad-China … Continue reading
Still Not Over The Staring Thing
As Jeff and Fresca both said, mere words cannot describe the constant staring in Kafaqu, but I’m going to try anyway. (Sorry to bore the old China hands.) I can understand it on some level, a foriegn girl playing games … Continue reading
Mei you! Ming tien!
Although I only know a few Chinese words, I already have some I don’t like. My least favorite word is ??, which is pronounced “ma-yo” and basically means “have no. I can recognize it in short sentences, like “We have … Continue reading
Three Months In China
On my three-month anniversary with China, it was time to renew my visa. This was complicated enough in the US, a system that doesn’t run entirely on bribes and connections. Dealing with UMass administration for five-and-a-half years of college was … Continue reading
Language Barriers
In the beginning of Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw says that English dialects are so varied that an Englishman cannot open his mouth in public without another Englishman instantly hating him. He might have been writing about China in 2006, but … Continue reading
Airport Goodbyes
After our awesome Beijing adventures, we sent Jeff home. Did you catch that? I said we, because Fresca has extended her trip for another two weeks as she tries to decide whether and when to teach here! Jeff and I … Continue reading
Insert Bird Flu Joke Here
My sister Beth, age 6: Why did the chicken cross the road? Me: I don’t know. Beth: To get the Chinese newspaper! Me: *Blank stare* Beth: Do you get it? Me: No. Beth: Me neither, I get the New York … Continue reading
Dragonsocks
My school just acquired two more books for our English library. One is a second copy of Harry Potter 6. Even assuming that whoever bought these books doesn’t read English and only picked the book based on color, what are … Continue reading
The Laowei Secret Handshake
Today is China and my two-month anniversary! Last night, I got a phone call from Cora, another foreign teacher at a nearby school. When I was in England and I met other Americans, we’d laugh about how many potatoes and … Continue reading
You Want Me to What?
When I was preparing to come to China, I tried to learn important phrases in Chinese, like “Thank you”, “How much?” and “Where is the bathroom?” I did not learn “And now your foreign teacher is going to sing Edelweiss,” … Continue reading
