White Boy Antics
I have thus far neglected to mention that while I was in Japan, two more twenty-something teachers arrived at ZUCC. They are John and Greg. John has his own site as well, which is morphing into something of a China blog itself. (Side note: there are now 3 Johns among the 16 foreign teachers here, one of whom also has a son named John.) Anyway, they’re great additions to the team of teachers here; the new crew is shaping up to be really good.
The new ZUCC Foreign English Teacher page in now online.
Speaking of new China blogs (yes, an update to the list is coming!), Carl would have a conniption if I didn’t finally mention his new site, which he daily spurns as being “the stupidest blog ever.” It’s about China, though, and it’s not nearly as bad as he claims.
In other news, three of us had a mooncake-eating contest in honor of Mid-Autumn Moon Festival the other day. I’ll leave the details for later. I plan to devote a whole page to it (kinda like the Junk Food Review) if I can ever get the photos from Carl. In the meantime, you can get a taste from the Chinese blog if you read Chinese.
I’ll end this haphazard entry with an amusing incident that happened the other night.
> [Scene: a small Chinese bar]
> Me: You should talk to her. Practice your Chinese.
> Greg: But I don’t have anything to say.
> Me: Well just say something — you need to practice!
> Greg: Actually, I learned a great Chinese sentence today.
> Me: What is it?
> Greg: [I like cake.]
> Me: OK, great, tell her that!
> Greg: What? Why should I tell her that?
> Me: Just do it! It’ll be cool.
> Greg: I’m not going to tell her that!
> Me: Why not?
> Greg: It’s stupid.
> Me: But just do it anyway. Something good will come of it.
> Greg: I’m not gonna do it.
> Me: I’m telling you, something good will come of it.
> Greg: Forget it.
> Me (to her): [He says that he likes cake.]
> Her (to Greg): [Really? My family makes cakes! I can give you some cake, no charge!]
> Greg: [I like cake.]
No, I didn’t know the girl or that her family makes cakes. But that kind of thing seems to happen in China all the time.