I just had a lovely, lovely, lovely weekend, three days immersed in Mandarin, with the best food on the face of the earth. I'm so bursting with beautiful memories, it's hard to pick and choose what to share.
I have known these folks for a LONG time, and I always find it amazing that although their culture is completely dominated by SJ thinking, that they completely accept me and my silliness, and my use of metaphors (which they call riddles). They even tolerate me calling the adorable Pikingese "Buddha." The first night while they were doing prayers, and you could hear them counting out the hundred bows, I was in the next room counting along "Yi Er San Si Wu" and sort of bounce dancing with the dog, when one of them suddenly came out and looked at me sooooo confused. I threw him an innocent look and stated, "The Buddha and I are praying." I figure if they can actually tolerate that (instead of being insulted) then they are wonderful people.
We watched an outrageously funny movie about a friendship of three boys in Singapore who had been placed in special education. Chinese culture admires academic success to the point of obsession, and much of the movie was about the suffering these boys endured simply because they had difficulty with math. Afterwards one of my friends gave a class to the adults regarding the elements of the story. And then suddenly (sheesh they always do this to me) she said, "Grace is a teacher too. Maybe she can teach from American point of view." Now, my class was really for the adults, but I wanted the adults to be taught by the kids. So I asked all the children to come sit on the floor with me in a circle. (They are darling, I have nicknames for every one of them, My Princess, the Boychick, etc.) I said to them, "Remember I am a different kind of teacher. Instead of listening carefully to the teacher for the answers, I will ask you questions. and I will listen carefully to your answers. There are no wrong answers. The only failure is not to try." The children then proceeded to pick out the virtues of each of the three boys; they were awesome! Then I asked them, "Who is the Buddha in the movie?" now THAT caused a stir among the adults because they had watched the movie many times and had never considered that one of the characters might be a Buddha. But the children knew right away that it was the new teacher, because she could spot the good in everyone. Out of the mouth of babes!
I visited my trio of girls who email with me -- we share books. It is such a heavy burden on these children, to be the second generation of immigrant families; they are responsible for translating all the mail and notifications for their parents. The parents asked me to teach them better English. I told the girls, "Don't tell your parents, but we are going to have so much fun." So we read, read read read read, and then when we are done reading, we read some more!
And... I got a new piano student, whom I have nicknamed Grasshopper. I have never, EVER met a person with such a hunger for mastery. He wants to play everything perfectly yesterday. I taught him the C scale to start, and this kid practiced it for almost two hours! OMGosh I know *I* never had that much discipline! The other adults were like, "Well yes he puts his heart into what he chooses, but he neglects his responsibilities in the process." I simply stated as gently as possible that he is going to be a master someday, that whatever he chooses to do, he would leave us all in the dust.
Do you see why it amazes me that they tolerate me? LOL
I have known these folks for a LONG time, and I always find it amazing that although their culture is completely dominated by SJ thinking, that they completely accept me and my silliness, and my use of metaphors (which they call riddles). They even tolerate me calling the adorable Pikingese "Buddha." The first night while they were doing prayers, and you could hear them counting out the hundred bows, I was in the next room counting along "Yi Er San Si Wu" and sort of bounce dancing with the dog, when one of them suddenly came out and looked at me sooooo confused. I threw him an innocent look and stated, "The Buddha and I are praying." I figure if they can actually tolerate that (instead of being insulted) then they are wonderful people.
We watched an outrageously funny movie about a friendship of three boys in Singapore who had been placed in special education. Chinese culture admires academic success to the point of obsession, and much of the movie was about the suffering these boys endured simply because they had difficulty with math. Afterwards one of my friends gave a class to the adults regarding the elements of the story. And then suddenly (sheesh they always do this to me) she said, "Grace is a teacher too. Maybe she can teach from American point of view." Now, my class was really for the adults, but I wanted the adults to be taught by the kids. So I asked all the children to come sit on the floor with me in a circle. (They are darling, I have nicknames for every one of them, My Princess, the Boychick, etc.) I said to them, "Remember I am a different kind of teacher. Instead of listening carefully to the teacher for the answers, I will ask you questions. and I will listen carefully to your answers. There are no wrong answers. The only failure is not to try." The children then proceeded to pick out the virtues of each of the three boys; they were awesome! Then I asked them, "Who is the Buddha in the movie?" now THAT caused a stir among the adults because they had watched the movie many times and had never considered that one of the characters might be a Buddha. But the children knew right away that it was the new teacher, because she could spot the good in everyone. Out of the mouth of babes!
I visited my trio of girls who email with me -- we share books. It is such a heavy burden on these children, to be the second generation of immigrant families; they are responsible for translating all the mail and notifications for their parents. The parents asked me to teach them better English. I told the girls, "Don't tell your parents, but we are going to have so much fun." So we read, read read read read, and then when we are done reading, we read some more!
And... I got a new piano student, whom I have nicknamed Grasshopper. I have never, EVER met a person with such a hunger for mastery. He wants to play everything perfectly yesterday. I taught him the C scale to start, and this kid practiced it for almost two hours! OMGosh I know *I* never had that much discipline! The other adults were like, "Well yes he puts his heart into what he chooses, but he neglects his responsibilities in the process." I simply stated as gently as possible that he is going to be a master someday, that whatever he chooses to do, he would leave us all in the dust.
Do you see why it amazes me that they tolerate me? LOL
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