Resident Alien - A blog about my life in China

First of all this lunch that two of my students insisted on treating me to was completely unnecessary. All I did was recommend and copy some songs from my computer to their mp3 players… and in their eyes somehow that simple task needed to be reciprocated with the complexity of a lunch. Sure, it was just at one of the dining halls on campus, but still I do not think my reward justly or accurately reflected my actual actions. The proportions were definitely a bit skewed. But whatever, I wasn’t complaining and I was happy to have lunch with them while getting to know two students a bit better. Oh, and my girlfriend at the time, Jane, was also invited to lunch.

The four of us sat down together and mused over the menu for a few minutes. We eventually settled for 宫保鸡丁 Gong Bao Ji Ding,糖醋里脊 Tang Cu Li Ji,松仁儿玉米 Song Ren’r Yu Mi,地三鲜 Di San Xian and four large bowls of rice. Everything was delicious, and not just passable like most of the dishes I had previously “enjoyed” so I asked them to write down the names of the dishes using both Chinese characters and pinyin. Continue reading "Cultural Misunderstandings - Wo Bao Le!"

Continue reading "Simple But True. "

2:10 P.M.
I’ve abandoned all hope of making it back on time. I try reassuring myself that Jane will take care of everything for me, but I have difficulty calming down. My heart is still racing, whereas the damn bus is still crawling. The girl and I exchange nervous glances like we both want to say something, or we both perhaps feel the need to be polite and force some conversation. Luckily we have the excuse of an insurmountable and impassable language barrier and leave it at that. I feel like it would be rude to close my eyes now, so I just sit there staring ahead blankly. I appear calm, but inside I’m going crazy worrying about my movie class.

I hope my students don’t think I’m lazy, indifferent, irresponsible or whatever else. I reassure myself that once I explain what happened to them face to face they’ll understand. It doesn’t work that well though; I still have a burning desire to get back to the campus as soon as possible. I had a flawless record. I never missed any classes, and I was never late. The only time I didn’t remain in the classroom for the entire class period was when the FAO scheduled the annual health exam in the middle of one of my classes. I still attended for the first half an hour before excusing myself to face those needles. I didn’t want such a mark against my immaculate reputation, but I was completely helpless. Continue reading "Traffic, Meal, Class - pt2"