Stories

Last Tuesday my assigned homework was to write a story. This is a fairly common assignment, because it allows us to practice using the vocabulary and grammar structures that we are learning in class. Our teacher usually gives us the topic, and then we write the story and read it the next day in class. Tuesday's topic was the Olympics, which didn't have anything to do with the lesson's new vocabulary, but since China's gearing up for 08-08-08, I didn't think much of it.

So Tuesday night, I wrote a story, and trying to be a little creative, I wrote about the Mini-Olympics that my extended family had one summer in Miami. I didn't put much time into it, but used it to review my characters, writing as many as I could remember in the story.

Wednesday when I went to class, instead of reading the story, our teacher wanted us to give it to her to read and correct on her own. Strange, I thought, but dismissed the thought and gave it to her to check over.

On Thursday, I received my little story back with some corrections on it. As I was looking back over it, my teacher explained that there was a writing contest, and she was wondering if she could enter our stories in the contest! I couldn't help but laugh, picturing Chinese judges reading through other university student's stories about the Olympics, and then reading my story, confused as to how a 2nd grader's story got mixed in with the rest of the stories! Well, actually, a 2nd grader's level... that might still be giving myself too much credit. Here's a translation of what I wrote:

"When I was a child, I went to Miami with my family to visit my grandparents. My uncle lives in South Korea, but he and his wife and daughter were also there. Including me, all together there were 13 or 14 people. My grandparents live near the ocean, which we think is very fun. We thought of having our own Olympics. The first competition was the long jump. When it was my turn, I thought: If I run a little farther, and if I run a little faster, I will be able to jump a greater distance. So I continued to back up towards the ocean. Finally, I entered (fell) into the ocean because I couldn't see it, since it was behind me! My uncle decided I lost the long jump."

Wow. To think of that story being read along with other stories in a writing contest about the Olympics! When I told my brother that story, he told me not to cross my fingers in hopes for a victory. No kidding!

Surprisingly Unsurprised

This week I realized there are quite a few things that surprised me when I moved to China 8 months ago, that don't come as a shock anymore. Certainly many of these things still are different and noticed by me, but I'm not stunned by their happenings as much as I was when I first came.

• putting on a jacket to go inside. Seriously, when the heat is turned off, and there are chilly days, it's warmer outside that inside, so I spend most of the day outside, staying warm
• going to 3+ grocery stores to buy all needed ingredients. My basic groceries come from one store, imported groceries from another, fruit from a third, and vegetables from a completely different store as well. Grocery shopping days are long days!
• seeing personal beds in the backs of little shops. There are lots of little shops whose owners live in the actual shop where they sell whatever they sell, so it's not uncommon to see a bed and blankets in the back corner.
• mannequins. The bigger clothes shops, like the ones in malls or outdoors gear shops, etc, have so many mannequins. They used to really scare me when I was shopping, because there are always so many to avoid. Usually they have clothes on, but sometimes, near the store's closing time, that's not even guaranteed!
• friends holding my hand or arm to help me cross the street. A way of showing that you care here is to "help" your friends in "dangerous situations," like crossing the street. I'm quite confident that I could cross the street without holding a friend's hand, and have done so numerous times, but it's not uncommon for a friend to help me cross. Now that I've gotten used to it, I kind of enjoy returning the favor!
  
• guys carrying large feminine bags. One of the expectations that girlfriends have of their boyfriends is to carry their purses for them, so often the girl has nothing in her hands, while her boyfriend/husband is toting a big shiny bag for her.
• fireworks every weekend morning. A funeral, wedding, or a store opening or closing are all causes for firecrackers. Often on Saturday mornings I am awaken by the chain of gunpowder going off, setting off car alarms in the process. The remains of the fireworks are also commonly seen, little red shreds of paper in a pile on the sidewalk. After all, China invented gunpowder, why wouldn't they use it?

firecracker remnants...picture taken from my apartment looking down

I'm sure this process will continue, as I keep living here. It's fun to look back and see how the adjustment into a new culture has taken place, and to look forward and wonder how it will continue!