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!
And it's up!
a serious discussion going on here
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:
I found a little park near my apartment this week where I could study and enjoy being outside. Because the heat was turned off a couple weeks ago, my apartment is often cooler than outdoors, so I go out to warm up! Every day that I went to study there, there were 10-15 kids under the age of 3, and it was fun to people-watch as I studied Chinese. 
For each child, there was at least one caretaker, often a grandma, it seemed. If it wasn't the grandma watching the child, it seemed to be the mom, though it wasn't uncommon to see a grandpa, either. Many brought little stools down from their apartments to sit at eye-level with their baby in the stroller, or to have a place to sit other than the cement benches surrounding the area. Clothing usually doesn't show the sex of the child, so a common question was, "Is it a boy or a girl?" Sometimes the question wasn't necessary, if the baby was sitting in a position with the split pants open enough for the observer to tell! In the picture below, you can kind of see the split pants of the baby that is lying down.
The adults talked amongst themselves, not shy at all (they seemed to know each other from that same setting, and I did notice many of the same people the days that I went), and often the topic of conversation was the child. I read in a Chinese newspaper today (written in English, my Chinese characters aren't that good...yet!) that the average family in China has 2.9 members, which means that if one set of grandparents live with the family, which seems to be common, there are 4 adults for each child! This factor causes Chinese family dynamics to be very different than American family dynamics, I think.
This intersection is just down the street from my apartment - I cross it every day on my way to class. Big intersections have stoplights, and a few round-abouts exist as well, but this one (2 lanes crossing 4 lanes), along with many others, is small enough it doesn't 'need' any traffic signals. No stoplights, so cars, bikes, people all just squeeze their way through, often with a little laying on the horn. When riding my bike, I've learned how to use "blockers" - the cars, trucks, or buses, often taxis, that aggresively drive through the intersection, allowing me to ride with the oncoming traffic on the other side of the blocker. At this particular intersection, and many others, most of the time I am able to cross without ever having to stop or put my foot down!
Filling up the bubble
Ready to join all the Chinese kids
Trying to stand...
success! (for a split-second)...
...and failing
I loved it - such a strange sensation of being enclosed in a ball - on the water! I felt like I was the 10 year old again, giggling when I fell and trying unsuccessfully just to stand.
