Today was one of those days that leaves you laughing with tears in your eyes thinking, ‘that just happened…and am I crying because I’m sad or because this is so hilarious I’m crying, or both??’ Gosh, where to start?
This morning started with training for the speech contest that we are working on Sunday. It was very informative and to the point. Good. My favorite part was when we were reading the questions we will prompt the speakers with. In the college section under the category of love was, “If a friend asked you for advice on how to find a love partner, what kind of advice would you say? How romantic do you think men/women in Macau are? What could be done to make them more romantic?” haha. What?
Next came a dim sum welcome lunch with the Xin Jiang teachers that are training here. Dim sum can be summed up as more snacky/simple foods. Although it was a full meal, it was more finger food type of dishes, only in the Chinese style—so dumplings and such. Very good.
The Amazing Race: Macau style came next. I helped the teachers start, but had to duck out early because of my class of second graders. Apparently the race went longer than expected, was revamped, but I heard from Lauren that the teachers seemed to enjoy themselves.
Meanwhile, I was teaching 58 second graders in a classroom big enough to hold that many people, but not to move. Second graders who do not speak a language fluently (and therefore cannot understand instruction) need room to play games and wiggle and dance to creatively learn the language in different usages. AHHHHH. No worries, I still have hair. It wasn’t so bad, I just couldn’t do what I intended to do, so I had to revamp the lesson on the spot.
The story is that they offered parents this after school program with a foreign teacher, and all the children’s parents wanted to sign their kiddos up. The admin must have thought, “well, we’re paying a flat rate for her and the parents really love it, why not let all the kids in?” Funny story is that I can finally say, “it’s because I’m white.” And it’s true—it totally is. The parents see a white person and automatically think their children have been promised a life of prosperity. In some ways, it’s disgusting that they attach a skin color to success—even if it means they love me more. (And I know this to be fact about the skin color preference because Ray told me during our meeting with the Cantonese speakers, they commented that I was white and the parents would like that.
My teaching aid today was none other than a Ty Cardinal bird. Imagine that—the bird conquers again (I think that happened last weekend too?) So the bird that came as part of my Senior Dinner bouqet has ‘flown’ around the world to a second grade classroom to teach the concepts of ‘in front of, behind, and near.’ --a splendid little toy that made my students giggle.
After work I came home and read a book I downloaded on my iPad yesterday (for free!). I read 150 pages last night til 2am. You all that know me know this is insane. It’s true. I don’t even know who this author is. Anyway, the point of this blip is that in the story this boyfriend goes off to Afghanistan to fight and dies while this chick who has had everything go wrong in her life (orphaned, abandoned, prostitution, abused, scandal, someone tries to kill her, etc.) is waiting back at home with his child in womb!? Whatttt. And I see at the top of my iPad there’s like 200 pages left!…but stay tuned, there’s more on this theme later.
Tonight we had Italian food, gelato, and went catch a movie. Lauren had heard they were showing One Day (an American movie with Anne Hathaway) at the Macau Cultural Center. We were running behind, so rather than walking, we caught a cab to go not that far. When we got in the cab, the man looked at us and asked if we were working. Here’s the thing with the variety of accents and levels of English here: sometimes r’s and l’s sound similar. What I believe he meant was ‘are you working,’ but what Lauren heard and answered to was ‘are you walking?’ She said yes. I thought—no, no, we’re not working. Working, as in prostitution. So of course the 3 of us girls are giggly about something (who knows what) as always, and he thinks we’re not only prostitutes, but drunk prostitutes. “Oh, you have been drinking beer and whiskey.” Lauren responds, “no, no, have you been drinking beer and whiskey?” He then stared toward Athena in a weirdly curious way with her next to me in the back seat. When we arrive (it was literally like a 5 minute cab ride), we pay him, and as we’re exiting he says in this weirdly sexual voice ‘mmmmm, so beautiful.” Creeper.
So then we get to the cultural center (reward for the weird cab ride, right?). No. The movie is actually at a theater that isn’t that far of a walk away, but we’re already late. So we walk until we catch another cab to come back where we came from. This guy misunderstands us slightly and tries to take us back to the cultural center (even though Nancy told him in Cantonese)…we finally get there. The movie is maybe 10 minutes in. Looking back I’m glad the movie was 10 minutes in. The movie wasn’t bad in the way of not keeping my attention, it was bad in that everything dreadful happens: the mom dies, the dad fights, the guy screws up his life, the wife cheats, the baby hates, love that doesn’t happen as a side story, the other wife dies. In the end, you’re not even sure what you’re rooting for, but you know that the couple the story was supposed to be about is no more because the chick DIES! I’m like, really—2 in one day?!?! I’d apologize for ruining the movie for you, but really you should thank me because I just saved 1.5 painful hours of your life. I can appreciate the theme, which is to embrace the day you have because anything could happen and you’re not guaranteed tomorrow, but there are MUCH more effective ways to make that point.
At the end of the day, I’m looking back and I’m laughing. Isn’t that the irony of life? Today has brought to my attention and made me extremely grateful for the ones I love, having seen the drama and loss that many people face.
On that note: go embrace the day—you’re not guaranteed this many laughs tomorrow.
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