Last Monday, the start of our second week of teaching, was Teachers' Day here in China! Yippee! We were unaware of Teachers' Day's existence until we were handed cards and flowers upon our arrival to the new campus Monday morning, but it was a nice holiday to celebrate so shortly into our teaching careers. Here are all of my Teachers' Day spoils:
The gold thing is a pomegranate from Ma Jing, to wish us a fruitful year as teachers. The following day, she took us out to lunch and presented us with Teachers' Day cards signed by all of our Highlights students. There was a surprising abundance of the phrase "May you happy everyday," which is probably grammatically correct when you say it in Chinese, as well as a lot of comments about my height and my smile. As usual, some of the most entertaining snippets:
Love me, Love my dog
Love you, Love your class.
Shelby, Happy Teachers' Day!
Everyday is sunshine, yes?
With an angel-like face, a slim figure, your teaching style really fascinates me. Wish you a sweet memory in China! Happy Teachers' Day!
Wow! You really gave me a great surprise! So creative and open-minded as you are. You leave me a deep impression! Your teaching style is really excellent. I'm looking forward to your class. Thank you and Happy Teachers' Day!
You're tall and you're looking so cool! Thank you for giving us so interesting class. We'll support you, we're good students. We'll be friends. Happy everyday!
May you have a good day. Be taller, happier and cooler.
May you happy! Everyday! OK?
And now for the strangest compliment I've ever received:
You're so creative! If you're in China, you'll be regarded as a boy. Maybe a lovely and naughty boy.
Absolutely baffled, I asked Ma Jing what this could possibly mean. She said that boys are traditionally regarded as the movers and shakers in China, the ones who achieve great success and bring honor to their families. And by naughty, my student probably meant something along the lines of "successful" or "hilarious" or some other such adjective. This is either an example of really poor translation on my student's part or really excellent diplomacy on Ma Jing's part.
The gold thing is a pomegranate from Ma Jing, to wish us a fruitful year as teachers. The following day, she took us out to lunch and presented us with Teachers' Day cards signed by all of our Highlights students. There was a surprising abundance of the phrase "May you happy everyday," which is probably grammatically correct when you say it in Chinese, as well as a lot of comments about my height and my smile. As usual, some of the most entertaining snippets:
No comments:
Post a Comment