I recently began taking Chinese language courses. There is a place called Han Feng that teaches Chinese. It came highly recommended by other foreign teachers. I thought I should use my free time for something constructive, so I enrolled. I have 4 hours of tutoring per week. Additionally, I have joined a 'Chinese for Dummies' class on campus for 1.5 hours a week. I really thought I would enjoy learning Chinese, but when you are the dumbest (or in nice words since I am a teacher, slowest) person in the class it doesn't feel so good. My self-esteem has plummeted. Here is just one of many reasons why:
My friend Merete and I had a class together at Han Feng. The teacher asked me a question in Chinese. Now, you must understand that when someone asks me a question in Chinese they have to repeat it about 3 times before I even understand one word of the question. The teacher repeated the question multiple times, and I began to formulate my answer. I thought the teacher asked, 'What days of the week do you have free time?' I slowly responded, 'Xing...(lapse of time)...qi...yi,...xing...qi...er,... xing...qi...san,...xing...qi...etc., etc. It literally took me about 5 minutes to answer. I was quite proud of myself when I had finished and was congratulating myself on the inside. Then, my friend Merete looks at the teacher and says, 'That is not what you asked her, is it?' ARE YOU KIDDING ME, NOT WHAT YOU ASKED? I spent forever working on that answer. Needless to say, I felt about as small as a bacterium. Pretty damn small. The kind teacher said, 'No, I asked WHAT you do in your free time?' I do not believe the teacher was going to correct me knowing how much effort I had put into my response, but Miss Smarty Pants (Merete) had to crush my sense of accomplishment! So, to sum up- that's how my language classes are going.
By the way, I love my friend Mereta and have to give her a hard time. She is from Denmark and is engaged to be married this summer. She gives me a lot of help with my Chinese.
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Hey, like I said on the phone, you made it through Microbiology! (Every day you said you couldn't and look, you teach it now). Don't fret over Chinese, it has to be tough. Hang in there. You know at least enough to run the washing machine, right? (at least I hope so for your students' sake).
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