Today is my last day of being 22 years old. Silly to be sentimental, but China seems to have that effect on me. :) Because the weather is warming up (yesterday was about 66 degrees! I moved my spoken English classes outside to sit in the lawn while we had class…it was a great lesson!!), today I decided to spend the afternoon on a nice hike through the mountains around my house, giving me time to reflect on the last year in solitude.
I set out and hiked (without Blue Ipod…) through the beautiful forest areas that Longdongbao has to offer (once you get past the coal mines) and was trying to reflect on the past year in a positive way, but negative thoughts kept popping into my head. Suddenly, I felt that I was no longer alone. I glanced behind me and realized I was being followed by three people, all middle aged, a man and two women. Considering it's common to run into people no matter where you go (even remote mountainsides), I decided to ignore them in hopes they just happened to be passing me by. Before I knew it, however, they caught up to me and asked me if I was afraid of being alone (this is a much less creepy question in Chinese than it sounds in English, I promise). I laughed and told them I wasn't afraid and before I knew it I was engaged in a conversation on the differences between American and Chinese women. In spite of my persistence that I wasn't afraid, however, this family (a married couple and sister-in-law, I soon discovered) insisted that they could not let their "foreign 'girl' friend" walk alone and that they would escort me through the mountainside. And they did. For two and a half hours.
At first, I thought their presence would annoy me. I was just waiting for the moment where they'd ask me to teach them English, or teach their children English, or speak English with them, but they didn't say a word of or about English to me the whole time (usually, if someone wishes to speak with me, it's to help them "improve their oral English" or to "teach their child oral English"). They genuinely were out for my safety and decided to show me the best places to hike. They even took me to a gravesite for people who recently died in the snowstorms Guizhou had during Spring Festival. They also took me to a monument that was built for a female English doctor who helped the Chinese during the Japanese invasion (these are in Longdongbao! Who knew?!). They were, seriously, so nice! And the married couple serenaded each other singing duets (singing without shame is common in China—everywhere you go people sing to themselves, even when they're walking alone on a busy street—but a duet while hiking was something new) about the beautiful flowers that were starting to blossom all around us. It was such a peaceful day!
After a beautiful, long hike, the day came to an end and I parted with my newfound friends. Upon returning home, I decided to go ahead and start grading my journals that were turned in this week. As homework, I have my students keep a "therapeutic journal" in English; I do this because Chinese suicide rate is the highest per capita (mainly students and women), it's not common to talk about your feelings, and I believe talking about one's feelings is (of course, important) easier to do in a foreign language, especially in writing, so I have them write and hand in a journal once every other week where they can talk about anything. If students choose, they can write "DO NOT READ" at the top, and then I will respect their privacy and only grade them on completion. The journals, actually, have been an OUTSTANDING success, as students have used them to unleash their deepest life secrets (some are REALLY difficult to swallow…they've definitely been through a lot more than most Western college students…) and they all write that they want me to read and know their truths. It's been nice, and I think it's been beneficial for them, but tonight I got a journal that I want to share (mainly because I want to keep it, but since I have to hand it back, I thought I'd publish it on here). This is from Clara, a second year student:
Dear Ms. FeiFei,
Maybe this journal is more like a letter, but anyway, I just want to tell you something in my heart.
Do you know it? In all of students' eyes, you are really a excellent teacher. In fact, we not only take you as our teacher, but also a close friend. We all love you so much. Your happiness, your patience, your humour and your beauty. Oh, you are an perfect person in my heart. You know, Renee and I both think that you could be a super star of Hollywood. I like your hair, your eyes and your style. In a word, you are a nice teacher. When we face you, we needn't be nerve, just do our best as we can. Granted that we are wrong, you always teach us again and again with soft voice. Tonight Tessa, Renee and I came to your apartment to practice our oral English. We feel so great. Haha. I love your second bed (**explanation** I have my spare mattress in my living room with lots of pillows that I use as a couch and they thought it was cool), but I love you more.
Two years later, perhaps I also will be a English teacher. Everyday I will teach my students to sing the ABC song. I know, teaching is a dull job sometimes, but I want to be a good teacher indeed. So I am eager to be one like you. I hope all my student love me just like we love you. However, I know it impossible. As a mater of fact, my ideal is not teacher at beginning. Psychologist is my dream. But my parents hope me to be a teacher and then I love English, therefore I choose English as my major. The person who made me want to be a psychologist is a reporter of CCTV. Her name is Chai Jing. She is the first woman except my mum who have a great effect on my life (**I made them think about "influential women who are not your mothers" for International Women's Day, something they hadn't done before**). Maybe next time I will tell you something about her and the reason why she effect me a lot.
Finally, I want to tell you it again. Miss FeiFei I love you very much!
Now isn't that sweet? What a nice way to end the last night of my 22nd year. :)
Goodnight!
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