Negativity moé l'sac!

Ok, maybe my last post seems to be negativist and implies that I just want to give it all up, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I still fucking love it here, teaching is not easy and not always grateful, but some aspects make it so worthwhile!

Two days ago, my friend Oliver asked me to go to the English Corner with him and a few other foreign teachers. English Corner is an activity organized by the senior students and held every Thursday night to give an opportunity to the students to participate in English language activities. So basically, it was 2 full hours of just me standing there, surrounded by a plethora of students who wanted to become my friend and take pictures of me. They asked me every question possible about Canada, NBA basketball, my tattoos, my opinion of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, whether or not I have a girlfriend, and other topics of common interest for Chinese people. Even if their enthusiasm was smothering me, as they were trying to discuss with me all at the same time, they made me feel very important and welcome, as cliché as it sounds. So even if I feel desperate sometimes when things do not go as planned in the classroom, the vast majority of students I interact with are actually eager to learn and very cool.

I must have been taken in picture around a thousand times that night, mostly by little girls giggling and blushing when I made eye contact. One of them even asked me my Chinese name, and when I told her that I don't have one, she named me 刘涛涛 (Liu Tao Tao). From now on, everybody has to call me by this name.

Oh and one last thing: yesterday I was on TV! The details will follow later.

Sincerely,

刘涛涛