Click here to view old videos.Once Upon a Time in China Part 5: The Story of a Mouse
One day, while I was walking home from Yong Xing Middle School in Fuyang, China, a student(not mine, I don’t think) stroke up a broken English conversation with me. She asked me a few questions about America, how I liked China and if I spoke any Chinese. I had been practicing my Chinese for a while and was pretty sure that I could at least say that I was a teacher in Chinese.
I cleared my throat and said, “Wo shi laoshi.” (I think that is how you spell everything.)
Well, as soon as I had finished, the girl crinkled her nose, looked at me, and said, “You are a mouse?” I busted out laughing. I apparently hadn’t been practicing hard enough. 🙂
“No,” I said, “a teacher.”
“Oh,” she said, “laoshi.” She said laoshi very clear and slow, as though emphasizing the correct way to pronounce it.
Before long, we reached the Hangzhou bus station, and we said our goodbyes. I was surprised to find out that she lived in Hangzhou, and that she took the bus to school everyday. Hangzhou is about an hour away from Fuyang. I guess Yong Xing Middle School is just a really good school. I can’t think of any other logical reason a middle school student would travel that far.
I’m glad it was “mouse” instead of “prostitute”. That would really have been embarassing.
March 19, 2008 @ 9:23 AM
@ Lee – I’m sure I said plenty of things to embarrass me in China, and no one ever told me about it. However, Phil was talking to someone and the person told him that either he loved tires or he liked to eat them. I can’t remember.
March 19, 2008 @ 11:58 AM
Hello Gabrielle,
Enjoying retrospectively reading your blogs, particularly in regards to your Chinese teaching experiences as I’m writing to you from Fuyang. I’ve been here for a month now, also as a ‘laoshi’. I was just wondering if you’ve got any tips for must-ses places/restaurants/bars…
March 30, 2008 @ 6:37 AM
Rob,
So my blog isn’t blocked in China? That makes me happy. Well, let me think about the places you’ll have to go while you are there and I will shoot you an email soon. The one place I can think off the top of my head is HuangShan – Yellow mountain – which is about 2.5 hours away from Hangzhou. If at all possible,take a native with you and, and don’t stay in the International hostel in Tunxi(I think that is the name of the city). Instead, stay at one of the hotels across the street from it. The one we stayed in was much cheaper and the beds were better. They won’t speak English or anything, but they’ll understand you need a place to sleep and take your money.
I’ll write that email soon, just let me get better first. I finally got sick. Ick.
March 30, 2008 @ 8:54 AM