Painful Memories

Waking up this morning was a reminder of our 8 hour day of skiing yesterday. My leg muscles hurt, my bum muscles hurt, and my neck and elbow hurt...on the topic of being in pain, I was reminded about a time I had in Beijing. Look below.

Some Cultural Info about the Chinese

Hello my friends,

I've come today to share with you a little tip that will make your lives a whole lot better and your relationships with Chinese people a whole less tense.

And that is this: Chinese people, by nature, are truthfully honest...to the point that it's blunt and hurtful. This is a cultural endowment...however, the extent to which a Chinese person possesses this DOES depend on whether they're recent immigrants. With increased time spent in Western culture, this quality does tend to diminish.

I warn you of this friends because though I am of Chinese descent myself, there are times when EVEN I am offended.

Scenario 1:
I bumped into Adam's mom a few months back. Before even saying hello, the woman greets with me a "WAAAAA...you've gained so much weight that I hardly recognize you." And then without so much as a greeting, she turns away and walks into church with her husband.

Scenario 2:
My dad and mom were talking outside my room this morning while I was still asleep. My dad had said to me last night, "Man, you're getting so fat...I can see it in your face." I ignored this comment of course as my parents frequently make comments of this nature to me. BUT, when I was asleep this morning, my dad said to my mom (outside my door): "Your daughter is getting fat." My mom disagrees to which my dad bursts into my room and yells, "NO. LOOK HERE. HER FACE IS A LIKE A LITTLE PIGGY'S!" He then walks away...and I remain sleeping in my bed.

These scenarios are nostalgic of my high school days where I had occassions of frequent break outs. My dear old Auntie Ibie would never fail to tell me at church on Sunday mornings, "WAAA Ying-Ying. You have a VERY big pimple on your face." Not only would she say this but sometimes she would actually point and say, "There's one right there."

A normal person when faced with these situations would go home and cry or go hide their face. But I of course have a thicker hide since I have grown up all my life to these kind of remarks. And I suggest that you begin to develop one too if you are to interact with the Chinese community at all.

Naomi's Shower...

Below are some pictures of the surprise shower we threw Naomi at Daniela's house on Sat. Feb. 10th.






It was a potluck so these are some of the fabulous dishes we had.






Here is another pic. Can you tell that I love food?










On the left is Naomi's mom. On the right is Lidia...we're laughing cause of the games.







The girls here are playing my laundry game - the test of whether you're housewife material.











Here Naomi is crying about the recipe scrapbook we gave her. (It contained all the meals we brought to the potluck).











Another game we played...it gets funnier.









Naomi's laughing here cause she has to put on some XXXL undies...maybe black wasn't such a good choice when we were at the dollarstore, D. She's wearing a black top.

























And....the final product....sexy bride, isn't she?






Unfortunately, after this event my camera ran out of batteries...so the world can't see the gorgeous wedding gown Krista and I made out of newspaper.

in tribute to a very speciial person...in celebration to the anniversary of his birth

Happy Birthday Ken!

Your friends and family love you dearly! :) Jenn

oh, my Grade 2s!

tuesdays are my practicum days, as many of you know. i returned this week after calling in sick the week prior...and it couldn't have been better. upon entering, one of my students says to me, "why were you away last week, ms. huang?" after explaining that i was sick, another student comes up to me and hands me a card that says "i miss you, ms huang."

it's moments like these that make me reconsider my decision to put teaching on the backburner. once again today, my host teacher hinted that it would be nice if i took over her room and her stuff next year when she's away on mat. leave. while i love the staff and the school, i don't think i'm ready to settle down yet...i'm scared that accepting such a position would make me complacent with my life here. i'll end up settling down and living the typical north american life.

it was funny but at lunch i had an interesting conversation with another staff member. he said that when he graduated, he had all these dreams about travelling the world but he ended up settling down with a nice girl, making mortgage payments and having children. even though his wife and him are both teachers and could find international work easily, his partner won't budge. similarly, i went back to my last host school (malvern) today (to get my principal's reference) and had almost an identical conversation with one of the teachers there.

so my determination to continue on with grad school and to work a few years internationally was confirmed. however, sticking with it will be the hard part. i'll just have to keep telling myself that i'm only 24 and that i have my whole life to teach and to settle down with whatever career it is that i choose...

but visiting malvern today made me a bit soft...i saw the little grade ones i had two years ago who are now in grade 3. they're simply adorable - my favourite student, osama, definitely has a soft spot in my heart...besides being the smallest boy (who was also the brightest kid in the class), his words on my last day made me tear. he said something along the lines: "ms. huang, THANK you for everything you taught us. i learned so much from you and i think you're going to be a GREAT teacher." He was only in Grade One at the time...GRade One!!! I'll never forget that kid. sigh. the joys of teaching sometimes.

Stop being a lurker...

In my recent visits to friends' blogs over these past few days, I've realized that we've all become lazy...we visit each other's sites and read the whole story but are too lazy to comment. We've all become lurkers!! I mean, this is okay to do when you're on a forum...like one of those gamefaqs or anime hits...but this is unacceptable for each other.

We're all friends...how is it that we're become lurkers for each other's sites? Don't we have even a small comment for each other's posts? Like, cool I like your picture. Nah, Naomi don't cry. Or Daniela, write shorter posts, damnit!! Where is the support? HUH?!!