Wednesday, August 4

I was apprehensive of entering M class (i dun want to name names here) again after my first encounter with them during which I had to let them stand for a good 10 minutes before they could quieten down. They wouldn't answer questions, and seemed to be overtaken by sudden, mysterious fits of hysteria.

But M class turned out to be fun (fortunately for me they were not disposed towards hysterics today). I wanted to be stern, yet often I would catch myself with this small smile playing on my lips, or worse, an outright laugh. I just found them highly amusing, and I like to think they like me too.

M class is the kind of class where u have to walk about pestering them to get their books out and start writing.

So this boy asked me, " Lao shi, wei shen me ni na me kai xin, yi zhi xiao ba le. ni mei you fan nao de mie?" (Teacher, why are you so happy and always smiling? Don't you have worries?)
To which I couldn't help smiling again. So I asked to know what worries he had.
"wo you hen duo fan nao... wo wei qing suo kun a..." (I have many worries.... I'm love-sick....)
I think I snorted and said very solemnly "zhong xue sheng bu shi he tan lian ai" (secondary school students shouldn't fall in love yet)
Both- his friend and him were immediately indignant.
"ni men mei ci jiang dao hao xiang wo men hui gao da ren jia de du zi zhe yang!" (you (adults) always speak as if we will get girls pregnant!"
Then they asked me,
"lao shi ni you mei you nan peng you? ni bu hui wei qing suo kun ma? gen nan peng you chao jia shi?" (Teacher, do you have a boyfriend? Were you never love-sick? Don't you ever quarrel with your boyfriend?)

I laughed, then mustered every serious fibre in my body and came up with a (hopefully) dignified "zhe shi wo si ren de shi qing." (These are my private affairs) to which they gave a collective sigh of dissatisfaction "yerrrr".

I get a bit awkward when kids bow to me (not the full chinaman bow la, just a slight inclination of the head) along the corridors. And I hope I don't fidget too much when they stand to greet/ thank me before/ after classes. It is humbling, this show of respect. I question my worthiness of it; me who had to have the students correct me when I pronounced "ji" as "xi" (i was supposed to teach English!!! but it became Chinese instead ><) Teachers complain that students are so much naughtier and more disrespectful "nowadays", I can't agree more with that. They loiter outside classrooms, run around in class (I was overcome by this extreme urge to GLUE them to their seats in one class) and don't do their work. But I'm just saying that whatever respect and regard offered so implicitly shouldn't be taken for granted. And it is heartwarming when girls come up to you and say shyly "lao shi ni hen mei", and you get all self-conscious to be recipient of their innocent affection.

So these are the nice bits i would like to remember. Not-so-nice bits include waking up, groaning "i don't want to go to school", and snoozing the alarm for the fifth consecutive time. Argh.