Thursday, July 17, 2008

Sunlight.

A conversation with a student today:

"Your hair...(giggle)...it is so...(waves hands frantically in the air)...what is it?"
It's curly.
"Yes, curly. Is it real?"
Yes, it's real. Is Vicky's real?
"(giggle) (Vicky's English isn't good enough to know that we're making fun of her perm, so she just stares.)"
"Your hair...is...so beautiful. It is...it is like sunlight."

And then another conversation with a student a mere two minutes later:

"What is this? (Points to her eye)"
It's an eye (stupid).
"No, this (runs her finger along the outline of her eyelid)."
Oh, those are called eyelashes (I write on the board and draw an eye with eyelashes, for anyone else who cares to see). Eyelashes are countable but we usually talk about them all together.
"Your eyelashes...are so long and beautiful."
Um...thank you. (Giggle) They've grown very long in China, to keep the dust out of my eyes.
"(An "I don't understand" giggle.)"
(Good.)

I have a visa for three more months, thanks to the miracle of having a school owner who's very well connected. Praise the heavens (?).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your hair is like sunshine Brian, and your long, lustrous eyelashes are like the wheat fields on a dewy summer morning.