Mango the Waixingren on Display

So, I have a correction to make from the last post – we only teach three times a day (9:00 AM, 11:00 AM, and 5:00 AM), which actually gives us a lot of free time.

Generally, my classes tend to be younger kids. Yesterday, I even had four year olds, who were really adorable but entirely not what I was expecting. The younger kids tend to be more challenging in some ways but also a lot of fun. Their teacher basically ran the class and I helped out. For instance, she would ask them to recite a line in English and if they got it right, they could come and give me a hug or a kiss on the cheek, which was really cute. Of course, they also liked calling me 外星人 (waixingren), which means alien. More commonly, kids tend to call me Mango because they have a hard time with the r (besides, Mango is an easy English word for them because the Chinese word is Manguo). Anyways, it’s a fun nickname.

I’ve been trying to avoid using too much Chinese with the students, because I feel like sometimes they know more English than they initially let on. However, I feel like they get more talkative with me and more confident with English once they see that I know some Chinese.

You know how I keep having very random experiences that sort of spring upon me when I’ve though I’d settled into a familiar routine in a place cut off from that sort of strangeness? Well, it happened again yesterday.

A woman accompanied by a little boy suddenly came into our room and walked up to me, asking me, “What’s your name?” I took off my headphones, clicked out of facebook chat, and answered, “Uhhh, Margaux.” She told me to follow her, without explaining why. I traded questioning looks with the others, before leaving the room silently.

I asked her as we waited for the elevator why she wanted me to follow her. Her English was not very good, so she explained in Chinese. I didn’t quite grasp what she was talking about.

We got to the entrance of the school, where registration takes place. It’s generally crowded by parents and kids, who wait in line to talk to the teachers staffing the computers they use to register students. The woman I’d be following gestured me towards one of the teachers, Candy, who I’d met before.

Candy explained they wanted me to just sit out in the front so that parents could see a foreigner was teaching at the school. Ironically, I was missing class in order to sit out there. I sat there for about an hour and a half, mostly just talking to Candy. Eventually, I was allowed to leave, but honestly, it was very strange…

Also, tried to play Left for Dead at an internet bar with Josh and Al. Failed miserably without anyone around to set up and lead the game…darn. On the way back though, we met a British expat whose been living in Mianyang for years now. He owns a restaurant bar close by (with burgers!!!), so I’ll probably be going there sometime soon.