You Fellow Aged-Ones Can Sympathize

This blog entry may be one many of you choose to skip. It is full not of cultural insights and observations; rather, it describes a blip in my schedule as I spent the day trying to practice my language skills. By the way as I write one of my hosts just brought in a Durian which is apparently a fruit of Southeastern Asia that is quite popular. I never have smelled something so foul. He claims that it tastes wonderfully sweet; but I can't get near enough to try it. Any experience with this malodorous seed-bearing plant?

I'm 39. It should be the prime of my intellectual life. Well maybe not "prime". Actually...now that I think about it, I think that I read somewhere that most brilliant minds produce their greatest works in their twenties and early thirties (and to be clear, I do not include myself in the category of brilliant minds). By the time the human body is on the downslope of thirty, those brain cells are starting to disappear.

So here is the connection my day today: one of my biggest frustrations during my time so far has been the language gap...chasm, canyon. I am certainly surrounded by a number of very proficient English speakers, but Xiamen is not Hong Kong, Beijing, or Shanghai where, I have heard, one has only slight problems functioning without a knowledge of Chinese. Xiamen is not teeming with obvious English speakers. Hence, I have been extremely motivated to get a basic grasp on the language. I have been spending some time each day on my language skills. However, I am no longer a young child with a sponge-like language-proned brain. I spent the day today trying to memorize the Pinyin pronunciation chart...something that looked easy, but proved mind numbingly byzantine...and practice some of my basic phrases. I am sure that many of you may have had the bizarre experience of spending hours studying something only to feel that very little actually stuck...well, that seemed like my day.

The SM: It's Bigger Than It Looks, and It Looks Big

I taught for only a brief time this morning, so after class, I made my way to the air-conditioned comfort of the SM super mall (it is comfortably air-conditioned) just a few blocks from my home. I spent about nine hours at the SM working on basic vocabulary and that dreaded Pinyin chart. Mandarin (referred to simply as Chinese here;people stare blankly when I say Mandarin) is a fascinating language, but some of the sounds are quite difficult and my mind really doesn't have any bearings to grasp it right now. Though as a brief aside, I am proud of the fact that people say that I am pronouncing "xie xie" correctly (that is "thank you") with my tongue held back slightly, the edge take off the end of the "ay" sound and lips not in a full English "sh" state of protrusion...I've received some compliments--I have enjoy the small victories. When I learned my limited Spanish, I started by just attaching new words to the basic English structure; however Chinese has completely different word order and few grammatical similarities. I feel like my brain is simply flailing in some kind of tonal nightmare. I swear that there are several dozen words that are spelled "shi" in Pinyin and simply depend on tone and context for their meaning. Unfortunately, my personality doesn't allow me to simply throw up my hands and say, "I think I will just sail through the next three weeks on English". It is part of my personality disorder.

I have now finished my time teaching the English teachers at #6 and the senior one students. Xiamen Public School #6 all but shuts down this weekend as the students go on their summer break. On Monday, I will start teaching the children of the #6 teachers who have chosen to take advantage of my native English skills to get their kids some summer English practice. It should be quite different than the past two weeks; my sense is that there is a wide range of English skills held by my students to be. This weekend I am heading out on some Xiamen day trips, I will be sure to take pics and post the highlights on Sunday. Hope things are continuing to go well with all of you.

Mark

written by

mflamoe on July 10, 2009 from Xiamen, China

from the travel blog: Xiamen

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Sound like you're having fun so far, Mr. Flamoe!

And I will answer your Durian question... yes, I've had experience with it.. It's a foul smell, I must agree... It tastes better than it smells though. :)

written by Amanda Nguyen on July 10, 2009

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