A Week’s Worth of Short Stories

A Sense of Community: It’s getting to be that time where my Door County community is calling my name and wishing me to be home, which is completely understandable. I have been gone for about six months already and there are many things that have happened during that time. The most genuine and precious moments that have happened while living in China were when I finally felt apart of the community. It’s the type of moment where your friends see you walking on the street and invite you to join them for coffee. It’s when your bus drivers know who you are and where you want to get dropped off. It’s the time in your life when you feel truly capable and comfortable in your skin, even if you don’t understand the language that is buzzing around you. There is an interwoven mixture of my comfortable skin and my audacious attitude that allows me to always realize that there is a potential to turn any normal, comfortable day into an adventure. Coming back to China for the second time around opened my eyes even more to the culture and allowed me to be embraced by the community. There will definitely be a piece of my heart left in Xizhou.

English Corner Success: When I can see their light-bulb “ah-ha” moment flashing before their eyes, I know that I have successfully done my job. It’s the point in the lesson where they are shouting out answers before I even have the chance to write it on the chalkboard that makes me grin from ear to ear. This past week I taught my students the rooms and objects in the house. Bruno kept mixing up the word “mirror” for the word “milk.” Not quite the same, but I knew that he was trying! We “walked” through the house and described everything that was in each room. Every time we had to walk down the stairs to go into another room, I pretended to walk down the stairs and disappear behind the mini-chalkboard. It sounds extremely silly, but it was highly entertaining for my students. After the main lesson, my students had the chance to draw their own homes. Everyone reached for markers and pencils and started drawing. By the end of the lesson, I couldn’t stop two little girls from drawing their homes. They kept saying, “One more color! One more color!”

Earth Shaking: As the tsunami hit the coast of Japan, there was another earthquake that shook our province. With a magnitude of only 5.0, the earthquake wasn’t nearly as severe as what struck the neighboring island. Earlier in the afternoon, my friends in Dali told me about the earthquake in the southern part of Yunnan, which surprised me because I hadn’t heard about it. I couldn’t comprehend the thought of experiencing an earthquake. Wisconsin has seen it’s fair share of weather, but I’ve never felt the “earth move under my feet” like Carole King. Later that night, as I laid and bed and waited for the Sandman to visit, I felt the entire building shake back and forth. It didn’t last too long, but I knew exactly what it was. Minor in many other peoples’ books, but for a person who has never experienced it before, I was making mental checks of the emergency exits and wondered whether or not a down quilt over my head would protect me. I seriously doubt that the fluffy undercoat of a goose would act like a super shield against an earthquake, but at the time, I thought it may help. In the end, there was no harm done to anyone or to the building, and I’m back on solid ground.