The end of a class

Last Wednesday night I went with my level 3 class to dinner because they asked me to go and I said yes; not realizing at the time that they really don’t speak that much English and my Chinese is pretty minimal. Luckily my Chinese co-teacher Rose, went with me, but the students put us on opposite sides of the table, so that took away my ability to have a translator.

Teachers are granted a lot of respect in China. The importance of education cannot be underestimated. Small children (7 or 8 years old) attend classes on Saturday and do homework for 3 or 4 hours a night. My students are all adults, but they work a full day and then come in for a three hour class two nights a week, or they give up a Saturday or Sunday to study. It is impressive.

These students were a special group that really seemed to like each other and it was such a great thing to see them in their element – in control of the situation. One of the younger students (he is 24, Tony, same name as my brother) took charge of most of the ordering and it was so neat to see him so in charge. He ordered a fish dish and they brought him the fish live in the bucket to see and he just nodded that it was fine and they cooked it. I was sitting next to him and I’ve never had that happen before, but it was normal for him.

I ate duck and fish and tofu and vegetables and bamboo shoots and salad and soup and shrimp and ribs and.... there must have been over 15 different dishes by the time we were done. Luckily my chopstick skills are now pretty good so I didn't embarrass myself in front of my students.

During the meal I started thinking about these people. In the states they would be my coworkers, my friends, my colleagues and here they were my students. They are engineers and doctors and secretaries and salesmen. Some of them were older than me, some the same age, a few younger. We probably would be friends. Someday when I work internationally they could be my colleagues.

The evening ended. Two things I learned –
1) Chinese dinners last a long time – this one was over three hours
2) Don’t play drinking games when the person explaining the rules does not speak much English – it’s a deadly combination.

The next morning I learned another Chinese word – the word for hangover.
Q – Any interesting foreign dinners in your past? Please share.

ps - If I get emailed a copy of the class picture we took, I will post it.