Dinner & Dorms [part 1]

Three weeks ago I wasn’t teaching. While everyone else had started class, Miss Laura and I were sitting around, lesson plans our full time job. I was standing in the dining hall, “reading” the Chinese menu. I knew what I wanted, but perhaps if I stood looking at the menu I could convince the cooks that I actually knew what I was talking about. “Ni rou mein” I said to the cook, and I received back an empty stare. “Ni rou mien” I tried again, and another blank stare. “Come on, Kayla, you’ve done this before, how did you say it last time?” A person dressed in camouflage soon appeared to my left. Camouflage screamed freshman, as all freshman undergo military training for a month before school actually starts. I turned to her, her eyes looked willing to help. “Beef noodles?” I said, praying and hoping she spoke English. “Ni rou mein!” she told the cook for me. Bingo.

“Thank you, thank you! Xie xie!” Humbling experience #265 with my terrible Chinese.

She was hanging around. Obviously because she knew “beef noodles” she had to speak more English, right? 

“Do you like university?” I asked. There was a pause, her eyes rolling to the upper right corner as she was processing my question.

“No, I don’t like. Too much…” she began to march.

“Ah, you do not like military training?” her eyes glazed over: that question was too hard. “Uh… what is your major?” Her eyes rolled up again, her face began to blush

“I…I…”

 “What will you study?”, trying to phrase the question differently.

“English”, she said.

“A freshman English major,” I thought, “she could be one of my students.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed “I am an English teacher! Wo shi ingwen laoshi!”

Another blank stare, and a blush.

“Ni rou mien!” shouted the cook.

“Ni rou mein” I repeated. I went to grab my noodles, when I turned around, she was gone.

A few nights ago was the first time Miss Laura and I went out to dinner with our students. Actually, we were joined by all of the female teachers from team. We were meeting these students outside of our dorm. Six o clock came. “Catherine, Cosmo!” Miss Laura said, “ it is so good to see you!” I have had these girls in class…once, a week prior, and only for two hours, surrounded by 30 other faces. {Thank you, Miss Laura for helping with the names.} One of the two girls took a step closer to me, our faces six inches apart.

“Miss Kayla, you remember me?” she said in a playful tone.

“Yes, you are Cosmo!”. Her eyes got big and round.

“Nooooo!” she said playfully, waving a pointer finger for emphasis. “Beef noodles!” The puzzle was complete and a huge smile spread across both of our faces. “Of course I remember” I said. “My Chinese is very bad.”

“Yes, I know”. We all busted into laughter and started our way to the dining hall.

Throughout dinner, Cosmo and I talked and giggled. With only two weeks of teaching, it was possible to carry on a semi-steady conversation (if that’s not an accomplishment, I don’t know what is).  I corrected her English, she corrected my Chinese. We exchanged opinions about dance, American fashion, and dreams. Like two silly girls, we caused distraction after distraction from our corner of the table, talking jibberish and exchanging facial expressions. “I think we will be good friends,” she said. “I am only this outgoing around my friends.”

Our conversation continued to pop dancing, lock dancing, and the generational gap between parents and child [woah hold up: these students can’t answer a question about their major, but can talk about a generational gap between them and their parents?! Somethin’ doesn’t add up]. Cosmo's face came within an inch away from me. “Miss Kayla, I have a secret” she whispered.

“What is it?”

“I love you.”

We both pulled away at the same time. Her eyes were wide with sincerity with a slight twinkle.

"I love you, too."

New friends.