A Cultural Experience

Sometimes the cultural and language barriers make for interesting stories. I (Amber) have a good one to share. A few days ago in class, the teacher I am working with (Juanita) brought an article to class about how death is considered bad luck in China and rarely discussed. As we were discussing the issue, a few of our students became emotional due to a recent loss. One of them opened up and discussed her feelings with the class; however, the other one needed a bit more one-on-one attention. The two of us walked outside the classroom to give her some space and for me to see what was up. From the conversation, I found out that she lost her grandmother and is pregnant. She apologized several times and tried to just blame the pregnancy. To lighten the mood, I decided to ask her when she is due. Her answer? 4 months ago. I immediately realized there had been a misunderstanding and reworded my question to, "When is the baby coming?" Then she responded with a more appropriate answer of December. When I told Jori (one of our teammates) about what happened, she offered an explaination as to why the student answered 4 months ago. Her explaination? The student thought I asked, "When did you do it?" We rolled. And that's my story! hahaha!

In class Jori and I (Katie) were discussing food, and our students confused us regarding the differences between noodles, pancakes, and pie.  In China they are very different from in the US, so we were trying to understand... Jori asked the class, "What is the difference between noodles and pancakes?" Instantly, this one student who had been very quiet all week (we weren't even sure if he was following us) leapt out of his seat and announced, "Pancakes are just like noodles but not noodles!"  He went on to explain, but Jori and I were too busy laughing to hear any further explanation.

The other afternoon five or so of our Chinese students took Amber and Katie out on the town including a journey to a Buddhist temple.  It was under construction so it was hard to see but I think God did that to protect our hearts from being broken in seeing the people worshipping an idol.  The girls didn't know the word for fortune teller, so we called them "special men."  This temple is from the Ming Dynansty and is made entirely out of wood.  It was a fun time of bonding and trying not "to get damaged" aka hit by a car... Chinese drivers make Central American drivers look VERY safe.  In riding in taxis, we have turned directly into oncoming traffic and squeezed ourselves between two oncoming cars, each in their respective "lane."  The ones who beep refuse to stop.

With love,

Us