Earlier this month, there were flag football tournaments going on at lunchtime. Some of the students had been participating at the games. Apparently one of the PE teachers made the students stay late to clean up after the games (at least, they claim that, I wasn't there).

Well, I was sitting in my math classroom and the bell rang. A few students ended up being late. The first said, "Flag football," the second said the same, and so on...Until there was only one person left to come to class. As he was approaching the classroom, our teacher said, "Let's see what his excuse is."

To our surprise, when the boy came in, he said, quite simply, "I was late." My teacher was impressed by this, saying that the boy had taken responsibility instead of shifting the blame to the flag football games and PE teacher.

And then, during another math class, we were reading out the answers. It's usually like this: The first person in a row reads an answer from their homework, and then the person behind them reads the next answer, and so on. Well, it got to one boy and he couldn't read the answer because he didn't have his homework. "Do you have your homework?" asked the teacher. The boy fumbled for a response, but finally he had to say no.

My dad asked me later on if students ever claim that their dog ate their homework when they don't have it. I guess it's not really an excuse that's used nowadays. I mean, it wouldn't be a credible excuse unless someone had a dog in the first place.

Well, anyhow, I was reading a book called When Heaven Fell by Carolyn Marsden. It's about a girl living in Vietnam, named Binh. Her aunt moved to America when she was very young because it was rough in Vietnam at the time. Now that she is 35, she has rediscovered her family and traveled to Vietnam to visit them. But there's a lot of culture shock on both sides. The relatives living in Vietnam expect Di Thao, the aunt who lives in America, to be rich because she is American. And Di Thao has trouble getting used to the lifestyle in Vietnam.

For one thing, a relative asked Di Thao what her age was. Di Thao had said that in America, women didn't reveal their ages, before finally saying she was 35. Binh didn't understand why her aunt was uncomfortable because apparently, it's important to know someone's age so you know how to address them in Vietnamese.

And then the relatives asked Di Thao what she did for a living. She said she was a teacher. "What do you teach? Mathematics? Economics?" asked the relatives. Di Thao replied that she taught art. The relatives were confused about this. "People go to school to learn art? Why?"

The relatives also thought it was shocking that Di Thao was 35 but had no husband or children. As for Di Thao, she was surprised by the toilet, which you have to squat to use (Bleh! Horrible! I saw those kinds of toilets in China. I wouldn't go to the bathroom when there weren't the kinds of toilets that you can sit on).

I've been thinking that I really am very used to the American lifestyle myself. I love spaghetti (but when Binh ate it, she thought it was strange, especially the cheese taste). Our house isn't big, but it isn't so small that we all sleep side by side on the floor. (I think houses are pretty big in the USA compared to other countries. In Europe, things are more petite too) And we are accustomed to not wearing uniforms to school. When Binh saw a photo of an American school, and saw that the students wore plain clothing, she wondered if they were too poor to afford uniforms...In the USA it's usually just the private school kids who wear uniforms. I would like to be able to live in another country - not just visit it - because simply seeing a place for a week or two is not enough to really get a feel for what life is like there.

Labels: america, book, class, culture, different, dog, excuse, flag football, geometry, late, lunch, math, scapegoat, school, shock, sports, teacher, uniform, vietnam, when heaven fell

I think I became a scratching post for cats last weekend or something. Let me start with a bit of explanation.

Lately my dad and I have been going biking once a week, for the purpose of exercise and some good ol' fresh air. Can't do wrong with it. (Unless, of course, you live somewhere very polluted, like China; then maybe you're better off not breathing...) We paid a visit to Hoover Park in my town. I've been there before, but I usually took a different route to get there. You can get to the park by going to the very end of my street and getting to the railroad by finding a gap in the fence. Then, cross the railroad and go up and you'll get to the park. My mom doesn't want me to go in that way since a train could suddenly come, or whatever. Just like this problem about a guy named Bobo that I did last year in math class. (I don't know if this is a true entrance to the park or if someone unofficially made it) The main way to get the park, though, is to go to a different street, and to the very end, and there's the actual sign that says the park name and such.

When we were heading back from the park, I noticed a black and white cat wandering around and so I got off my back. I watched the cat for a while and decided to whip out my camera, which I had conveniently brought should I have a good photo opportunity on the bike ride. I tried to take pictures of the cat, but whenever I thought I had a good position, it (I wasn't sure whether it was male or female, I guess my knowledge of animal genders is rudimentary) kept turning and walking toward me. At first I thought it was going to attack me, perhaps (I know that's far-fetched, but cats don't like me too much. My dad's friend's cat tries to hide its face when she sees me, and another time there was a cat, the cat of my mom's friends, but it was a lazy sort that didn't like people) but then, when it was about to collide with my legs, it would swerve just a bit to the side, so instead it brushed against my pants. My dad said that the cat couldn't reach an itch and so was using me to fulfill that purpose. D: How offensive to be made into a scratching post!

Anyhow, today, one of my friends showed me her Chinese book. She doesn't study Mandarin at school, but she does go to Chinese school, I believe. I am glad that I'm not in Chinese school. Only very recently did my mom tell me one of the reasons why. One reason was apparently because of my dad - he says that he convinced my mom it was not a good idea, though I have no idea if that's true, considering it's my dad. The reason my mom told me had to do with behavior. She said that different cultures can have different views on things, and different ways of doing things. And, well, according to my mom, I was actually in Chinese school for a short time. Apparently there was a woman who needed to pick some other kids and me up to take us to Chinese school. My mom says that the woman was in a rush and she pulled me along too quickly, so I fell and hurt myself. And my mom decided to take me out of Chinese school. So, I guess a good thing resulted of a bad thing. :p

Back to the Chinese book before I forget what I'm supposed to be talking about. To practice for her test, my friend read me a story from her book. It was a strange story. The main character was a guy who had only one eye, no arms, and I think he was missing a leg too. And he had holes in his mouth because he had to write and draw with his mouth (putting a paintbrush in his mouth or something, seeing as he didn't have hands). Then there was another story which she started to read (but she was interrupted by the bell ending brunch) which was about a girl who had only half a brain, or something like that, and she had to get a surgery, and she liked to play sports... (Which I, surprisingly, could understand by hearing my friend read it - I mean, the part about the character liking to play sports) And apparently she got seizures or something. What kind of things do they teach you in Mandarin?! Sounds pretty vicious to me, but my friend says they just write strange stories to make it more interesting. -_-;;

Labels: bike, camera, cat, chinese, chinese school, culture, disability, entrance, injury, itchy, mandarin, missing limbs, movement, park, railroad, rush, scratching post, seizure, story, street

I'm wondering about this since I am always saying odd things to my friends, and then they stare at me, make a comment, or laugh. And sometimes they are scared of me. Such a thing happened today.
Me: *says something disturbing while trying to coach people on push-ups*
NC(initials for her name): Whoa. I can imagine you with a chainsaw.
Me: Well, yeah! I have one in my backyard. (It's true. I have one in the shed or garage. At least, it's a saw of some sort. I actually have no idea what kind. I only know crosscut, back, and hack saws from Woodshop class)
NC: *eyes widen and backs away*
...Don't worry, I don't bite anymore like I used to do in fourth grade, and I couldn't kill someone, I'm not aggressive enough for that kind of behavior. (But who knows. People can turn out...different when they're older).

It is truly almost the end of the school year. School seems the same, yet different. We're on the last study guide in history class (we do a "study guide", which is a worksheet with questions and you have to write down vocabulary definitions, every chapter of the book. There is a total of 35). I feel like we're finishing too quickly. Then again, my teacher says it is because the superintendent thinks all kids are the same, like cookie cutters, so he expects us all to lower our book standards to match the rest of California. I am upset since we are not learning about the south African kingdoms, like the Congo kingdoms. (I mean, I have to say I don't particularly like Africa because it seems like people are dying and starving there right now from lack of food and medical treatment and clean water, but still, I'm curious.) So my history teacher and the district superintendent don't get along too well. Whenever the superintendent comes to our school and goes by Mr. Blair's classroom, then Mr. Blair talks about something scary to drive away the superintendent.

Also, in math we are on the last chapter out of 12 book chapters. I am both happy and unhappy. I look forward to being finished but that means we'll be doing projects instead of regular homework, I think. I don't like projects since you have to work in a group (and as Shiroi Hime says, if your group won't get along well, then you're in a trouble). You might have to give a speech. Even though my mom signed me up for debate class last summer it just made me lose my self confidence even more. And that means that Geometry in eighth grade is looming not so far ahead. I don't feel prepared. I mean, I don't remember what I learned in Algebra that well.

In science, it is THAT TIME OF YEAR. Nope, not Christmas. Not my birthday. Not Friday the 13th. It's "Human Growth and Development". They don't talk about how babies learn to walk or anything. It's about people going through puberty. Mr. Brown didn't say this out loud but the speech he gave before we really started implied that some families and cultures wouldn't like what we would talk about in class. I read on a sheet of paper sent to our parents that they'll be talking about homosexual people this year. o_O;; Well, I'm pretty sure that's what he meant, because my mom said she knows a person who came from China and then had a child in the USA. The son became a gay when he grew older so his parents were embarrassed of him. I know it must seem unnatural and shameful to the parents since they grew up with different values, but apparently in the USA we are all wild animals in a democracy and it is accepted. I heard there was a fun parade for gay people in San Francisco or something. And you may have heard of someone called Harvey Milk, who was gay but was killed by some spiteful person. (This happens to everyone...John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and some other people.)

Labels: africa, algebra, chainsaw, conversation, culture, gay, geometry, hgad, history, homosexual, projects, saw, school, shame, south, study guide, superintendent, textbook

Top ↑