Life Lessons While Traveling
My family and I went to Taipei, Taiwan when I was a senior in
high school. My brother had been there for an adventure and to
teach English to school children. I guess I had always thought
of the Chinese people as being very serious. I think I thought
that the only people in the world with a sense of humor were
Americans. I guess I just couldn't imagine what they would laugh
about, it's like nuns. You see a bunch of nuns giggling and you
wonder what they are laughing about; surely not the same things
I laugh about.
Anyway, we got to sit in on one of my brother's classes where he
was to pronounce phrases properly so that the children might
mimic his accent. "Would you like to go to the park?" he said.
The children mimicked him as though they were repeating the
Pledge of Allegiance. "Let's go!"
The children began to mimic, "Let se go, lai tze goa, lai tze
goa!" Incredulous laughter filled the room as the children kept
repeating, "Lai tze goa! Heh heh heh." The Chinese "teacher's
assistant" brought the class back to order.
Later, I asked my brother what was so funny about, "Let's go."
He explained to me that it sounds like how one might say "Drag a
dead dog" in Mandarin Chinese. Instantly, I equated the school
childrens' experience with my own of going to a Chinese
restaurant and seeing egg foo yuk on the menu. "If it's yukky,
why's it on the menu, then?"
Heather
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