The Wang's Speech

Within the last two weeks, we have acquired a “U.E.1.3.” (say this aloud and you just said friendship forever in perfect Chinese) relationship with a high school English teacher. His name is Leo, although the zodiac characteristics of a Pisces portray him much more accurately. He is a very caring person whose personality resembles one of the reoccurring characters from CBS’s “Touched by an Angel.”  You would not expect Leo’s soft and gentle demeanor to lead you into a bold or venturous situation, but in our short time of hanging out with him, we have learned to expect the unexpected.

The first time meeting Leo, like all of our experiences with him, proved to be a great day. He took us to an extraordinary Buddhist temple and a scenic park that had similar canopy to the film “Jurassic Park.” He asked if we would be willingly to come to his high school to give an English presentation to which we enthusiastically agreed. Two days later, we were picked up from our apartment and taxied to the school where we were met with troubadours, huzzahs, and flash photography. Incidentally, we arrived at the same time as the mayor of Rongchang who was given minimal attention by comparison. The faculty soon came to the realization that the school only had one large projector and a debate broke out as to which presentation needed it more, the mayor or the foreigners. Kassy and I informed them that we would be just fine without the projector, had we known what was in store for us, we may not have conceded so quickly.

We were under the impression that we might go in and speak to a couple of classes, flash some U.S. currency and smile for a couple of pictures. However, An Fu High School had something else in mind. Leo escorted us to the school’s auditorium where 200+ students eagerly sat with wide eyes and open mouths. The eight windows each had fifteen or so students cramming their heads in. On top of the Auditorium stage an LED Banner screen said, Welcome Shawn and Kassy to our school!  I have not spoken in front of that many people since my fifth grade five minute autobiography on Wilt Chamberlain. I suddenly became very conscious of my stomach and the weakness of my knees. I soon realized our previous plan of showing currency was completely impractical, and without a blackboard or projector our usual English lessons were rendered useless. Leo then came to help set up our microphones and inform us we had an hour to present.

We talked about anything we could think of. How we studied psychology which is more or less mind reading. I made up a story of how the “Adam’s apple” got its name because of a boy who never chewed his food and one day decided to swallow an apple whole which became permanently lodged in his throat. Why American’s are fat. We also demonstrated thumb wrestling, the song head, shoulders, knees and toes, and pinky promises (the pinky is the middle finger in China so you could imagine how comical the concept was, especially while watching two guest speakers give them the bird.) During the question time we were asked to sing an American song, we did a deaf tone duet of “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” We smiled amiably as we answered intimate questions about our relationship.

Just like a UPS postal worker, we delivered. If you were to ask the teachers and students how our improvised speech ranked, they would claim it was comparable to the Gettysburg Address. We have been given an open invitation to return as well as asked to judge an English competition next week.

Yesterday, Leo invited us to go on a bike ride to the ancient town of Lu Kong. The bike ride is usually an easy 40 minutes on a well paved flat road so Kassy and I rented out some very cheap dainty rode bikes (high handle bars with baskets in front). Before going to Lu Kong we stopped to see a botanical garden which meant we had to take an alternative route. Poet Robert Frost would describe it as the road less travelled. Not a single section of the serpentine path was smooth or flat. The one gear bike with semi-workable breaks and a seat lower than my knees was over matched by the mountainous terrain. Still with “The Little Engine that Could” perseverance I strenuously pedaled upward each hill until I got to the adrenaline rush of barreling down the steep hills and careening around the tight turns.  The steadfast determination died about half way to Lu Kong as my bicycle started to make tin man like noises (also how my body feels now). We had to walk our bikes up the remaining hills. We got to Lu Kong in a state of exhaustion and only stayed for an hour. By comparison, the paved road we took back felt like biking downstream on a conveyor belt. As with most things I borrow, I returned the bicycle while apologizing for its depreciated value.