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This year, I am given a lively bunch of high school girls to teach. Often times, they ask me marginally related questions during class. I remember one time, out of the blue, one girl asked me how would she know she had this much money in the bank. Does that mean the bank can bring out this much money at all times? They are just getting curious with many worldly concepts. However, many still are quite abstract to them. Although we are not in an economic class, I decided to spend 10 minutes to talk to them about the history of money and the current monetary system. In this sense, I like their free style questions very much. On the other hand, they are much harder to manage for me to keep a fast pace for the teaching.

This week, our usual side-tracked questions are related to food. After the usual questions such as “do Chinese people really eat dogs”. (well, the answer is certainly affirmative.) I added that we don’t really like to eat cats. I saw the signs of relief showing on their little faces. I decided to add the comment that it was because cat meat was not very tasty. This started another round of Ews, Yuks… To shock them further (I like to use the shocking method in class to enhance their Chinese impression. It’s been working very well so far.), I told them how in some places people would eat live monkey brains at the table. I went further to describe the setting and the details. The girls were totally appalled. At last, they asked me how would Chinese people feel about American’s eating habits. This is very interesting to me because this means that they are quite open to view things in different perspectives. I would certainly utilize it to the max and therefore, I chose the more extreme answer. I told them that to some Chinese people, they felt sad about the American’s eating habits. Because the world is so large with many resources, but the American people are extremely limited with their food choices. Some girls left the classroom with a thoughtful look, others simply stated that they would rather be limited in food selection than being cruel.

人常常在有挫折﹐或者有打擊的情況下才會反省自己的人生。對於我﹐2007年這個開端並不是一個令人振奮的起始。更貼切地來說﹐很多時候我都不盼望第二天的到來。這些煩惱幾乎都是與我的工作有關。繁忙的工作壓力再加上一連串的波折與失敗使我重新考慮我的做人原則。

我生來就是一個比較熱情的人。如果是自己認定的事情﹐一般都會全力投入。加上從小家庭教育的灌輸﹐使我很容易相信對方。在處理房地產買賣時﹐這些做人的基本原則卻使自己一而再地受到傷害。

由于房地產買賣牽涉到人們一生中最大的金錢交易(對大多數人來說)﹐人的本性就赤裸裸地展現在我的眼前。而我很失望地發現﹐在這種情況下﹐大部份的人只顧他們自己的利益。在一番搶奪之後﹐如果協議取消﹐最大的受害者是我。因為﹐買賣雙方的損失僅限於投入的押金而已。我則已付出太多的時間﹐金錢與勞力﹐最後一分錢也沒有。世界上還有什麼工作會事先免費地做好幾個月甚至於一年﹐最後還是不一定有收入﹖﹗

而令我更痛苦地是﹐在我一心一意為客戶服務的同時﹐如果情況一有不利﹐我的客戶立刻會懷疑我的能力與動機。我的另外一個發現就是在這個社會上﹐人與人之間的信任關係是建立在互惠的基礎上。這種互惠關係一有動搖﹐信任也就瓦解了。對一個人的絕對性地信任已經是過時的。

如果我要提高自己接受打擊的能力﹐首先我就必須控制自己不能全面投入我的工作。這樣才能在有危機時及時把自己從中拉出來。第二﹐在認清人與人之間的關係同時﹐採取同樣的方式建立關係。這樣﹐失望才不至於發生。可是﹐這樣的改變非常難﹐並且我並不認同這種人生原則。

這幾個月除了需要在實質工作中處理種種麻煩事﹐更重要的是我在煩惱﹐躊躇-要不要改變自己。

There are many perks associated with being a teacher.

To me, one big perk has to do with the close proximity to knowledge (academic knowledge). Some times, after being soaked in life for too deep, it is a good thing to take one’s perspective out of life to look at pure knowledge for a little while, enjoy or contemplate to one’s delight.

It is a nice way to balance one’s life. That’s why I chose to accept this teaching position.

Tomorrow is one fine example of that.

Tomorrow is “Pocket a Poem” day. Everyone were to bring their favorite poem in their pocket (they ought to have a pocket). Then if being asked, they have to read out their poem to the other person and then exchange the poem. The first person writes his/her name on the poem. With each exchange, the next person adds on to the name list. At the end of the day, the English department (the originator of this idea) will collect all the poems redistribute back to the original owner.

I didn’t even think twice and wrote out my favorite English poem. It’s been with me for years. I’ve read it in English, in German… sang it… I still like it very much. Here it is (a preview for my readers!):

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

Why do I like it? Because it is different than the other love poems during that time. It is a very cool side of Shakespeare which is almost comical to me…

Work has been very busy this past month. So busy that fun is hard to come by.

One of the transactions I am currently working on involves a house that’s way in the burb. Driving to this town takes at least 45 minutes from my house in the city, and entering the town feels like entering a national park - tall pine trees, small winding roads, jaded lakes… very charming (if you don’t mind the drive).

The trade off (in addition to the long drive, yet also a very practical matter) is the house has private well and septic system.

Private well seems like a cool idea, in the modern days, if one wants to be self sufficient, sweet well water sounds good! In addition, it is also terrorist-safe. In this country, every public service can be threatened by terrorist attacks. You can be 99% sure that terrorist won’t harrass your private well water to poison your drinking water. In the event of a water attack in MA, you will be the 25% that survives.

Private septic system just does not sound fun no matter how you look at it. Just imagine you have to install a tank somewhere in your yard with a collection of your sh*t which may possibly leak if the system is compromised…

Out of necessity, I have to learn all I can of these two systems for my clients to better service them. My colleague warned me:” you may learn things you wouldn’t want to know!”.

Turn to page 2 of the FAQ for Septic systems from http://www.mass.gov, I came upon this question:” How do I know if my system is having problems?”

Some clues:

• Sewage smells around your system or inside your house    (!!! That’s soooo obvious, and disgusting)

• Backups when you do laundry, take showers, or flush the toilet ( just imagin other kind of liquid coming out of your laundry machine… yuk yuk)

My advice, try to buy a place without a private septic system! Channel your sh*t to the city instead.

讓學生看張藝謀的影片“我的父親母親”。

(本以為﹐塞一部電影給代課老師﹐而我渡假在外﹐會是一件最省力的工作。誰知﹐轉到我的老闆—外語部總管﹐即“指導”要想出系列問題供學生在觀賞時思考。我自己只看過一遍﹐怎麼可能發揮出具體的問題呢﹖當初只是天真地認為女主角的年齡與學生們相同﹐如今又在西方社會如此之出名。

只好擠出兩晚上細看這部電影。結果倒也洋洋灑灑地寫了一頁的“引導性問題”。)

第一日返校﹐問起學生的觀後感。這群女孩就聊開了。

女孩甲憤憤不平地表示女主角在現代人的眼光裡應屬於犯罪份子。

“啊﹐這怎麼講﹖”

“她明明是當今的跟蹤者 (Stalker) 嘛﹗在那條路上跟進跟出的。如果我是男主角就不會愛上她。”

“當時的社會物質上很困難﹐在沒有電視﹐沒有很多東西的情況下﹐又是一個純真少女的初戀﹐你叫她怎麼表達她的愛意呢﹖”

“我不知道﹐總不應該跟蹤別人。”

“那如果是你的話﹐在那個年代﹐你會如何做呢﹖”

一下子﹐每個人自告奮勇地搶答。

女孩甲繼續道“我給他寫Email ”。全班哄笑。“連電視都沒有﹐怎麼會有電腦呢﹖”
甲語塞﹐臉頰通紅。

(這還是個未嘗到愛情滋味的小女孩。)

女孩乙說“那我給他寫信﹐love letters。”又有人大笑“女主角不識字﹐怎麼寫啊﹖”乙猶豫了一下﹐“我也只好跟蹤了。”

輪到丙發言。“我會做很多很多好吃的給他﹐像烤蛋糕啊。”有學生問“如果你碰都碰不到他﹐你怎麼送吃的給他呢﹖”丙圓圓的臉頰顯出紅暈。

我轉向丁女孩“你會如何示愛呢﹖”

“我認為她沒有做錯什麼。她喜歡那個老師﹐她又不可能做很多別的事情。只能遠遠地﹐在老師出現的地方看他。我要是她一定也會這樣做﹗”說完還很有把握似地抬了抬頭。

全班又笑了﹐有人問道“你是不是就這樣認識你的男朋友的﹖”