being a plumber.

anyone who is a teacher knows how incredibly annoying it is to lay down at night to sleep and be haunted by a chorus of children in your head still chanting "teacher i'm finished!" or "teacher help me" or "teacher he hit me!" or just "teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeecher!!!!!!!" i can't get rid of this phantom chant in my head!!!! help!!!

sometimes, i feel so bad for my kids. i will ask them to explain something to me, usually something a step ahead of very simple but a notch down from difficult. i watch their faces twist and turn, i can see their little wheels spinning...i can watch the frustration well up inside, jump around in their mouth for a minute or so, and then finally come out only as a loud sigh and an "i don't know teacher, sorry." i know that in chinese they could tell me this perfectly well, easily, fluently (possibly even eloquently). i see myself in that so much! often if i am having a conversation in chinese with someone, i will have to pause and let things swirl around in my head for awhile...first in english, then usually some german or random spanish...then finally i can think of it in chinese. then i have to configure all the tones, and then make sure my grammar is right, and then make sure all the vocabulary is (or is close to) what i mean. by the time i have figured all this out and rehearsed it enough in my head to not be afraid to say it out loud, the other person has usually either fallen asleep bc 17 hours have elapsed or they have finished the sentence for me. granted of course, its not like this so much anymore. now there usually isn't a transition from one language to another; actually i find it more troublesome to translate. i just try to turn off english brain and turn on chinese brain and go from there. this usually means lots of long pauses, SUPER awkward ways of describing things, mixed up grammar, and a really heavy english accent. thankfully taiwanese are nothing if not gracious and kind and have helped me struggle through their language while somehow managing not to laugh in my face. still, nothing quite matches the frustration and feelings of stupidity when someone asks you a question and you know the answer in your mothertounge, but cannot for the life of you say it in another language. i really feel the pain of my students. sometimes i want to scream!!

in other news, i think i may have missed my calling as a plumber. i have no idea how to get a stopped up drain fixed, even in my own country. anyway after about 2309482304 hours of trying to get hold of a proper plumber, i gave up and decided to have a go at it myself. the drain in my shower wasn't working and i was afraid i was going to flood my whole apartment out. so i went to the supermarket to see if i could find something to pour into the drain to fix it. why i wasn't of course already thinking that anything that one can just pour down a stopped up drain and clear it out wouldn't be dangerous i don't know, but i was suprised when i saw a huge skull and crossbones on the front of the bottle. in huge, red, very scary chinese it read "warning: this will burn off your skin if you touch it and maybe even the fumes alone will kill you" or something to that effect. its kind of foreboding in english, right? in chinese, it may as well have said "DON'T TOUCH THIS BOTTLE OR YOU WILL DIE. DON'T EVEN LOOK AT IT OR YOUR VERY EYEBALLS WILL FALL OUT OF YOU HEAD." anyway, i didn't buy it, mainly bc i was too afraid to even pick it up and carry it to the tills. so...i did the next best logical thing. i came home and set to work on that drain the old fashioned way. after about an hour's worth of honest work drilling and screwdrivering and chiselling, i was proud to have been able to turn on the water and watch it go immediately down the drain. the pride i felt at this domestic accomplishment was enormous. i can't believe i am my own plumber.

T-3 DAYS UNTIL FUYUKO OMURA MAKES THE PILGRIMAGE TO TAIWAN.......bakani shinai deyoooo!!! watashino hovercraftwa unagi de ippai desuuuuuu!