English Village is a fake village made up of students from the Foreign Language College, who are forced to man it for 3 hours every Thursday and speak only in English. In theory it's a great idea. There is a bar, a travel agency, a garage sale, food DIY, church, and movie theater where students can practice all kinds of situational English. In reality it's a "spot the foreigner" contest wherein the unlucky foreigners (like yours truly) are mobbed by students who've never seen or talked to an American before and are shaking
with fear as they ask us, "Do you love Chinese food?" and " Can you use chopsticks?"
A lot of times English Village redeems itself by allowing me the opportunity to get to know my beautiful students better. Once in a while I escape the horde of strangers by wearing a "talk to the hand" expression, and get to sit down and chat with the girls in my classes. This is when I feel overwhelmed by love for English Village, Yichang, and let's face it, all of China. I've gotten pretty good at avoiding people I don't know, and managed to be surrounded by my students a few weeks ago, when one of them wanted to bring me a treat to make my time more enjoyable. He loaded some sweet Chinese bread with gallons of ketchup and brought it to me to snack on. I tried as hard as I could to wear an expression of enjoyment, but I'm afraid it came out more like a grimace as I dutifully took a few bites without throwing up. You can see Sammie showing her love for the "sandwich."
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Chinese food. I do not; however, have any feeling close to love for what has been done to "Western" food.
"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might better stay at home."
-James Michener
2 comments:
Priceless!
good quote
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