Nobu's Weblog

2013 / 03 / 22

Today I would like to share with you some quotes from my Chinese teachers during the lesson, here we go:

After teacher C. failed to explain a grammar to the students “ I do not understand why you do not understand. All my linguistic students understand. Teaching linguistic students are much easier, because they know the basic knowledge of linguistic, you don’t.”

After teacher H. failed to write a Chinese character “Who will use the pen to write Chinese? We are in the modern time, everyone is using Smartphone and PC. There is no need anymore to study Chinese characters.” After a while “Ah! I remember it; I just forgot it, because I have not written it for at least 50 years.”

After I confronted teacher H./C. for teaching not-in-dictionary-existing-Chinese-characters. “Where did you buy the dictionary? It must be a dictionary not made in China. That’s the reason, why you cannot find it in the dictionary.” ,
“You just do not know how to use the dictionary. Let me look for it!” After a while “Strange, I cannot find it. This cannot be. Ah I know! This is a fake dictionary. I bought it in Shenzhen. They often sell fake products.”
“I am the teacher and you are only student. And your dictionary is lying. Do not trust it. This Chinese character really exists. I always write it like this. You need to trust me. Without any trust, I cannot be your teacher.”
“I know you need to be detail-orientated in your job. But there is not any need to be like that in the Chinese lesson. If one or two strokes are missing, it really does not matter, because it can be guessed from the context. So, do not worry about it!”

What I think about it?
Well, Chinese is a very complex language and I do understand that some teachers might forget some strokes or even do something wrong, as nobody is perfect. I assume those teachers know that they did something wrong, but cannot admit it otherwise they would loose face. How come a student advice the teacher, she is wrong?! That cannot be, right? In fact, here and in other parts of Asia loosing face is a big issue, so usually people tries to defense rather than loosing face. In my opinion, it would be ok if the teacher is honest to me. She could say “I am not sure at the moment, but I will check it for you.” It would be fair for both sides.

At the beginning it was frustrating and I doubted I could learn some useful Chinese from them. In order to avoid learning wrong Chinese characters I started to review my lessons very carefully, which is actually a good practise. And every time I come across those quotes now, I am just smiling.

What do you think about the quotes? Do you have similar experiences?

2013 / 03 / 15

Few days ago the weather was great!  Perfect for going out for a walk! I grabbed my Powershot G12 , stepped out the door and took a long deep breath. Wow, such a warm and not that humid day. Nice!

I did not have any exact plan, where I am heading to. Actually, it does not matter, as I was sure my lens would lead me. The only thing, I needed to do is to remember the way I came from, so I knew how to go back home. In the past, I got lost several times, because I was too concentrated to take photos.

It was dusk, and the red sun was going to hide behind the mountains soon in order to take a rest from the busy day. The flowers and leaves of tress are shimmering in the today’s last sun rays and shaded on walls and streets. A fresh breeze. A bird in the river nearby.  A dog waving his tail happily accompanied me. Some yaks were having dinner (?) on the wide green grassland. My stomach snarled. I guess I was hungry as well. Only few people were on the street. It’s hard to believe I am in Hong Kong. It is so calm here.
After a while I reached a beach – on time for the sunset. The dog stopped and discovered someone else. “Have a nice evening! And have fun!” I told him before he rushed away. Gradually the sun went down, and let shimmering the sea, waves and the sky in different colors: yellow, orange, red, purple. It was such an amazing landscape. There are only few people on the beach, who started to pack their staff and left slowly. I was the only one came and stayed. If I had a bag with me, I would start to UNpack my stuff.
Sitting on a branch on the beach, burring my feet into the white from the sunray heated soft sand, I was enjoying the sunset.

When the sky turned nearly dark, and the wind became cold, I was heading home. On the way, I met that dog and we both went back home together.

2013 / 03 / 14

It has been quite long time I have not written any entry. Now I want to change it. It’s time for an entry.

I know life contains happy and unhappy moments. And I always believed in after a certain unhappy time, a happier time will follow. That’s why I thought I would be ok (please also refer to my entry in October). But one unhappy thing after the other have happened and kept pushing me to my limit of life power resources. In fact, I hate this condition. At the end I felt unhappy, tired, not motivated and extremely unsatisfied.

I asked myself again: What can I do?

My bro did know the answers “Basically there are two options, 1) face the problem or 2) run away from the problem. BOTH are wise. “I did not understand. Usually I face the problem and find a solution. Afterwards, I feel happy. From my point of view, 2) is an option only made by cowards. But my bro disagreed. He explained “Option 2) could be wise, if 1) is too dangerous.” 

There is one matter, which bothers me a lot and restricts my life ever since. It’s a pretty long story, so I try to keep it short. I have been a victim of crime. Well, definition of crime varies. It would be a crime in my home country, but not here. However, the fact is that my offender is still somewhere and s/he will be back if there is an opportunity. Hence, in sake of my own safety I chose option 2). Although I got support from my good friends and my brother, I could not help myself to think I am a coward. At the same time, I felt like a refugee.

Thanks to my friend, who offered me a “refuge”, I had a lot of time to relax and think. And I suddenly realized that I might forget something important during my “escape” and fear: If I keep escaping my rest of my life, I would be definitely eternally unhappy. Do I really want to be like that?  Life is too short for it! A refugee is not a refugee for his/her whole life, isn’t it? S/he will settle down and start an alternative life. I may try the same. How could I forget the braveness to look into the future? Firstly I need to accept my situation (I guess I have not done yet fully) and secondly I need to find another happiness. For a period of time I was thinking what makes me happy: Eating, travelling, drawing…  In this frame I would like to try something new. A new challenge. Therefore I decided to learn material art. And I am also thinking about to learn one more activity like sewing, Chinese Calligraphy or Chinese painting. Currently I am checking schools and tuitions fees. And I am going to change my living condition as well.

I am not sure whether this will lead to happiness, but it’s worth to try. I am motivated.