Not in Kansas Anymore

Humor. The overwhelming probability of humor is what awaits me every time that I leave my apartment in China. Sometimes I don’t even have to go that far. In our apartments at the new campus (yes, I have two apartments, don’t worry about it) one of my fellow teachers noticed that in between the potato setting and the beef setting on the microwave was a setting that read “baby.” These horrifyingly poor translations give me such joy in my day to day life. If I could just find the magnanimous soul slaving away in a factory unknowingly churning out little nuggets of comedy and thank them. In the hotel that I stayed in during our orientation in Shanghai there was a row of buttons which controlled corresponding lights. From right to left: desk light, pilot lamp, night light, and finally on the far left small pox. How did this happen? This was a very nice hotel. How could they butcher this so badly? And they were doing so well on the other light translations. I mean I thank God that they did mess this up because I have laughed a lot about it, but jeez guys.

 I posted a picture earlier of my Mr. Bond coffee drink which reads at the bottom “I’m young… I’m coffee.” If you say so Mr. Bond. That statement really reflects the difference in the way our two cultures perceive the world. I cannot say for sure and for certain what the coffee makers are exactly trying to project about their product, but do old people not like coffee too?

Another point of humor is my student’s names, their English names. Because I teach mostly sophomores they all already have English names. Some are reasonable – Jessica, Tim, Sam, Roger, Alisa. Others…. Precious (a guy), Corpse, Monkey, Sweet, Gentle, Banana, Panda. Take a moment by yourself and put yourself in my shoes. You are taking attendance. “Roger?” “Here” Jessica?” “Here” “Monkey?”… it is very hard not to laugh every time. It has not gotten any easier. “Um, excuse me you there in the back, Monkey. Do you know the answer to number four?” These are phrases I never dreamed that I would be saying. All of my teachers along the way would be proud. Well that Wes he was just always going to do something big and important. I can’t even take myself seriously when asking Monkey if he knows the answer.