After five grueling classes, I’m finished being a teacher in China.
Some nice things kids said to me today:
“I will not forget you.”
“You will become a doctor, but I think you should become a teacher.”
“Your shirt is ugly.”
By the end of the school day I was back in the English office scribbling away madly, filling out “yearbook sheets” that about two dozen students had asked me to sign. I wrote in the spaces that I could – “Name, Birthday, Horoscope” and left blank the ones I didn’t understand – “Bithe Folon, Agname, I do I.” A few students even got my website from this, so if you’re reading this, 欢迎育才三中初三!
Hu Laoshi looked over, then leaned back in his chair. ”Ah, a year passes so quickly,” he said.
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I was thinking in my head as I rode the bus to dinner with Nicole at Coastal City that night: how many things have I been by now? Earlier in the week, after getting halfway through my two books on the American financial collapse, I had regretted how luan my specializations were. I read about economics, but I can’t understand its technical jargon. I can play a sheet of music on multiple instruments, but I’m not creative enough to make things up. I can write flurries of notes and pages, but I don’t have the stamina to write a novel. I can undertake long personal projects, but none of them advance my career. Becoming a doctor will, but I’m a long way yet from that.
So it’s nice to reflect again on what I’ve done in life, in a more positive list. I’ve been:
- A classical pianist
- A molecular biologist
- A movie maker
- An orchestral clarinetist
- A literary analyst
- A marching band drum major
- A college dormitory mentor
- A Power Ranger (in my imagination)
- A dinner party planner
- A computer enthusiast
- I was in a noncompetitive swim team, once, you know, when I was little, or something
- A foreign English teacher
- A brother, a son, a cousin, a student, a teacher, a friend, a boyfriend.
“I don’t like being labeled,” said a friend to me years ago. But I think we’re mosaics of all the little labels we take on. It’s like Sarah, my college laboratory postdoc, said to me when counseling me through my resignation: “you’ll always feel like an impostor whenever you start something new, no matter what it is.” But by the end of it, your life is so much the richer.
I’ve done a lot with my 22 years! And I’ll do even more!
YAY POUW!
Congratulations you made it! You have done an awful lot and YES it HAS helped you career wise- you had to learn leadership (mentor, drum major), planning (dinner party, teacher, student), how to think in different ways (molec.bio, music, movie maker). All of that experience is going to help, and who says you have to do just one thing- Doctor by day, Power Ranger by night!! Btw, which was your favourite? I liked the yellow and blue rangers.
Wow! A year gone by! Good job for tackling and getting outside your comfort zone. You have undoubtedly learned a lot and this will ready you for your next endeavor. Have fun with your remainder month and take advantage of your opportunity there!
@ Emmo: thank you for the encouragement! I was a hyper boy so of course the red ranger! The green/white one was pretty interesting too because he actually had a story, even if it came at the expense of character traits. yes, i’ve put a lot of thought into this.
@ Dad: thanks for your encouragement too!