Letter to Santa

This past week I told my students we were writing formal business letters in class. Because my class is a listening/speaking class, some of them were a bit surprised. I told them children in America learn how to write business letters from a very early age--which surprised them even more. I told them, however, that most children in America don't use the common salutation, "to whom it may concern," but they do, in fact, know who they are writing to--so they address their letters, "Dear Santa." As a result (and for good English practice), I had all my students write letters to Santa. Having over 100 Chinese university underclassmen write letters to St. Nick for the first time was pretty entertaining--and insightful. I learned quite a bit about what was going in their minds and hearts through the silly exercise.


So, I thought it would be a good idea for me to post my letter to Santa this year in my blog:


Dear Santa,


I must say time has flown since last Christmas, with tons of changes to the world and to my life (of course, it's probably like that for you every year!). Since last year I've gotten married, more than doubled the size of my extended family, and moved to China (where business seems pretty slow for you). I can honestly say I've tried my hardest to stay on your nice list this year--and feel like of done a decent job (with one or two exceptions). Without bothering you about details you already know, I'd like to skip ahead to a few requests I've been thinking about on my wish list this year. 


As you know, not every country has nice things like we do back home, and that really puts things into perspective when you're trying to assemble a good wish list. Last time I lived in China, I really just wanted warm clothes for Christmas (b/c I didn't prepare very well for winter). But I feel like that is under control this year (see my blog). Everything in Hangzhou is much nicer than my previous town, and I feel like we have most of the Western amenities we could want. The only things I can think of are:


1. Pepperidge Farm Goldfish (they don't sell the plain cheddar ones here)
2. Gatorade powdered mix (fruit punch is my favorite flavor)
3. Gold Bond powder (for when baby powder just isn't enough)
4. Chic-fil-a (I know that's a stretch, but maybe a long term goal to set in China's development)


If you could meet these request, Christmas and the spring semester would be much more jolly for me. However, I have found that my list of intangible things seems to have grown over the last year--and most directly relate to living in Hangzhou.


1. Feedback - I know it's hard for people to find time to communicate (I'm usually at the top of that list). But I feel a real need to get some feedback from people back home. I know they can't always know everything to tell us whether we're doing a great or terrible job, but if you could just let them know we'd love to get some feedback (even if it's to say we don't communicate enough information with them, or we don't communicate often enough), that would be really helpful to us and give us a better idea of how we need to communicate back home.


2. Financial Support - This is always a sensitive subject for me, Santa, but I feel like I can share it with you. As you know most of us are not finished with grad school. And while a break from taking classes is nice (and very rewarding with our current jobs), it doesn't give us a break from paying back undergraduate student loans. A few of us are concerned that we don't have the financial support to make it through the year and back to the States in July. We don't make enough on our salaries here, and we all trust our Father to help take care of us, but we felt like it was also something we could share with you.


3. Moral Support - Just as important to us as feedback and funds, it's very encouraging to hear how people's lives are going back home. Yes, we Skype with our families and keep up with some friends on facebook and other ways, but sometimes it just helps to get an update about what's going on back with people we love in the places we love. We know a lot of people care about us, think about us, and keep up with us on all of our blogs, twitter feeds, facebooks, and website, and we're really excited about keeping them informed. If you could just help them to know that telling us what's going on with them, good and bad, really helps us do a better job here.


Santa, I know at this point you probably wish I had just kept going with my list of goldfish, gatorade, and goldbond. And I know the last part of this letter is hard to wrap in paper and put a bow on by Dec. 25. But I know how hard your little elves work, and I'm sure you know what it's like to be isolated at times, living in the North Pole. I wish you well as you go through "crunch time" with the presents, reindeer, and sleigh. Please give my regards to Rudolph, Buddy the Elf, and of course, Mrs. Claus.


Sincerely yours,


Kyle

Family is Family

We've really been amazed at what has been happening. Within two weeks we met some amazing new people through our "English evenings," and even met some family members we didn't know we had (see Becca's post here). Suddenly, we found ourselves quite busy.

One unique thing about Chinese Families is that here, Family is Family. If someone meets another Relative, they don't immediately ask, "What part of the family do you belong to?"  Instead, they just know they come from the same Ancestor, and His name is at the top of every part of the family. Unfortunately, this has become a problem in the States, because not all of the family gets along. They disagree about some things and, as a result, some parts of the family don't associate with or talk to other parts of the family. But this is not the case in China. Family is a high priority for all of the family members, and they easily accept each other for who they are.
It's also unfortunate that many Americans try to share thier family problems with young, Chinese families. They pass on their baggage and cause a lot of confusion for the Chinese families.

I know that some of the Chinese families I've met aren't perfect, or even do things like my family back home. But I don't believe it's my job to air dirty laundry in China and teach different parts of families to dislike, not get along with, or even hate each other. If they do have problems or don't have everything right, it's our job to help them figure it out or even, "show them the way more perfectly" (my personal paraphrase of a quote from a brother of mine long ago).

It's amazing to me that the families in China get along so well and the only ones who don't can thank some Westerner for sowing discord in their family. In China, Family is Family, and I'm thankful for that.

Movie Dubbing Contest

I was invited to judge an English competition. Being an English teacher, it's a fairly common occurrence to be invited to participate in such functions. Eric, one of my students, asked me a few weeks following class one day: "Kyle, can you help with an English dubbing competition?"

"an English what?"

"English dubbing. Movie dubbing."

"oh, I see."

I paused momentarily recounting my previous judging experience for a speech competition while working in my former university (2005-2006). I had been asked by a school across town to participate in their competition within their English department. Expecting no more than 2-3 classes worth of English majors, I was surprised when I went into a lecture hall filled with almost 300 students--and I was the only foreign teacher.

However, I have learned to expect the unexpected in China. Most events usually involve copious amounts of formality, and the Chinese always love a good speech. When faced with such events, I have found it amusing to play to the formality as much as possible--usually hamming it up with my speeches and answers to questions. They love it, and it usually makes for a much more entertaining event from my perspective.

"Sure" I answered, "I'll be happy to help with your competition."

When I arrived that evening, it was a small class room with a mini-stage, screen, and projector. I was actually one of two foreign judges--Nate was the other guy, another teacher from my school who is from Chicago. In all, there were four judges, including a couple of Chinese English teachers.

I was happy to know that two of my students were the masters of ceremony, and a few more were actually contestants. Every team consisted of 2-5 students who did a live dub over a clip from a movie. Most of the movies were newer animated films like Ice Age Three, Finding Nemo, Shrek, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. I never knew how appropriate it was that three Chinese girls' voices could fit the part of the three talking chipmunks so well.

I was thoroughly entertained with the film clips with Chinese accents. Everyone tried exceptionally hard to fit the voices, even adding sound effects. At the end of the competition, everyone enjoyed themselves, and received a prize--including us judges, who received chair cushions (mine was baby blue with cartoon dogs drawn on it).

You never know what's going to happen when you teach on the other side of the world.