There is a boy in my class named Tom and I love him very much. His English is pretty good and he understands alot. He loves Rock Paper Scissors, Seaweed flavored fries, teaching me Cantonese words, buses, and saying cheers. When we are at lunch together or playing he tells me: I am very happy. I am very happy. And I point at my nose and say I am too.
But in class Tom does not behave well all the time. He makes loud noises and disrupts the class even after I've asked him to stop. The other students say things to Tom and I think that they are saying mean things. We were playing a game on the board and someone tipped him off the desk he was sitting on. Then they pulled him up by the arm. By the time I was there and saying "stop" the whole thing was over. Later, Tom and another student started arguing in Cantonese. One boy threw his bottle on the ground and then Tom threw his paper. They kept exchanging words and wouldn't stop when I asked. I got a teacher's assistant and she told me Tom's side of the story, spoke to the other student and then translated to the class what I wanted to say.
I told the class that I was excited to be here and that I want them to learn English. I love each of them and I want us to get along. They would not want to be treated poorly and so they should not treat each other poorly.
The TA left and we tromped through one more lesson before we went to lunch. Tom and I went to lunch at McDonald's. He taught me words and we shared a Taro pie (instead of an apple pie :) ) He loves to hit things and hear them make sounds.
When we came back Tom started playing bus at his desk. He is the driver, his water bottle is a stick shift, and his book is the wheel. He makes regular announcements for the students so they know when to get off. They do not think this is helpful, they find it frustrating and distracting. Maybe this is what they are saying to him in Cantonese: I feel frustrated when you make noise and distract me from class, I'd like it if you stayed quiet. Or maybe not. Finally Finally 215 comes and we go downstairs and start having our scheduled water day. We throw water balloons, dump buckets, and squirt guns. I find Tom and give him a bottle to play with. I lose him in the crowd and forget about him until 15 minutes later. But now I can't find him. 10 minutes later, I can't find him. 5 minutes later I see him wandering by the edge of the court face turned toward the ground. He won't talk to me, he walks away.
Later I see him with the TA crying and talking for a long time. I don't know what happened. We ride up to our room together but he won't talk to me. Finally right before I left I asked him to look at me and he did. I told him I was sorry for leaving him and that I should have stayed with him. He tries to squeeze the water from a ball onto my head, he tries to squirt me with a gun. They are empty and dry so I keep talking and ignore it. I ask him if he'll go to lunch with me tomorrow and he says no.
I am very tired, and very frustrated that I do not speak cantonese, I am sad that Tom has to handle the worst of human nature and that I can't stop it, even in my class. I wish I understood what they said to each other.
I came home and had to deal with a lost card. We don't know who lost the card so we both went to the office. Then it didn't work, finally it did work. I rode up the elevator, laid down, covered my head and cried.
Hong Kong is hard.
"Life is homework"-Tom
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