BLAIR WARNER
Hong Kong Columnist
“It’s such a shame when old friends fall out.”
The Thrills were singing on my iPod this morning while I fought my usual battle with the treadmill. These lyrics stood out to me, and I mulled them over while I jogged.
Life in Asia — sometimes a language barrier, always a culture barrier — is a constant yin and yang. It is hard to believe that our Pepperdine group has been living here for two months now. Looking back at what I felt and how overwhelming everything was when I first arrived versus now, I see such a process of growth and change.
One of the most rewarding experiences over the past month for myself and three other Pepperdine students has been leading English conversational classes each week. We each lead a group, and most of our students are from mainland China and simply need a place to practice their conversational English.
They never get to go outside of the classroom, and that is so vital to learn the rapid, mixed-up conversational style of the English language.
Since I began my class, my view of the English language has evolved. These students who struggle to master the completely different structure of a Western language view the native English tongue as a true gift. The gift for me has been teaching these wonderfully bright and eager girls my conversational English. I am not a teacher, but simply sharing what I know with them has been incredible.
Of course, I am positive I have gotten more out of it than they have.
We have been covering English idioms for the past couple weeks, and until now I had not realized how many idioms we use everyday that simply do not make any sense if you are learning English as a second language.
For example, trying to explain a relatively simple one, “in a jam” or “in a pickle,” turned into 15 minutes of me fumbling through an explanation.
First, I clarified what I meant by “jam” and then attempted the explanation of a salty cucumber until we all had an understanding of what a pickle was. I did not even mention that it developed from baseball.
The class was fun as we all simply laughed at the quirks and peculiarities of our English language.
Most touching of all was when one of my “students” came up to me after class. She quietly told me how much she enjoyed the class, and she made my day — another idiom.
I have realized just how much I am enjoying my friendship with these students and many others at Hong Kong Baptist University.
I am reminded though, of the line of the song I referenced.
Although I am getting to know so many wonderful students here, most of them are seasonal friendships. We are wonderful friends while we are all brought together by this thing we share in common Hong Kong but it really is such a shame that we are only going to be friends for awhile.
As the song continues, “…broken friendships surely beckon.”
I realize this sounds sad, but it is just something that I have reflected on lately.
I love Hong Kong, but so important in my love for this city are the people who have helped define it for me. I realize that you just cannot take every acquaintance and turn it into an intimate friendship, but part of me wants to try.
So many of the people here, world travelers in every sense of the word, are interesting to me. Recently I got to sit down and talk with a French-Lebanese student who speaks French, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish and impeccable English.
So, as I behave like a true American and sit in Starbucks writing, I am learning what it is to be American while outside of the United States. When you are in a different culture and where you are from defines who you are in other people’s eyes, you learn who you are and what your background is.
As I learn the gift of English and the opportunities it represents for many Chinese students, I value what I am learning from them and their friendship. They may in time end up being seasonal relationships, but what they are helping me discover while I am in Hong Kong is lifelong.
11-02-2006