Like a mini-Joy Luck Club

Today was my first day volunteering as an English tutor at the Chinese Social Service Center in Richfield, and it didn't disappoint. There were two other volunteers there, one, an older woman who has worked there for quite awhile and is from Chengdu, the other a Chinese-American woman who's a rising sophomore at the U of M and who was working for the first time like me. Our students were two women who have been in the States for awhile, but have been working and haven't had the time to study English until now. One, a middle-aged woman named Jessica, is from Fujian, and works in food service at Eastview High in Apple Valley. The other, Lan, is quite young and is from Guangxi. Because we all speak Mandarin, the session ebbed and flowed quite easily between English and Chinese, and we talked about everything, from Minnesota winters to the political system in China. I think, because there are so few Chinese here, it's a relief for all of these women, whose mother language is Chinese, to be able to sit down and not have to think about every word that comes out of their mouths.

The funny thing was, because I'm Asian and I was speaking Mandarin with them from the very beginning, none of them realized I wasn't Chinese until quite late in the session. We were talking about personal backgrounds, and Jessica asked me where I was from, and in the context of the conversation, the question was, "Where in China are you from?" So I had to respond, "Er, I'm not Chinese at all." Cue outbursts of surprise and cries of "很厲害!" They assured me that my Chinese was really authentic and very standard, and because I'd been conversing with them for over two hours in strictly Mandarin, I couldn't help but take their word for it. It was actually really invigorating and uplifting to be able to sit there and chat in Chinese, even without the added praise once I was "outed" as a non-native speaker. I'm so glad I have this opportunity to practice my Chinese, because Chinese is hardly what you would call a widely spoken language here, and I know how fast second language ability can deteriorate if you don't keep it up.

I'll be back at the center tomorrow. Only Jessica will be there for sure, since Lan said she has to work. I'm really glad my first day went so well; I know not every day will be as great, but it's always nice to get off on the right foot.