The language of little boys

Today was my second day at the Chinese Social Service Center, and it was quite different than the first, but equally fun. Neither of the women from yesterday showed up, but three boys did, ages 10, 12 and 14, respectively, and so while the 14 year old more or less looked after himself, Emily and I worked with the 10 year old and 12 year old. In typical little boy fashion, they spent 1/4 of the time working on their English and 3/4 of the time chasing each other around the room.

Some time near the end of the day, the 10 year old, Tommy, was running up and down the stairs, completely ignoring our requests to stop, lest he disturb the acupuncturist who rents the top floor of the building. Eventually, Emily took him by the shoulders and told him that he was being a bad boy, and good boys don't run up and down the stairs. Then she asked him, "Are you going to be a good boy now?"

His response, comically timed to perfection, was to fart noisily.

*Sigh*

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.

3-match weekend

...and two goals, so I feel pretty good about the weekend, on the whole. Especially since my first goal was a half-volley that went like an arrow right into the lower left hand corner, and I had missed a shot like that earlier in the match.

I'm starting my first of two volunteer positions today. Mondays and Tuesdays I'll be working with Chinese immigrant kids, tutoring English through the Chinese Social Service Center in Richfield. Wednesdays and Thursdays I'll be working as a food shelf translator at the Catholic Charities Branch I food shelf in south Minneapolis. The best part of both of these positions is that I get to use both my Chinese and my Spanish.

A quick word on the Liverpool front: there's a press conference scheduled for later today, and it has my stomach in knots because I'm pretty sure the conference is going to address the ongoing speculation about Xabi Alonso's future. He traveled to Thailand with the squad, so I'm hopeful that means Rafa is still playing hardball with Real Madrid, but anything can happen. I just really don't want to see one of Liverpool's top midfielders go to Real Madrid. He's like the antithesis of their big-money, showman's mentality, and I think he's much more respected and loved at Liverpool than he would be there. I hope he stays, I really do. *Fingers crossed*

More futbol and interviews

Futbol this weekend was a little scrappy. On Saturday we won handily, but the coach of the other team started saying stuff to Cecy as we left the field and Cecy reacted in kind. On Sunday, we played this team who were just all around bitchy and yelled at the ref for everything. Plus they couldn't handle going shoulder to shoulder in the tackle, so when I went in for a tackle, the girl I stripped the ball off of kicked me in the back of the ankles. I appealed to the ref (successfully), and the girl was like, "Well don't push then." Later, I went into another tackle the same way and the girl tried to shoulder me back but ended up falling over. She and her teammates started yelling at the ref that I was pushing (which I wasn't, if you play football you know shoulder to shoulder is legal), and after that, every time I got the ball the other team was aiming for my ankles. The upside is that we won the game 2-0.

Today I had an interview with Catholic Charities in Minneapolis. I'm hoping to volunteer as a Food Shelf Translator at their south Minneapolis branch, where about half of the families who come in are Spanish-speaking and often have limited English ability. Assuming the coordinator I talked to today can get ahold of my references this week, I should be able to start fairly soon. I don't think it's a huge commitment, around 2-3 days, 4 hours a day, but it's good work, a chance to work on my Spanish, and it's something to do.

Other than that no real news. A quick update on Adriana, my injured teammate. She's home and recovering. A couple of my teammates went over to see her this weekend and said she's in a good mood, though worried of course about paying the medical bills. Like many Americans, she doesn't have medical insurance, so this will be a huge stress, but the most important thing is that she recovers well.