Kids

The kids all have English names.  L to R:  Veronica, Peach, Fannie (aka E.T. b/c she's a little spacey), Iris, and Elvin.  

I met some of my freshmen students at the pub two blocks from campus, the only one in the vicinity of this 20,000 strong campus.  They're all from Henan Province, which with 95 million people is the most populous and among the less prosperous in China.  I offered to buy beer all the way around.  One was happy to accept, two shared a beer, and the others limited themselves to the free tea.  Cheap dates!  Two are 17, having started primary school early, the rest are 19.  The teetotalers told told me that they were not old enough to drink.  One told me her parents forbid her to drink.  I told them that when American kids go off to college they tend to get a little wild, but she said that she could not lie to her parents.  Others took the time-honored "what they don't know" approach.  This new generation has grown up under the reform as China has opened up to capitalism, investment, and the world, and there are signs of change.  One of the kids referred to something us boomers remember well, "the generation gap."  In so many ways China is similar to the USA in the 1950s.  Maybe it's edging towards its own sixties.

The next day I got a text that read in part, "I just wanna tell you that my friends are very happy today. They all like you very much, so they give you a name: Pao Pao, and it means bubble and it's round and funny.  They all think you are kind. We all love you!"  A bubble, round and funny?  Maybe they think I'm Santa Claus!

We were in a shop downtown and two teens began to speak with us, obviously eager to practice their English.  We were probably the first Westerners with whom they'd spoken or perhaps ever seen.  Americans are a particular object of curiosity and fascination.  The Chinese seem to love the camera.  Before we parted I asked if I could take their picture and as you can see they went right into posing mode.  Behind them are two English teachers from Beloit College in Wisconsin.  That's Steve (from Hawaii, like Barack Obama as he always says) on the left, and Mike of Chicago on the right.  Mike has one of those silver horseshoe piercings hanging out of his nostrils, an object of great fascination to the Chinese.