Time was on my side
Ah, life in China is settling down and routines are being established. We're starting to really meet people and my bad habit of volunteering before checking the schedule is threatening to return. Well, actually, it never went away, it's just that my schedule was all but cleared of responsibility and nobody was around to ask for my time. This weekend, however, some brave souls ventured to seek a favor from this foreigner.Actually, the first two are more like business propositions. On Friday, we ran into a senior-year student with the English name Lionel, whom we had met at a couple of English corners. Extremely likable fellow. Anyway, he mentioned that he was looking to earn some extra cash and offered his services as English tutor. To me, this sounded like an opportunity worth pursuing, but Yau Neih wasn't as eager to make such a time commitment. Instead of treating Lionel to an argument, we deferred the lessons to a later time.
The next day, I met another one of our neighbors who lives in a flat across the hall. He is a philosophy teacher and made the friendly offer of "you help me with my English and I'll help you with my Chinese." In his pitch he added that he spoke the standard dialect unlike the locals and that I would be better served learning from him. I suppose there is some logic to his argument, but since my accent is bound to be horrible, I can't see how it would make much difference. Anyway, I made no commitments. On one hand, I'm inclined to give Lionel the business, on the other, I wouldn't like to alienate a neighbor.
Then finally, on Saturday night, we were returning from English corner with our usual entourage of students. As we reached campus, one of them asked me if we were busy this weekend. I politely replied that Sunday was pretty much free, expecting that she wanted some sort of visit. Instead she asked if I could proofread an essay that she had written. Having no logical reason to refuse, I accepted the assignment, fearing that I may have kicked open the floodgates of obligation. On the contrary, the essay would probably fill a single page if typed and I was able to polish it off maybe fifteen minutes. Of course, if I other students start asking....
Of course, then there's also the social commitments. We arranged to go out to dinner tonight and then were invited to a party to welcome the freshmen. That invitation, of course, comes with a singing engagement. So now I have to try to memorize "The Garden Song."
Pulling weeds, picking stones.
We are made of dreams and bones.
uh.....rats.
posted by John @ 5:50 PM
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