Introspective

By Thomas F. O'Neill

I have been living in China now for two months and I am still receiving emails and phone calls from people I know. They are curious about my experiences here. I’ve been reminding my friends that it’s been 18 years since I’ve been to a foreign country and when I arrived here I was quickly reminded how much we take our language for granted.

The language barrier for me is quite apparent but my students here in the City of Changzhou, go out of their way to assist me. I found out quickly that body language no matter how much you smile can only take you so far. The spoken word is so much more proficient than hand and feet gestures. Besides the Chinese have hand signs I've never seen before.

On a positive note I am losing weight due to the abundance of healthy food. I am eating a lot of rice, vegetables, and fruit here. I am also enjoying their unending supply of fruit juices. When I arrived in China a few months ago I was so much heavier than I am now.

Last month the Chinese Government issued me a residential permit that allows me to live in China permanently. But in order for the residential permit to be approved I had to endure a long Physical. It was the most thorough Physical I ever experienced. I brought one of my students to the clinic to interpret for me.

When the Physical was all over and done with, I turned to my student and said, “Am I going to live?”

My student looked at me and replied, “Doctor, said you heavy.”

“I knew that before I came to China,” I said, “who’s paying for this?”

“No not me, School pay,” he said.

Well American humor has a tendency to get lost in the Chinese translation.

I learned some Chinese words since I’ve been here though but it's unfortunate that my coal-cracker accent from Northeastern Pennsylvania is very difficult to understand here in China. Come to think of it, it was a bit difficult to understand in America as well. I am very glad to know though that the advanced English students are enjoying my Cultural diversity classes.

Many of the emails that I’ve been receiving want to know about the Chinese women. I have to say they are no different than American women with one minor exception. There are more Chinese women here than in Shenandoah, and, like Shenandoah, some of the women speak English and the rest don’t. That is why I really appreciate the company of my students.

My students are extremely open and honest about everything and some of them are curious about spiritual matters. I enjoy telling my students stories in class and I use those stories as a teaching method. I am currently in the process of putting some of those stories on paper. Hopefully, I could send some of them your way in the near future.

I found out a few weeks ago that one of my students did a ‘Baidu’ search of my name and hometown. ‘Baidu’ is China’s number one internet search engine.

The young female student said to me in class, “there is a great writer from Shenandoah in America. He has an ‘F’ in his name to. What does it mean in America when they put ‘F’ in their name?”

I said to her, “You should email the writer and ask him. That would be a great way to practice your English.”

“Ok, Ok,” she repeated, “I will.”

She got the writer’s email address from his website. My student’s email was extremely well written. She wrote about her studies and how she has a teacher in China with the same name. Unfortunately for me the writer she was writing to was much more intelligent than her teacher.

Well to make a very long story short, the writer from that very small coal mining town in Pennsylvania answered her email.

I told her via email that her Teacher in China is far more educated and much more knowledgeable in explaining why some American’s put ‘F’ in their name.

It only took her a week to realize that the writer she was writing to and her Cultural Diversity teacher was in fact the same person.

I was also somewhat flattered to realize that someone in China is enjoying my stories.

I will continue to keep you readers posted on what is going on in Changzhou, China. Hopefully, I will continue to send some of my stories your way as well.

Always With love,
Thomas F. O’Neill

(800) 272-6464

introspective7@hotmail.com

Yahoo Screen Name for chatting online: introspective777

Other articles, short stories, and commentaries by Thomas F. O'Neill can be found at the links below.

Link: http://thomasfoneill.blogspot.com

Link: http://pencilstubs.com

Link: http://www.livejournal.com/users/thomas_f_oneill

Link: http://www.myspace.com/thomas_f_oneill

Link: http://thomasfoneill.spaces.live.com

Link: http://www.pencilstubs.com/magazine/authorbio.asp?AID=412