I am doing a project this week, where I wanted to wear a traditional Chinese shirt. On Thursday, I got the idea and I said it outloud in the teachers room: "I should go to Galati and ask a waitress for her shirt, because Chinese waitresses always are wearing a traditional outfit." A teacher heard and said I could stay the night at her place in the city and she would go with me to ask (yay for Romanians thinking it's crazy for me to do things on my own, I was glad for the company because...you'll understand as you continue) the restaurant.
When we got there that night, I asked for the boss who was indeed Chinese, and AHH! I spoke like 1/2 in Chinese and I kept throwing in Romanian words like "acolo, bine, pentru, noi, and a few other" instead of just using Chinese. I had long pauses where I thought, and moments where I gave up and just spoke in Romanian. That = Uh-oh when I go home to my CHINESE family!
In my defense, it has been 6 years since I've used Mandarin (we speak mostly cantonese at home, still...), now I have a larger understanding of why Romanians are sometimes hesitant and eager to speak English after learning it and then not using it for 5-15 years.
I also did get to borrow a jacket and shirt for free =), and they fit me like a latex glove! Crazy!
Power point intro: stating school was working with the mayor's office and Peace Corps on this project. I don't know if I had to get permission, but I was the Peace Corps rep in this case.
The director made the presentation and the kids watched. (Power points are still new to all, the teachers and the kids, I heard they got all this technical stuff just last year from the government: new flat screen computers, a digital canon video camera, printers, copier, a projector and lap top, they also received about 15 computers last month and another copier that's huge and we don't need it: I don't know where all this stuff is coming from, and PERSONALLY I think extra technology should be spent on stuff like better heating! a place for kids to play when it rains, board games for when it rains, enough books for the whole class...ink and paper for the teachers to use!?).
The history teacher made a short intro. I had initially suggested that children do a bit of research about each respective country (example China) and then the PCV would do their presentation. The teachers agreed among themselves that the kids would talk too slow and at that point there wasn't internet on the computers and there's no books on other countries (according to the teachers). Hum...
Me making my presentation, in my costume.
I gave them a copy of the Chinese horoscope, but I didn't have enough copies of the details about the different animals. oh well.
I made potstickers: pork, chinese cabbage, green onion and flavoring stuff. I made a soy sauce and garlic sauce and I think I killed the kids with it by accident. It's my favorite sauce with pot stickers, but it may have been too much of a "gateway" food for Chinese cuisine.
To be safe, I had bought Romanian cookies, and super luckily! One of my favorite cookies from my favorite lady vendor switched from pictures of cell phones to chinese fans! So I got enough of those for the kids, and they liked them.
Here's a full picture of my costume. Eh...not really traditional, or flattering, but it was red and eh.
When we got there that night, I asked for the boss who was indeed Chinese, and AHH! I spoke like 1/2 in Chinese and I kept throwing in Romanian words like "acolo, bine, pentru, noi, and a few other" instead of just using Chinese. I had long pauses where I thought, and moments where I gave up and just spoke in Romanian. That = Uh-oh when I go home to my CHINESE family!
In my defense, it has been 6 years since I've used Mandarin (we speak mostly cantonese at home, still...), now I have a larger understanding of why Romanians are sometimes hesitant and eager to speak English after learning it and then not using it for 5-15 years.
I also did get to borrow a jacket and shirt for free =), and they fit me like a latex glove! Crazy!
Power point intro: stating school was working with the mayor's office and Peace Corps on this project. I don't know if I had to get permission, but I was the Peace Corps rep in this case.
The director made the presentation and the kids watched. (Power points are still new to all, the teachers and the kids, I heard they got all this technical stuff just last year from the government: new flat screen computers, a digital canon video camera, printers, copier, a projector and lap top, they also received about 15 computers last month and another copier that's huge and we don't need it: I don't know where all this stuff is coming from, and PERSONALLY I think extra technology should be spent on stuff like better heating! a place for kids to play when it rains, board games for when it rains, enough books for the whole class...ink and paper for the teachers to use!?).
The history teacher made a short intro. I had initially suggested that children do a bit of research about each respective country (example China) and then the PCV would do their presentation. The teachers agreed among themselves that the kids would talk too slow and at that point there wasn't internet on the computers and there's no books on other countries (according to the teachers). Hum...
Me making my presentation, in my costume.
I gave them a copy of the Chinese horoscope, but I didn't have enough copies of the details about the different animals. oh well.
I made potstickers: pork, chinese cabbage, green onion and flavoring stuff. I made a soy sauce and garlic sauce and I think I killed the kids with it by accident. It's my favorite sauce with pot stickers, but it may have been too much of a "gateway" food for Chinese cuisine.
To be safe, I had bought Romanian cookies, and super luckily! One of my favorite cookies from my favorite lady vendor switched from pictures of cell phones to chinese fans! So I got enough of those for the kids, and they liked them.
Here's a full picture of my costume. Eh...not really traditional, or flattering, but it was red and eh.
